Pre-Hike Hike

In just a little more than a week, we'll be hitting the trail again to finish the Maryland section.  It will also be my son's first backpacking trip.  We hiked a local trail this past weekend (Game Day Sunday obvious from the photo) to work on breaking in his new hiking boots.  I'm slightly concerned about this trip with him.  There were comments like "This downhill is killing my knees!" (it was about a 6 inch elevation change- when he stepped down off a rock) and "Wow, I think we've gone about 3 miles so far, my legs are killing me!" (we hadn't even gone a half a mile).  Our first day is about 11 miles.  I'm just hoping I can bring a lot of Snickers bars because he is going to turn into a monster ever mile or so.  Luckily we've figured out his food for the most part.  He likes Ramen noodles and he likes the Mountain House Mac & Cheese.  We still have to try eggs in the form of a burrito (Mountain House eggs with cheese rolled in a tortilla), but he won't starve, and I'm comfortable that he'll have enough protein.  I'm just hoping that we can find enough to talk about to keep his mind off how much walking he's doing.  I don't think I know enough about Minecraft to get the job done.
As for me, I'm slightly worried about my hip/butt injury.  I've been seeing a chiropractor, and I'm down to just one visit every other week.  But I still have pain on hills and with added weight.  I've been doing squats daily (really, Mom, I have) to try to build up my butt muscles.  This last hike we did I was pain free, but I also wasn't carrying my pack, and it wasn't too strenuous.  But I'll be taking my Vitamin I (ibuprofen), and I'll also be trying out some Salonpas pain patches per the doctor's suggestion.  So now it just a matter of finalizing food, packing the packs and getting some decent weather.

Back to the Trail

In a little less than a month, I'll be heading back to the Appalachian Trail for an overnight to finish the Maryland section.  This will be my first trip since being treated for a screwed up pelvis, or a badass, whichever you prefer.  It's also the first time my son will go on an overnight trip.  Or a hike longer than 6 miles.  I'm hoping the running he's doing at soccer will help him with his endurance, but really, I'm most concerned about his food.
To say he is a picky eater is an understatement.   His typical menu consists of peanut butter and marshmallow fluff sandwiches, chicken nuggets, french fries, grilled cheese and ketchup.  The peanut butter and ketchup can easily be brought along on a backpacking trip, but I'm not planning on packing a stove, and I'm fairly certain McDonald's hasn't opened a hike thru window on the AT yet.  Dinner is my biggest challenge since I can pack his Fluffernutter sandwich for lunch and have Poptarts for breakfast. This weekend, we're going to be taste testing some Ramen noodles and possibly seeing about throwing some chicken in with it.  If that doesn't work, I'll see if there's a mac and cheese I can convince him to eat (I know, what kid doesn't eat mac and cheese??).  During the discussion about food, he suggested bringing hot dogs for dinner.  When I told him that wasn't an option his reply was, "Hopefully there will be some trail magic."
Keep dreaming kid.

Things I Learned

While our big adventure turned out to not be so big (we made it one night and about 7 miles), we did learn quite a lot about what not to do next time.  Or, more specifically, how to pack better.

1. You aren't going to starve.  While making up our food, we went a little overboard with the quantity.  We had more than enough ingredients to make up our meal bags so we packed extra.  "Having extra meals isn't a bad idea" my husband said.  He's wrong.  It is a bad idea. Extra food means extra weight.  Pack what you need.

2. Trail mix is really heavy.  Everything you read tells you to have snacks to eat to keep your energy up.  Hiking with 25+ pounds on your back uses a lot of calories.  And while trail mix might seem like a brilliant idea, it's really heavy (especially when you're worried about starving as I mentioned).  Scrap the trail mix, bring some mini snickers or beef jerky and call it a day.

3. Having wine to drink and cheese and crackers for a celebration the first night is awesome-and heavy.  It's true.  My mom took the bag of wine out of it's box and used the water bladder area of her pack to carry it.  I had the cheese and crackers.  While awesome to have a glass of wine, a plastic flask with some whiskey works too, and is much lighter.

