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  1. #21
    Registered User DownEaster's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Yankee15 View Post
    If you don't bring ten days of supplies, you will die
    The actual (not ) situation for me was that I thought I had a generous 8 days of supply (20 lbs. of food). It took 7 days of strenuous hiking. Two hurricanes blew through that week, with zillions of blow-downs to scramble over/around, and beaver dams plus rain made for knee-deep slogging in the flats. I had nothing but dregs in a tube of peanut butter and a little black pepper by the morning of the last day, and that was a hungry day of hiking. With all the weather-related extra exertion required I consumed 7,500-8,000 calories each day, and still lost noticeable weight.

    Respect Maine weather, folks, and carry some extra food just in case.

  2. #22
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    What if you carried a lighter food load and made it there after 6 days?

  3. #23
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    What if you carried 50 pounds of food and made it there after 2 weeks

  4. #24
    Registered User egilbe's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by TTT View Post
    What if you carried 50 pounds of food and made it there after 2 weeks
    20 pounds of food will last two weeks.

  5. #25
    Registered User KDogg's Avatar
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    Most of the thru hikers that I was around were carrying five or six days of food. My friends and I made it out the morning of the sixth day.

  6. #26
    Registered User DownEaster's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by egilbe View Post
    20 pounds of food will last two weeks.
    Not the food I was carrying then; it only lasted 6 days. I figured afterward that I was burning 7,500-8,000 calories each day. I needed to be carrying more fat, but high-fat foods that I could tolerate weren't as readily available back in the stone ages (1979). I had 1% powdered milk (Milkman brand) rather than the whole powdered milk (Nestle Nido Fortificada) available today. I had one pound of cheese and one stick of butter in a Campmor squeeze tube. Almond and cashew butters weren't available. I did carry some peanut butter in another squeeze tube, even though I detest it (exhausted my tolerance as a kid). Fatty noodles like Ramen weren't readily available in New England then. I had a lot of carbs, but they only supply about 44% as many calories per ounce as fats.

    Nutrition labeling only started in the U.S. in 1994. Before that it was a lot of work to try to determine calorie information. I completely missed out on carrying some Fritos as a tasty and filling snack.

  7. #27
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    Resupply along the HMW is plentiful these days but real hikers do without.

    Seven days or less isn't difficult. Yeah, the food load will be twice what most AT thru and section hikers are used to. No biggie.

    IIRC, White House Landing is back in business. The logging roads are well traveled and you see day hikers on some stretches. There are proper trail heads with parking lots full of cars. Maybe we should just call it the HM.

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