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backpacking preparations
Aug. 11th, 2008 11:08 pmBree and I took an awesome backpacking trip this week. Bree had hurt her back pretty badly a few weeks ago, but after spending last weekend recuperating in Orange County she was feeling rested and ready to go. And what better way to cure back pain than to carry heavy objects many miles over mountains for a few days? I've got to patent this treatment.
The trip was delightfully impromptu. (All of my previous (wilderness) backpacking trips were long ago with Boy Scouts and involved meticulous planning of itinerary, menu, etc. On this trip we kind of just threw some stuff together and set off with the intent to hike around for a few days.) After an hour of rooting about in my parents' garage, we had all our supplies if not a specific destination: maps of the high country around Mammoth, small butane stove, sleeping bags, therma-rest sleeping pads, tent, small aluminum pot with lid and pot gripper, fork and spoon, matches, water filter, pack towels, flashlights, toilet paper, plastic shovel. And with quick trip to Trader Joe's we acquired all our food. And then we were off! My parents were out of town for the week, attending my dad's 40th high school reunion in Rochester NY, so we were able to steal his Prius for the roadtrip up to the eastern sierra (averaging 47.2 MPG!).
When backpacking, one usually goes for very energy-dense food; and my experience has been of always being a bit hungry. In keeping with an obsessive attention to documentation, here's a table of all the food we brought along (intended for two people for around 3-4 days):
Everything got eaten but about a third of the cheese, a third of the sunflower seeds, and most of the cous cous. We forgot to bring some tang/gatorade drink mix and found ourselves thirsty for it.
We didn't have much of a planned itinerary, and I pretty much made one up on the spot at the Forest Service station in Mammoth, ten minutes before closing, listing some spots we "planned" to camp in order to get a wilderness permit (which, it turns out, are free and take less than ten minutes to get). I spotted "Iva Bell Hot Springs" on the map and suddenly our trip had the sort of purpose that gives shape and aesthetic definition to an expedition.
The trip was delightfully impromptu. (All of my previous (wilderness) backpacking trips were long ago with Boy Scouts and involved meticulous planning of itinerary, menu, etc. On this trip we kind of just threw some stuff together and set off with the intent to hike around for a few days.) After an hour of rooting about in my parents' garage, we had all our supplies if not a specific destination: maps of the high country around Mammoth, small butane stove, sleeping bags, therma-rest sleeping pads, tent, small aluminum pot with lid and pot gripper, fork and spoon, matches, water filter, pack towels, flashlights, toilet paper, plastic shovel. And with quick trip to Trader Joe's we acquired all our food. And then we were off! My parents were out of town for the week, attending my dad's 40th high school reunion in Rochester NY, so we were able to steal his Prius for the roadtrip up to the eastern sierra (averaging 47.2 MPG!).
When backpacking, one usually goes for very energy-dense food; and my experience has been of always being a bit hungry. In keeping with an obsessive attention to documentation, here's a table of all the food we brought along (intended for two people for around 3-4 days):
| food | weight | energy |
|---|---|---|
| Trader Joe's dried apricots | 16 ounces | 1000 Calories |
| Nestle chocolate chunks | 11.5 | 1600 |
| Trader Joe's pre-cooked wild rice | 16 | 630 |
| Trader Joe's roasted and salted sunflower seeds | 16 | 2800 |
| TJ's italian dry salami | 8 | 1000 |
| half a kielbasa sausage | ||
| beef jerky | 8 | |
| TJ's NZ sharp cheddar | 16 | 2000 |
| TJ's orange-flavored dried cranberries | 8 | 800 |
| TJ's instant oatmeal | ? | 2600 |
| triscuit crackers | 9.5 | 1200 |
| TJ's whole wheat cous cous | 35.2 | 3520 |
| Jolly Ranchers hard candies | ||
| tea bags | 1 | 0 |
| water (5.5 liters) | 200 | 0 |
| total | 23 lbs | 17,150 |
Everything got eaten but about a third of the cheese, a third of the sunflower seeds, and most of the cous cous. We forgot to bring some tang/gatorade drink mix and found ourselves thirsty for it.
We didn't have much of a planned itinerary, and I pretty much made one up on the spot at the Forest Service station in Mammoth, ten minutes before closing, listing some spots we "planned" to camp in order to get a wilderness permit (which, it turns out, are free and take less than ten minutes to get). I spotted "Iva Bell Hot Springs" on the map and suddenly our trip had the sort of purpose that gives shape and aesthetic definition to an expedition.
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