How much food at one time?

[fantomhockey]

Starting to prepare for a south bound hike starting mid-june next year. For training purposes I'm trying to learn to pack my pack as it will be at it heaviest point. This leads to my question, what is the most food I'll have to carry at one time? I would assume that this point in time will be early in my hike at the 100 mile wilderness, but I'm a "start with the hard stuff and its all down hill" type of person. Any help/advice is greatly appreciated.

[fiddlehead]

SOBO creates different problems than NOBO.
Especially with the 100 mile wilderness right off the bat.
And then the rest of Maine with it's limited road crossings and supply options.
There's a thread (sticky I believe) on resupply that will help you a lot.

I don't like to carry more than I have to so, tend to resupply every 3-5 days on the AT (although the 100 mile wilderness will take more than that)

It's also up to your mileage of course.
I see you're from Winter Park so, I am going to assume that you know more about hiking than the average person starting the AT.
By the time you get to VT, you'll have it figured out, so, I would concentrate your planning on the first 2 states only at this time.

Have fun.

[Blissful]

Check out my hiking blog for SOBO vs NOBO series (I have hiked it both ways). Easier to say it all there than be redundant here.

[bulldog49]

SOBO creates different problems than NOBO.

Total nonsense.

[fantomhockey]

Blissful-- thanks for the reply, I had actually read your blog a little while ago, I'll definitely reference it again.

To All-- SOBO absolutely creates different problems than NOBO. My main concern was the 100 mile wilderness right off the bat. I've done plenty of hikes in this length but we weren't as concerned with weight and resupply as most of these hikes completed a circle and we just went home at the end. Beer and other non-essentials were absolutely included and not everything was freeze-dried. Can anyone just give me an estimated (maximum) food weight?

[restlesss]

I normally like to care about 5-10 days of food. that limits time off the trail. a little heavier than most but at the same time I have my base weight down to about 10-12 lbs.

[MuddyWaters]

Ive heard of nobos carrying only 4 days food for the 100 mile wilderness. They are in shape at that time and cover a lot of miles per day. But they have higher appetites too, so that would be at least 8 lbs food or so for them.

Going sobo starting there, you may need 10 days. But you wont have the appetite yet and can probably get by on 1.4 ppd at that time for only 14 lbs food, instead of 20.

[Just a Hiker]

What I do when going southbound is have separate food for the day I climb Katahdin, then after I leave BSP, I'll stop at the camp store at Abol Bridge to ensure I have enough food to get me to Whitehouse Landing. At Whitehouse Landing, I'll buy enough food to get me to Monson. Of course, how much food you bring depends on how many days you plan to spend in the 100 mile wilderness, but if you've looked at any guide books, you've probably realized that the 100 mile wilderness is pretty flat until you climb Whitecap when going southbound; therefore, you can do decent mileage from Abol Bridge to East Branch. Have a great thru hike!

[nehiker]

And sometimes it rains and you have to wait for a couple of days to cross the West Branch.

[Blissful]

What I do when going southbound is have separate food for the day I climb Katahdin, then after I leave BSP, I'll stop at the camp store at Abol Bridge to ensure I have enough food to get me to Whitehouse Landing. At Whitehouse Landing, I'll buy enough food to get me to Monson. Of course, how much food you bring depends on how many days you plan to spend in the 100 mile wilderness, but if you've looked at any guide books, you've probably realized that the 100 mile wilderness is pretty flat until you climb Whitecap when going southbound; therefore, you can do decent mileage from Abol Bridge to East Branch. Have a great thru hike!

That's about it....except the Chairback range is hardly flat....