Ashland: For those shopping for food along the way, Ashland is a great oasis. Although not necessarily cheap, the Ashland Food Co-op is a worthy stop. For those looking for a cheaper food selection, try the Shop 'N Kart. In addition to the classic bulk section, etc., their juice-bar and food area is well rated. Ashland also a number of vegan friendly restaurants including Greenleaf. I believe that Pangea and the Natural Cafe are closed these days.
Hyatt Lake: Gas Station Dining (GSD)
Crater Lake: Crater lake is pretty much GSD. The lodge has a formal dining room, but I don't believe that they have vegetarian options.
Shelter Cove Resort: GSD at best. Very limited amount of snack food and non-perishable items.
Willamette Pass Ski Resort: In past years the Willamette Pass Ski lodge has been open Thurs-Sun selling pizza. Unfortunately, although they have a vegetarian pizza, I don't believe that even the dough is vegan.
Big Lake Youth Camp: Just before you reach HWY 20/Sisters in Oregon there is a short turn off from the PCT to the Big Lake Youth Camp. I have not been, but my understanding is that it is a 7th Day Adventist run camp that serves only vegetarian food. I believe that when their camp is not fully booked up, they have allowed PCT hikers in the past to sleep there, shower there, and/or eat there.
Central Oregon ::: If you are thru-hiking the PCT feel free to contact me - if the timing works out, I would love to meet you trailside for some hot, home-cooked food. I now live in Eugene, so Willamette Pass/HWY58/Shelter Cove, McKenzie Pass or HWY20/Santiam Pass would be the closest for me.
Sisters: Sisters is a bit of a hitch-hike from the PCT, and, to me, not all that worth it unless you enjoy steak. In recent years, Sisters has acquired some fairly large super-markets, otherwise the restaurants are mostly burger and steak joints. There is one new, fairly veggie friendly spot, that if I recall correctly is called "Noodles and Rice." Its a small family run kind of operation selling asian inspired wok dishes.
Ollallie Lake: There is a small store at the lake that has somewhat typical GSD.
Timberline Lodge/Mt. Hood: Timberline Lodge is definitely a cool building and does have a full service restaurant. I am pretty sure that they have a vegetarian entre every night, but I am not sure how often it is vegan. Many hikers look forward to the Timberline brunch, however, unfortunately for a vegan it is a $12 melon bar. The ski lodge store is usually open during the day but carries a very limited selection of snack foods and drinks.
Cascade Locks: Good sized town with several supermarkets. We didn't find a suitable vegan friendly restaurant, but did have a great bbq in the park.
Stevenson, WA: The PCT doesn't actually go through Stevenson, but if you want to make the detour or do the optional road-walk as you enter WA, we liked Stevenson better than Cascade Locks. The downtown had more character, the public library was great, it also had basic supermarkets and we even noticed some vegan items on a couple of the cafe's menus.
White Pass, WA: GSD
Snoqualmie, WA: GSD
Skykomish, WA: Trail Angel
Stehekin, WA: Stehekin has the bakery, a small GSD style store and a diner/cafe. I ended up not eating at the diner because most of their recipes are pre-made and they couldn't tell me the ingredients in anything. The infamous Stehekin bakery is a stop on the bus ride between the trail and town proper. They did not have any vegan bread or sweets when I stopped there, but I was able to put in an order for a fresh loaf sans "egg wash." On the bus ride back up to the trail, I was able to pick it up. Certainly not the pastry other hikers rant about, but it was delicious bread.
Wildharvesting: I don't know a ton about edibles in the NW, but we certainly were able to spruce up our diet a little bit. In Oregon we gorged on berries. Throughout the 3-weeks we were finding fresh Thimbleberries, Blackberries, Blueberries and Huckleberries. In Washington we only found a few Huckleberries, but we hit the jackpot with mushrooms. We found several types of boletes, a couple chantrelle's and tons and tons of basketball sized Hericium/Lion's Mane.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Some Veggie Friendly Stops Along the PCT - Part 1: California
As mentioned in an earlier post, there are two primary strategies for food resupplying on the PCT. 1. Buy everything ahead of time and ship it to yourself along the way, or 2. Buy food along the way at the numerous trailside stores in the same places that one would otherwise send a package to. Due to the fact that the majority of these stores are the equivalent of gas stations, most vegans choose to pre-purchase their food. That is not to say that there are not plenty of vegan oasis' along the way as well as safe choices at your typical gas station store.
