Updates and Food

A lot has happened in the last three weeks. The vehicle-dependent plan is back on! I'm still hopeful that I'll be able to complete all of the side-to-side trails as the entire hike will likely only take 19 days to complete. This will leave me with nearly a week and a half to get to the side trails I won't be able to finish prior to my start date. I suppose that I failed to mention that Florida is on my overall summer itinerary now. So this means that there will be about 6 phases at this point: Florida, Vermont, Michigan, Colorado, and Portland/Seattle. Needless to say, I'm incredibly excited about the events that will follow my Master's Thesis Defense that is now only 7 days away!

One of the primary reasons for this post is to share the gourmet menu I plan on consuming over the course of my trip. Since this trip is only going to last 19 days, I will ship most of my food to resupply points in order to minimize the amount of time I'll need to spend off of the trail. That said, there is a fair amount of room in my planning for additions from food purchased along the trail. I expect a lot of this to be items such as summer sausage, fresh fruit, candy bars, etc. So, without further ado, here is what I plan on  consuming during the trip:

One will note that I'm planning on about 3000 calories a day. This number is based partially on recommendations I've received from hiking gurus and friends, but mostly on my own past experiences in the back country. Luckily, I will have plenty of options to supplement my food intake if this number is on the low side. Oh, and the recipes for the Cereal Mix, GORP, both Cous Cous dishes, Backcountry Thanksgiving, and Wasabi Potatoes with Salmon can be found under the Recipes tab at the top of this blog. The remaining dinner dishes are all made by Backpacker's Pantry. 

Ramius' diet will be much simpler than mine. I plan on giving him as much Science Diet® High Energy dry dog food that he wants in a given day. The recommended amount for a 20ish pound dog per day is 1-1.33 cups, so I plan on always carrying twice that just to be sure he has enough food to continue on. The food is actually quite impressive in terms of its ingredients: in addition to the normal vitamins and minerals found in Science Diet's dog food, this one includes Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids to regulate metabolism as well as glucosamine and chondroitin for healthy joints. I'm hopeful that he'll be quite happy with this his food, but will certainly supplement his diet with summer sausage and other goodies from time to time.

Still Planning

Well, my summer reprieve from classes and structured schooling has ended and I'm still in the planning stages of the Vermont trip. At this point I've arranged for transportation to and from the trail and decided upon a route, which I will be posting via GoogleEarth soon. Anyhow, I've factored in both the End-to-End and Side-to-Side routes so that I will be covering over 546 miles since I'll have to tread down and back some of the side trails. Based upon the speeds that I've been hiking with a pack this summer, the estimated times in the Long Trail Guide and the End to Ender's Guide seem like good guidelines. I will post an updated itinerary at some point.

At this point I have only four major concerns about the trip: money, food, gear, and transportation. Money shouldn't be too much of a problem as I'll be working all year - I just need to balance that with the bills and having a somewhat enjoyable time in the present. Food is just a matter of money and planning out my trip to the mile, which isn't going to be very hard, but will probably be moderately time consuming. Gear is another story. I have most of what I will need, but am lacking a few major components. Most noticeably, I need a smaller pack than I currently have and a smaller, lighter tent. I've got a few ideas of which packs I'd like to try on, but most of them aren't locally available despite living in Boulder. Oh, and about transportation... I've found a friend who will take me to the trailhead and I'm planning on leaving my vehicle at the end of the trail, but I'm concerned that my 30-year-old van won't survive the journey. So the last concern is mostly just an anxiety that will probably be dismissed once I'm on the road.

I'm guessing that I won't be able to really focus on the final aspects of planning until closer to Thanksgiving this year. I am in the process of writing up my Master's Thesis at the moment, taking classes, and preparing for the dreaded Third Semester Exam that I'll be taking in late October.

Wish me luck!