Hello again everyone. I can’t believe it, but here I am making another blog entry, and here you are reading it. Shouts to us!!!
In my earlier post, I gave a background on my planned September 2021 thru-hike of the Long Trail.
In this post, I want to explain my resupply strategy and briefly go over my food plan.
Resupply Strategy:
On long-distance hikes, you carry everything on your back. It would be nearly impossible to carry all your food for an entire hike of this magnitude (unless you are going for speed records, which I am not), so you need to resupply every so often to restock on food.
There are a few different supply strategies that hikers tend to use when they run out of food.
1. Get off the trail and go to the nearest store/town to buy enough food until you get to the next stop for resupply.
2. Prepare all your food beforehand, and have it shipped to designated locations near the trail (i.e., a post office or hotel).
I will be utilizing strategy 2. I will be preparing all my food beforehand and because I am driving up, I will be dropping off my resupply boxes at 4 separate locations (listed below) that I will pass along the trail. This will allow me to keep many days of food on me at all times without having to carry too much and keeping my pack weight as low as possible.
Resupply 1 – Green Mountain House (57 miles NOBO on the Long Trail): This will be my first resupply location. It is in Manchester Center, which is a few miles west of the trail. I plan to schedule a ride or hitch into town.
Resupply 2 – Inn at the Long Trail (104 miles NOBO on the Long Trail): This is the most famous stop on the LT, it is less than a mile from the trailhead. I will be dropping off a resupply box and staying here for a night.
Resupply 3 – Old Stagecoach Inn (184 miles NOBO on the Long Trail):
This supply will bring me to the city of Waterbury and the Old Stagecoach Inn. A few miles east of the trail, Waterbury is a great town to rest and resupply in.
Resupply site 4 – Johnson Hardware Store (225 miles NOBO on the Long Trail): My final stop will be here, because this store accepts resupply boxes and has food and equipment for sale. Bonus points for being within walking distance of the trail. After I resupply here, that will last me to Journey’s End.
(Note: all the locations listed above accept hiking resupply boxes as of September 2021. If you plan on using them, be sure to contact them beforehand to ensure they still accept packages).
Food Strategy
My trail food is made up of breakfast, hiking snacks, and pre-made dinners. I plan on starting the first section of my hike with about 3,000 calories per day, and making adjustments if needed. This hike will be the first time I have had to plan more than 4 days of nutrition, and I am sure mistakes will be made. I have done ample amounts of research on the subject, but because everyone’s bodies and needs are different, nutrition is one of those things you have to learn on trail.
Breakfast – I am not a morning person…I never have been, and probably never will be. When I wake up in the morning, I like to get up, start packing, and quickly hit the trail. The last thing I want to do is sit down and have a dedicated breakfast. A GoGo squez with some peanut butter as I am packing up my gear suffices for me. Additionally, I am not a coffee drinker, so that simplifies my morning.
Lunch – I opt for hiking snacks throughout the day. Everything from jerky (specifically sweetwood), dried fruit, trail-mix, nuts, and my favorite, pistachios.
Dinner – On most weekend hikes, I would maybe buy some freeze-dried meals, or a ramen bomb. For this trip, I have opted to pre-make most of my meals. I bought some dehydrated ingredients from Harmony house, archer farms, and others. These ingredients will be mixed to create meals based on recipes I have from Backcountry Foodie.
I want to take a moment to shout out Backcountry Foodie. They are an amazing resource for hikers. They have hundreds of healthy, delicious, and easy-to-make breakfast, lunch, and dinner recipes with specific instructions. You can organize all the recipes into a meal plan and create shopping lists. Backcountry Foodie founder Aaron is a registered dietician and puts out educational content on nutrition in the backcountry.
(Note: Backcountry Foodie does require a subscription, but there are three options, and at only 3 dollars a month, you can have access to all 175 of their recipes. I am a premium member of their site, and I cannot recommend them enough).