Food for the trail

Son

I tried the BakePacker Ultra-Light last night to make some corn meal. It
turned our great. I cooked it on medium heat which will keep the BakePacker
at a medium Boil for 15 minutes and let it sit for 5 minutes. This will be a
great treat for us to add to our evening meals. I will be trying a cake mix
in the next few days. You can go to www.bakepacker.com to view this great
little oven. I used Marie Callender's corn bread mix. The serving size will
give each of us 450 calories. Which is 75% carbs, 18% fat, 8% protein.
I figure we can have oatmeal every morning with a variety of nuts, raisens
added to give us about 800 calories to start our day. Of course I will have
coffee. We can use the Folgers bags. Also good ole hot chocalet
I want to experiment with adding rice and powdered beans and dehydrated
veggies to the corn bread mix to give added flavor and good eats.

I will talk to later and hope you are having a good time.

Dad

Food for thought on the trail

Son

For the next month or so I will be writing about the process I will
be using to create the menu for our 30 day hike. I will first cover the
nutritional reasons for the food that we will be packing and eating.
Our body is fueled by CARBOHYDRATES and FAT. Frequent snacking is needed to
maintain energy levels for the long trail. Eating about 20-30 grams of carbs
per hour will help your body keep your body from hitting the WALL. Eating 7
pieces of dehydrated apples will give you about 28 grams of carbs. A 1oz
granola bar will give about 19 grams of carbs. You see it is not hard to
plan your snacks to help your body.
With us carrying about 55 lbs we need about 3500 to 4500 calories per day. A
50-35-15 diet is what our target will be. That is 50% calories from carbs;
35% calories from fat; 15% calories from protein. 3500 calories will weigh
about 1.6 lbs on a 50-35-15 diet.
Proper training is a must as it trains your body to be more efficient fat
burners. Trained muscles burn a richer fuel mixture, high fat, conserving
carb stores.
For more on this subject go to www.thru-hiker.com/packlighteatright.
Do you think Michael would drive use to the trail head. He could even spend
the first night and climb Mt Whitney with us? Let me know and I will contact
him.
More about our food tomorrow with some interesting menu items and ways to
cook/bake them.
Have a nice day son,
Dad

Boots

Son

Glad you found yourself a pair of boots. If someone carried 45 lbs with the
boots I do not feel it would be a problem. The biggest question is do you
feel comfortable with them? I bought a pair of Montrail Torre GTX wide from
REI. The wide is so comfortable. I can move my toes around and my heals are
snug. When I get into town next week I need to visit REI as I need to get
some trail running shoes.
The nice thing about REI is you can take them back at any time to get a
refund or exchange.
Make sure you break them in as much as possible before we do our Pt. Reyes
walk. I have put about 40 hours on my already.

Dad

Bought some boots... Finally!

Dad,

Well, here it is. Tonight Louisa and I stopped by REI (they're having one of their sales) and checked out their boots. They didn't have the Vasque Sundowner, but they did have another version - the Vasque Summit GTX. All leather and a great old boot. One that would probably last me many decades... but, at the urging of the REI employees, I tried another boot that was much more breathable... the Asolo Fugitive. After trying both, I was much more impressed with the support supplied by the Asolo. The REI associate helped me find a good size... 13! ... and I decided to go ahead and get them - not to mention they were on sale! I decided it was better to buy them now and then return home and do research to see if they really are as good as the staff at REI claim.

Now, I just finished doing the research, and while almost every review raved about the boots and how happy they were with the choice -- including a very impressive review on BackpackGearTest.com -- I am concerned about one thing...

REI had these boots identified in their Backpacking category, but the Asolo website has them listed as hikers. In fact, they are light hikers and while many of the reviewers used them for backpacking, none carried more than 45 lbs.

My question is this... if we are going to be carrying upwards of 60 lbs, will these boots work or do I need to go back to the Vasque Summit or Zephyr?

Your son...
Matson

Another Boot To Consider

Dad,

I've also considered the Vasque Zephyr II. Seems to be lighter than the Sundowner, and has better breathability, but still the ankle support I need.

Your Thoughts?

Matson

Backpacking Boots

Dad,

I am excited to see you next week. After we finish working on TechEd (TechEdEvents.org), I think it is going to be a nice relaxing day hiking Point Reyes.

I need to get my boots soon so I can test them and ensure that their are no hot spots. I am considering a couple different styles of Vasque boots. Many reviewers have raved about Vasque with the only drawback being that they are now made in China.

Specifically, I am considering the Vasque 7152 Sundowner Summit GTX Backpacking Boots. These are a great all-around boot, it has the ankle support I need, is made of leather, fully waterproof and a quality boot.

Question is, in July is this the best boot? It is not going to breath well, but it is going to last. What do you think?

Your son,
Matson