This week we take a look at how we managed our food and water while on the trail.
Food
Along most of the Appalachian Trail there are usually towns, hostels or even gas stations available at four day intervals, so we chose to use these for our resupply. Each time we left a town or hostel, we would typically carry enough food for four nights on trail.
Dry bag(s) – We started out placing all our food into dry bags for storage. These needed to be hung in trees or on bear poles to safeguard it from bears and other animals. Once we gathered up snacks and personal items with odors, we needed two to three 8-L bags when we had full provisions (about four days of food).
Bear canister – Most of the people we hiked with used canisters for food storage. After watching how easy their end of the day food storage routine was, we ended up purchasing one from a hiker that found his canister to be too large for a single person (Bear Vault 500, 11.5 L). However, we found that the canister was too small for two people with a full resupply of food, so in the first couple of days after resupply we still had to hang one dry bag. By putting the lightest weight items in the bag, we were able to use smaller branches to hang our sack, giving us a wider variety of trees to use. A bonus is that the canister also serves as a seat.
Bear line set up: cord, carabiner, sack – We had been gifted 100’ of reflective paracord from co-workers that we cut back to 60' in length. The reflectiveness of the cord assisted in finding the hang when packing up before sunrise. The PCT hang is a great method for hanging and easy to learn. Our lightweight throw sack developed holes in it, but the rocks still remained in place during throws. The line was also used as a clothes line from time to time (when bear boxes where available, or if we did not need to hang any food).
Lighter & matches – A mini-Bic and a set of matches for backup. Only used the matches once after accidentally pouring water on top of the lighter. Another hiker gave us his spare Bic after that incident (thank Yogi!).
Stove – MSR Pocket Rocket 2, purchased in 2019. This awesome stove held up very well and was not exactly well cared for.
Fuel - The first half of the trip, we carried two small canisters (7.4 oz) of fuel: one for use and one for back up. Many hikers do not bother with a backup canister. During the second half we began to use the larger canister (13 oz) due to its wider base providing more stability while cooking, but we still kept a small canister for backup.
Utensils –
GSI Outdoors Pinnacle Dualist HS Cookset: For this hike we removed two of the four bowls that came with the set. We probably could have gotten away with taking only one bowl since we started using the cookpot as the second bowl, making dishwashing a little easier.
Sea to Summit Alpha light spoons: One regular and one long. These were purchased to replace collapsible spoons used on prior trips. The spoons were great, but we should have picked up two long ones since the regular one was a bit short for eating out of a dehydrated meal pouch.
Sno Peak 450 Titanium cups: These were for drinking coffee and whiskey. We only drank coffee on trail the first week or two, and had on-trail whiskey about three times the entire trip. It is likely that these cups will not go with us on future long hikes.
Soap – The hike started with a half full bottle of camp soap packed in the cookset. Eventually we used Dr. Bronner’s unscented soap in little dropper bottles (thanks Ragnar!). Instead of using a sponge or rag, we just used our hands to wipe out and clean the utensils.
Litter bags – Trash was placed into Ziplock bags or into used sealable bags. The bags were either tossed with the trash or emptied and washed to use again.
A note about snacks: Jimmy placed his snacks into the hip belt pockets on his backpack. Sondra used a Patagonia fanny pack for her snacks because the hip pockets on her pack were not the most convenient for her.
Water
Water was obtained from streams, springs and occasionally potable sources found along the way. Camping near a water source was ideal or extra water would need to be collected and carried to the site to handle water for cooking, cleaning and drinking. We would both start out the day carrying about 1.6 liters of water unless conditions were dry, then we had to load up with extra water. A few times we had to carry water to sustain us for a full day (15 to 17 mile stretches). The app FarOut was instrumental in figuring out the water conditions on the trail.
Our water system consisted of:
Collection containers – CNOC bladders (one 2-L & one 1-L) replaced the Sawyer Squeeze bags making water collection much easier. A bonus was the ability to gravity filter the water after purchasing a double female fitting. A dipping cup was used to better gather water from very shallow or hard to reach sources.
Various water collections scenarios
Water filter/purification – Sondra carried the 2019 Sawyer Squeeze which made it through the entire trip. Jimmy started with a Sawyer Mini but replaced a with a full-size Sawyer filter. The flow was much better from the new filter compared to the old and the mini filters. We made it a habit to backwash the filters at every town stop to maximize flow rates using a Smart Water bottle with a sports cap. We also carried some water tablets as a backup in case our filters were comprised or if we collected questionable water.
Clean water bottles – On prior hiking trips we used a bladder inside of the backpacks. It was convenient to drink from a straw that ran to the bladder. However, filling up the bladders was a chore with a loaded backpack, and keeping the bladders pristine over a long hike would have been challenging, especially if electrolytes were to be used. Therefore, we switched to using water bottles for this hike. We each carried a 1-L bottle and a smaller spare bottle. Jimmy loved his 16-oz Nalgene bottle since it was also used to measure water when making meals. Sondra used a 700 ml bottle for her spare water bottle. Water was filtered from the CNOCs into the clean water bottles. Our electrolytes were only used in the 1-L bottles, keeping the spare bottles extra clean for use in medical emergencies.
Bottle holders – Our primary drinking water was held in bottle holders attached to our backpack straps. We were pleased with Justin’s UL 1 Liter bottle holders.
The next equipment discussion (24-50) will cover basic gear and things helpful in emergencies, big and small.
(24-49)
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