100 mile wilderness food options

[Bubblehead]

Hiking Pawling to Katahdin beginning May 11th. Any advice for navigating the 100 mile wilderness food wise? I would guess you can get thru that area in 5-6 days if you're averaging 16-20 miles per day, so just suck it up and bring 6 days of food with you?....

[AllDownhillFromHere]

Yep.

tenmorechars

[swjohnsey]

I don't think most folks move that fast. I know I didn't. There are folks who will do a food drop.

[Slo-go'en]

Two options:
1) carry enough food to get you through.
2) pay for a food drop about 2/3d in.

You'll figure it out when you get there.

[AllDownhillFromHere]

I don't think most folks move that fast. I know I didn't. There are folks who will do a food drop.

I did it in 10, if memory serves. Just be a man and carry your food.

[cliffordbarnabus]

I did it in 10, if memory serves. Just be a man and carry your food.

be a man or a woman and carry your food.

or

be a man or a woman and arrange a food drop.

regardless and androgyny aside

enjoy your walk.

[egilbe]

I did it in 9 going slow. Another guy did it in two, going fast. Most throughhikers are somewhere in between. Poet is a wealth of information at Shaw's in Monson. Don't stress until you get there, because odds are, you won't make it that far.

[moldy]

The hundred mile wilderness section is a great section and offers one of the last challenges. As this country's population has exploded and the infrastructure has multiplied the last remaining wilderness section of trail is just about extinct. You should take advantage of this last opportunity to pack with you enough food for 8 days before somebody builds a store out there and the entire trail becomes a deli to deli operation.

[AllDownhillFromHere]

Agreed, the Wilderness is a special place, and if you're heading North, a crescendo of awesomeness before you reach Katahdin.

[Bubblehead]

Thanks for the advice! (Men and women included)...

[Bubblehead]

Thanks for the positive comment....I'm not a thru hiker. I'm doing it in three sections. 2016, Springer to Pearisburg (635 miles), as planned. 2017, Pearisburg to Pawling (806 miles ) as planned. Even though NH and Maine are the most difficult, hiking the last 740 from Pawling to Katahdin this year is the plan. I'm sure I'll make it...and no, I'm not stressing it....just asking a simple question. That's all....

[garlic08]

There are plenty of opportunities to try a 100 mile food carry before you get there. You can even ramp up to it. Try skipping a town stop or two where they're available, see how you like it.

You can even try going a little hungry. Plan a food bag where you run out the morning of your resupply. It's sort of liberating when you learn you won't blow up if you skip a snack or two.

[AllDownhillFromHere]

There are plenty of opportunities to try a 100 mile food carry before you get there. You can even ramp up to it. Try skipping a town stop or two where they're available, see how you like it.
You can even try going a little hungry. Plan a food bag where you run out the morning of your resupply. It's sort of liberating when you learn you won't blow up if you skip a snack or two.

You could also run 8740 laps around a football field, but that doesn't mean you ran the Appalachian Trail.

[SouthMark]

I stopped at White House Landing. Good meals, shower, washed clothes and a bunk. Decent resupply and no more expensive than a food drop. The one pound cheeseburger was awesome and the homemade pizza was great.

[evyck da fleet]

You could also run 8740 laps around a football field, but that doesn't mean you ran the Appalachian Trail.

I’m with garlic on this one. I could tell the OP how long it took me to do it (not so relevant) or suggest he/she try to carry five days of food out of say Gorham and see which town is needed to resupply. It’s more like comparing the Chicago marathon to the NY marathon than circling a track.

[Venchka]

It takes a long time to die without food.
It takes even longer to die without water.
You don't even have to plan on running out of either on the trail.
Stop eating 24 hours before your next resupply stop.
Wayne

[BuckeyeBill]

It takes a long time to die without food.
It takes even longer to die without water.
You don't even have to plan on running out of either on the trail.
Stop eating 24 hours before your next resupply stop.
Wayne

Wayne I normally agree with you, but now I have to disagree a little. I was always taught the Rule of 3. 3 minutes without air your probably dead. 3 days without water, your kidneys begin to shut down to keep all the liquid it can to feed the brain. 3 weeks without food and your body has already begun to feed itself on muscle and fat to help keep you alive, but immediate intervention is need in all three cases.

[garlic08]

Wayne I normally agree with you, but now I have to disagree a little...

Same here. I hate to disagree even a little with Wayne. I don't think it's ever happened before. I was waiting for someone else to man up.

I sure hope never to put the "Rule of Threes" to the test. I've gone day without food on the PCT in the Sierra, and that was a mind-opening experience. As I was lying hungry at night, with no access to food probably for the first time in my pampered life, I realized most of the world's population was feeling what I was at that moment. It was almost a religious experience.

[lonehiker]

I think that Wayne with his google search engine simply mis-typed.