Yesterday I bought around 250 nutrition bars off of Ebay. You know, those bar things that taste like chocolate covered cardboard and are supposed to be good for you (at least better than something with high fructose corn syrup). Most through hikers eat them. They eat alot of them. Like ten a day on epic hikes.

If you’re trying to eat 3000 calories a day and keep your pack light, it’s a pretty good solution, although not the most gourmet. Ten bars equal about 2000 calories. With a granola breakfast, a hot dehydrated dinner and maybe some tortillas and other little snacks in between you shouldn’t loose that much weight. Although with Andy, who is naturally “lanky”, we’re going to try and supplement his diet with “buttery goodness”. The receipe is basically a tub of butter, sugar and some sort of oaty grain. Sounds gross right? You would be surprised what starts to sound delicious after hiking twenty miles a day.

Estimating a five month hike that’s 1500 bars each.

We’re going to Hawaii on February ninth for ten days of back country hiking. We’re getting off the plane with our packs, hiking to Volcanoes National Park and hiking out ten days later. It will be our first semi test of our food system. Although not completely accurate because there are no coconuts on the PCT.

I would really like to try spear fishing but I’m not sure if my other half has confidence in my handling a spear in open water. I brought it up a few times and the conversation seems to get ignored. I’m pretty sure Andy is hoping that I’ll forget about it. Even if I don’t get to play cave woman, at least we’ll have all of our snorkel gear to explore with.

After debating for awhile, I finally “pulled the trigger” and ordered $500 of freeze dried meals and fruit. You can buy dehydrated much cheaper, but as far as taste and texture freeze dried is the way to go. I figured since food was going to be a major focal point of our days, it should be the most delicious possible. Surprisingly, the meals are really tasty. We actually eat them on a semi regular basis as “real” food. If you’re considering trying it, you can buy online or most camping stores (REI) carry them. My recommendation would be Mary Jane’s Farm.

Operation get rid of everything we own has slowed considerably. This is only because we’ve come to the things that need fixing or decision making. Andy did a clean install on the mammoth Dell (anyone interested) and the praying mantis cage is still sitting in the corner (anyone want to babysit? I just can’t part with it.). But I am seeing progress and am positive that we will be getting everything we own down to one small walk-in closet. I’m looking forward to the picture I’m going to take once it’s all done.