4. You don't need a lot of clothing.  I packed a couple of pants, a few shirts, several pairs of socks and a coat and who knows what else.  I was worried I'd be cold or get wet, I guess.  Next time, I'll be packing my clothes sparingly.  I do think having extra hiking socks is important, but maybe not packing every pair of hiking socks you own.  After all, you can dry them out on the outside of your pack. 

5. You probably don't need 3 tarps.  I purchased 3 small tarps right before leaving mostly because of the impending weather.  Instead of splitting them up, I just packed them all in my pack.  Two were purchased with the intent of using them as footprints and the third was a just in case tarp in the event we needed to rig a tarp roof over the tents.  I think they're important, but next time I'll either split them up or only carry the ones I personally need.

6. You won't be bored, so you can leave the Mad Libs at home. I can see taking something to read or something if you're traveling alone, but in our group, our down time was spent talking to each other, eating and sleeping.  I don't think extras are needed.  Maybe just a small knot tying instruction card so you can practice your knots with your paracord.

7. A backpacking sleeping bag is important.  I borrowed my son's sleeping bag so it would fit into my compression sack and be slightly lighter than my usual sleeping bag.  It was still big and bulky and for my next trip, I'll be seeking out something lighter.

So, that's some of the things I learned on the first attempt at backpacking.  Getting pack weight down is a must.  Mine was around 26 pounds and my husband's was over 30 pounds (because he was gracious enough to carry all of the food).  Hopefully we can get the pack weight down below 25 pounds.

What Am I Going To Eat?

Food is an important item on the trail.  When you're burning so many calories, you need to make sure you take in enough calories to give your body enough energy and nutrients to continue.  So I've been trying to think of some different foods to take so I don't get sick of the same thing.  My plan is eating a hot breakfast, cold lunch and a hot dinner.  I think planning your hot meals is a lot easier than figuring out a cold trail lunch.  So I decided to try tuna.  I'm not a fish lover.  I hate eating fish.  Can't even stand the smell of fish.  But every now and then, I can stomach tuna.  The small little cans are heavier than I'd like but still not too bad.  The kit I bought had a can of premade tuna salad, 5 crackers and a spoon.

I opened the can and immediately thought it looked like cat food.  Not a good omen.  So I started eating, and at first it was okay.  Okay meaning with the flavor of the cracker I could choke it down.  But when I got to the last couple of spoonfuls, I was done.  There will be no tuna salad in my pack on this trip (or any other trips for that matter). 

 While in the store, I also came across this soup mix that you make by just adding water.  I love potato soup, and nothing is better on a chilly fall night in the woods than a warm bowl of soup.  So, since it was only around $3, I figured I'd test it out.

So I cooked dinner last night backpacker style- in a Ziploc bag.  I measured out the mix based on the amount of the serving size listed on the bag (1/4 cup dry made 1 cup of soup).  The first bag I made was a little watery but the second was okay.  Both were edible and tasted pretty good.  We've decided to include 1 meal of potato soup.  I wonder how I can get bacon in it?





I also have the dehydrator going full bore.  I'm currently working on peas, and tonight I'm hoping to start on some corn.  I have apples and blueberries to dehydrate for my oatmeal as well.  (the peas and corn aren't for the oatmeal, that's for chicken and rice or noodle meals).

So I think I have an idea of food, or most of the food.  Lunches will be jerky and granola bars or possibly PB&J on a tortilla.  I'll be trying it all so I know how I'm managing everything. 

Not Keen on Quinoa

 This is a report from one of my other blogs:

This is Quinoa

(pronounced keen-wa or keen-oh-a).

It's considered a super food

higher in protein than rice

and a good source of fiber, phosphorous,

magnesium, iron and calcium.

And it cooks in under 15 minutes.

So when I saw some recipes for backpacking meals 

that use quinoa, 

I thought I definitely needed to try it-

certain I would be bagging it up for the big trip.

But I tried it

and hated it.

I'm not sure if it was because of the flavoring and seasoning it came with

or if I really hate it.

Maybe I'll give it a try again cooked a different way,

but as for now, I think I'll be sticking with Ramen noodles and rice.