Supply Logistics
- Scott Armour
- Apr 4, 2018
- 2 min read
Assuring access to proper food and supplies is the foundation of a successful thru hike. While the Appalachian Trail crosses through (or near) many towns, the art of timing supplies, keeping weights minimized and providing up to 5,000 calories per person per day (for 150 days) is still complex.
Some early research suggested we only bring foods that have more than 130 calories per ounce (anything lower would add too much weight to value). With this little nugget of knowledge I went off to find foods that have over 130 calories per ounce and found they are few and far between. primarily nuts and fats. Few proteins, grains or carbs made the grade. After serious time in the local Costco and some serious taste testing we built a menu with variety, nutrition and high caloric content .
Breakfast: Starts with Ensure powder which packs 250 calories per ounce, has several vitamin supplements and actually tastes pretty good. Add a cup or two of granola (found a tasty variety at the local grocer that packs an additional 250 calories per half cup) and a bit of dried fruit for variety. Add a cup of cold water, shake for a minute and you have a 1,250 calorie breakfast that is fast, easy and requires no clean up. Perfect for a fast paced through hike.
Lunch: Since lunch is consumed while hiking, it is really more of a constant snacking than a singular daily event. We found a wide variety of trail snacks that provide the protein and calories including:
Oreos
Pistachios
Almonds
Trail Mix
Protein Bars
Biscuits with Almond Butter
Duke's (little sausages kind of like jerky)
Nutter Butter's
Naked Bars
Dinner: Dinner is the only meal we cook each day. It typically consists of a few servings of Mountain House and some Idahoan mashed potatoes. Mountain House has over 15 varieties (all good) and we actually spun up some of our own recipes (mix Mountain House ground beef, freeze dried re-fried beans, dehydrated cheddar cheese and put into a tortilla after reconstituting - tastes so much better than it sounds :)). So even over 150 days we have a wide variety for dinner each week.
In addition to food, other supplies like shoes, hygiene supplies and paperwork need to be coordinated and sent to the right place at the right time.
After all the meals and supplies are acquired and organized, they need to be parceled, packaged and sent. For our thru hike we have 26 separate mail drops planned to assure we have the supplies we need each step along the trail.
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