backpacking preparations

[nibot]

Bree 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):

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.

Comments

[quirkyfemme.livejournal.com]

That sounds like a great idea, especially with the hot springs and the not paying any fees part.

[rosiedee.livejournal.com]

I hope 5.5L of water wasn't all you had for the whole trip!

-- from a backpacker twice hospitalized with severe dehydration

[nibot.livejournal.com]

haha! we camped near water every night, so were able to refill.

I trust that this hospitalization wasn't recent! I'm eager to hear about your trip. (-:

[rosiedee.livejournal.com]

Our trip was great! Except the first day, which was so terrible that I tried to cry but couldn't actually form any tears because I WAS SO DEHYDRATED. (Even after twelve straight hours of rain!)

Mild dehydration is something of a permanent condition for me, though, despite all my best efforts to the contrary.

[vyncentvega.livejournal.com]

Oh hey, I've been meaning to make a post but AUGH f'in' entropy: my gf (lert) is moving to Minneapolis at the end of the month. I'll be flying out with her for 5 daysish then, so,

I'd love any...thoughts? Any! At all.

Please?


I hear there's an IKEA about!

Also, something about cold weather, which hopefully isn't a factor in August.

[rosiedee.livejournal.com]

Oh! Yes! Does lert know where she'll be living already? Knowing what neighborhood you're in would help a lot, although I guess the "things you must see and do" list remains roughly the same. But I'll throw together some ideas in an email to you in the next 72 hours or so.

[vyncentvega.livejournal.com]

She's starting at the university, and she found a place just off campus in some direction (I forget).

"I'll throw together some ideas in an email to you in the next 72 hours or so."

Awesome, thanks!

[furzicle.livejournal.com]

You'll have to put a cadre of cowboys on your list-- and you'll have to post about them so others will know what the heck I'm talking about.

[spencerfern.livejournal.com]

In Japan this summer I tried to climb a mountain. (http://www.spencerfern.com/2008/07/mt-taka-dake-in-japan.html) Anyhow, when I was shopping for food I was starting to get frustrated, because I can't read enough Japanese to decipher the nutritional information. Then I stumbled upon a section of snacks in this grocery store where the mass and energy content was written prominently on the package in English. I think this stuff was dried yams, but I'm really just guessing. Anyhow, at the time it seemed like this stuff was waiting there just for me.

(http://picasaweb.google.com/sbfern/JapanSummer08/photo#5221535820160439586)

[in-alaska.livejournal.com]

Orange-flavored dried cranberries, huh? Weird Americans.

[nibot.livejournal.com]

they were delicious!