Food planning can be confusing for the first-time thru-hiker or section hiker. You have yet to determine your pace and don’t know how many days you can go between food resupplies. Here are some tips based on a decade of supplying meals to the thru-hiking community. How much food should I pack for my Appalachian Trail hike? Customers often ask us how much food they should order for an Appalachian Trail (AT) thru-hike and where most hikers receive mail drops. Most hikers have resupply boxes mailed to towns with limited […]
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Backpackers who need to minimize weight and space will carry dried food. Most of a food’s weight and volume is due to its water content, and freeze-drying and dehydrating are methods to remove the water, resulting in lighter and packable food. When food is sufficiently dried, it can be stored without refrigeration since the microorganisms that cause mold, spoilage, and bacteria cannot grow without moisture. While the two food preservation methods reduce the volume and weight of food by evaporating water, there are also significant differences when deciding which type […]
Each year we are asked by hikers planning a CT thru-hike if we can mail their food resupply. We sure can! The Colorado Trail (CT) is a 485-mile (781 km) trail that spans southwest of Denver to Durango in Colorado, United States. Considered by hikers to be breathtaking and challenging, much of the trail stays above the tree line, offering expansive views and vibrant displays of wildflowers. Snow will be present at higher elevations, which can make travel difficult. The Colorado Trail Foundation (CTF), which maintains the Colorado Trail, recommends hiking the […]
A common question we get from backpackers is, “What backpacking meals do you have that are low in sodium?” Low sodium is a regulated term for food containing 140 mg of sodium or less per serving. Most packaged food will not meet this definition because salt functions as a natural preservative and drying agent. Fresh food and water-packed meals are your best bet for finding low sodium food. Beyond that, dried single ingredients, especially freeze-dried fruits and vegetables, are more likely to be low in sodium than dried packaged meals. A small amount of sodium is […]
Several factors can cause the hands to swell when hiking, but the most common causes are gravity and how the body distributes heat during exercise. As the core muscles heat up when hiking, the vascular system cools the body by releasing more fluid to our fingers, hands, and feet. When blood reaches the skin to dissipate the heat, fluids leak out of the vessels, causing swelling of the limbs. Medically known as exercise-induced peripheral edema, the problem is not serious and will disappear soon after you stop hiking. On a […]