"ChuckWagon"

My hiking partner is a +6' tall, 15 year old who eats 5 times a day. He's always hungry. Always. 

Time of day is irrelevant. 

Convenience is irrelevant. 

Nutritional value is irrelevant.

He just consumes food.

Did I mention he's vegetarian?

 

Your normal backpacking trip takes a fair amount of planning. Planning for 2 weeks takes just a touch more. The basic needs are no different whether you're going for a one night, or a month. Food/Water/Shelter/Medical are basic concerns that don't change a whole lot from day to day. It's the amount of days that ratchets up the amount of planning.

    Water can be an issue if you're going a long distance, particularly in the desert where watering holes can be non-existent for long stretches. That adds a ton of weight. Based on what I've read about the Appalachian Trail, however, this isn't really an issue. I read that people take only one to two liters of water at a time. This is vastly different than the hike I just did the other day where we were carrying 8 to 10 liters, and filtered two more for a 48-hour trip. 

    Of course, food just grows based on the amount of days. I don't eat a whole lot like I used to. I usually hang around 1,500 calories a day. I'll probably be burning close to 3,000 calories per day, if not more, so I'll have substantial meals twice a day, a light breakfast, and two calorie dense snacks.

    "Chuckwagon", my son, however will have all of that plus one extra meal. As mentioned above he is vegetarian, although he'll enjoy a fine chicken nugget every now and then. But since we'll be a little short on microwaves and dino-nuggets, I don't think we'll be able to rely on that. Also he's a bit "picky" 🙄.

    Because of this I've had to get pretty creative. I've read hundreds of vegan backpacking blogs, tried dehydrating my own food, and used my vacuum sealer fairly religiously since January. 

    I have a mixture of off-the-shelf backpacking meals (our favorites come from Backcountry Pantry and Good-to-Go), and homemade goodies to hopefully keep him satiated.

    We are also taking some protein bars (Pro Meal Bar) and Salted Nut Rolls. A friend of mine who we were backpacking with last weekend was feeding him those, and it seemed to work. The salted nut roll is a great option, because it doesn't have chocolate (no melting) and higher in protein and salt than maybe some other candies. So that's what we're starting with.

    I told him if we're going to lug all this food around for him he's going to have to carry it... hence his new moniker "Chuckwagon". It'll work great as a trail name for him, until a need arises for a new one.

Here's to fueling lots of miles!

One week out!

One week out and I'm having trouble sitting still!

For over a year I have been thinking about, reading, and preparing to section hike part of the Appalachian Trail.

On June 6th I will fly out to Hampton, Virginia to meet my sister. I'm taking along with me my son, who is 15, soon to be 16, who'll be my "tramily," along the trail. We'll call him "ChuckWagon"- I'll explain that in a later post.

I shipped three large boxes of food and gear to my sister's house. She's going to help me by meeting me every 4 days along the trail to resupply our food and any gear we need. I'm also using the power of Amazon prime to get to her a bunch of other food that my growing 15-year-old will need.

The current plan is to fly in on June 6th. We will then spend June 7th preparing: going through our equipment one last time, preparing the drop boxes my sis will drop off, buying any last minute things we think we may need, and of course packing our packs.

On June 8th she'll drive us near Lexington, Virginia. This is not an arbitrary starting point. My father, grandfather and great-grandfather all went to college there at VMI, and I want my son to see that place. We'll then hit the trail in the afternoon, and be on our way.

I'd like to get about 8 mi in that first afternoon, so we'll see how that goes. 

The plan is to do between 15 and 20 miles a day for 13 days. I know we can do this, as we did a shakedown hike in the desert last weekend and learned a lot about our limits. I've never hiked the Appalachian Trail, just read a lot about it. Based on what I've read if we do about 17 miles a day, we'll get over just over 200 miles in. We will be heading northbound (or NOBO), and from what I understand our stretch is one of the easier ones on the over 2,000 mi of Appalachian Trail. But we'll see :)

As mentioned above, my sis will meet us about every 4 days, and then pick us up on the 20th. Not sure where that will exactly be yet, but hopefully in the northern end of the Shenandoah National Forest. 

I'm excited to have an extended backpacking trip.

I'm excited to be in the forest for so many days in a row.

I'm excited to be able to spend time with my son in a moment of his life that will not last.

I'm excited to finally put action into a long-standing goal of mine, which is to hike the entire Appalachian Trail (eventually).

I'm excited!