I am highly motivated by food. I generally have snacks stashed at all my regular haunts: home, work, car, suitcase, jacket pocket, Bible case, etc. Whenever I run low on snacks (I mean, is one granola bar ever enough??), my stomach immediately tightens into a knot with a gurgle. So you can imagine that food planning on this trip has been a top priority. The catch is that everything you want to eat, you’ve got to carry. Fresh nectarines are delicious, but delicate and heavy. Top Ramen will pickle your blood, but it’s incredibly light. Choose wisely.
Our menu typically consists of dehydrated foods of all sorts, which we reconstitute in insulated screw-lid containers with a cup of boiling water. Tortillas are also a staple, as are the craved hiker food groups of crunchy, sour, salty, and chocolate. My chocolate variety has steadily increased to an embarrassing assortment of Dove chocolates, mint M&Ms, peanut butter M&Ms, a dark chocolate bar, chocolate chips, and chocolate chunk granola bars. But hey, consumable motivation is worth carrying around! And if the waistband of pants is any indication (a safety pin takes in 1.5 inches), I can afford to consume more calories for this trip.
Best practice at camp is to prepare a bear bag to hang your food out of the reach of critters, optimally 200 feet downwind from camp, 12 feet from the ground, and 6 feet from the tree. This requires spreading trees (rare among the tall firs of the PNW) and a good aim with a rock to carry your rope over the branch. Rocks of sufficient heaviness are also helpful; ask me how I felt about hanging bear bags in the Pumice Desert. 😒 Some nights, I’ve gotten the line on the first throw! Most times, the rocks aren’t heavy enough, the branch is too low/high/mossy/twiggy, the ground is covered in clingy pine boughs that grab your line when it falls to the ground, the wind/sun/darkness complicates your throw, mosquitoes are sucking the last bit of sanity from your weary body, or you’re just too tired to accurately lob a rock on a string. I may have had a few incidents of frustrated grunts, grumbles, and screams while hanging the bear bag, but I always sleep better when food is swinging from a branch rather than sitting in the tent.

And finally, water. I am forever ruined for drinking water after drinking for a month from clear mountain streams. With the 0.1 micron Sawyer Squeeze filter, we’ve hydrated from springs, creeks, rivers, ponds, and lakes. Our mapping app allows us to see exactly where the next water source is, and I’ve joined in on my body’s hiking hydration rate of 1L per 4 miles/2 hours. This calculation is key, because water is heavy, and carrying extra is a lot of work – we try to avoid work. 🙂