A note about gas-station shopping: Although many of us would like to think we only eat organic, whole food, after a month on the trail I was quickly willing to lower my standards for some variety. We always sought out any fresh (or not so fresh) produce, vegetarian canned beans, corn & green beans, bags of nuts (watch out for hydrogenated oils), salsa, pickles, popsicles, box wine (yes it is packaged in plastic), beer, etc. The most unexpected favorite was Fritos (3 ingredients: whole corn, corn oil, salt and rumored to be GMO free). Gas Stations along the PCT tend to be a little better than your average. They often have more canned food, a small veggie section and other basics to supply the locals in between their supply runs to larger towns. Additionally, many of these stores are supply depots for campers and other outdoor recreation enthusiasts. You often find a small supply of camper food, etc.
The following are places that I stopped at or talked to others about. Hopefully my comments will help any veggie hikers trying to plan their resupply schedule. Note, GSD will henceforth be the abbreviation for "Gas Station Dining."
Campo - didn't linger here long, but it seems that GSD is your only option.
Mt. Laguna - GSD
Idyllwild - Although it sits less that two-weeks into the trail, Idyllwild is a welcomed haven. It is small, but still boasts 2 full grocery markets plus an organic grocery buyers co-op. The smaller market, which is only one block from the campground, has a deli with veggie meats (and Tofutti Cream Cheese when we were there). This is also where we first discovered Uncle Eddies cookies, which I believe are the same cookies that Trader Joe's repackages as their own vegan cookies.
The other hot spot in Idyllwild is the buyer's co-op. It is a small store-front downtown, halfway between the two markets. I don't recall their schedule, it has probably changed... essentially they order organic produce from the valley twice per week by pre-order. Inevitably, they always have a few left-overs which they sell at the store to the public. They also have a small produce section including some bulk items, Amy's and Newman's products (and Tofutti Cutie's).
There were also a couple of other small cafe's that served vegetarian and vegan soups. Incidentally, I believe that the guy who runs Nomad Ventures used to be a vegetarian hippie type. He was giving us a hard time about our synthetic bags untill we told hime that we were vegetarian at which point he told us his whole life story (and consequently gave us some nice discounts!)
Big Bear City - We kinda splurged in Big Bear, maybe it was because we missed a spring and went 15 miles without water before reaching Big Bear, or maybe it was because we were so excited to see a vegan menu at a restaurant! Magedeline's, the hobbity looking restaurant on the main drag has a vegan menu if you ask. Although it was a little pricey, the food was on par with the price. They had 3 or so entrees and a couple of appetizers on the vegan menu - this comes at somewhat of a surprise in a world of steaks in hamburgers. There is also a nice little natural food store just as you enter town. We made sure to grab a pint of Soy Delicious Rocky Road as we set back out on the trail.
Wrightwood - I didn't go down to Wrightwood, but my understanding is that it has a decent sized convential grocery store. Reports from other hikers didn't really indicate that it had anything particularly veggie friendly.
Aqua Dulce - The main event in Aqua Dulce is of course the Sauffley's Trail Heaven. In town, just a mile down the road from Casa Sauffley is the grocery store. Mmmm.... full kitchen + full grocery store... good times. Fresh corn on the cob. Nuff said.
Casa de la Luna - We didn't know about these Trail Angels and didn't plan time to stop with them. They are famous for making taco salad and pancakes. As we sadly declined the ride, she assured us that she would have found a way to make vegan taco salad. She said if we were coming again to give her a heads up and she would make 'em really good.
(Dena's parents met us at Tehachapi Pass with delicious Vietnamese sandwiches and Indian food, so our next stop was Kennedy Meadows)
Kennedy Meadows - GSD... in fact, expired GSD. There was one Orange Juice left when we got there and it had gone bad. Our best find was a jar of pickled cauliflour, garlic and green beans. Your best hope is a vegetarian weekender that wants to become an instant trail angel...
(we pushed past Independence and Lone Pine and went the 11 days to VVR)
Vermillion Valley Resort - Basically way over priced GSD. I wish I had good things to say about VVR. The price gouging I could overlook, but it just isn't a very positive place. They sell all of the resellable stuff out of the hiker box. A few hikers reported having things stolen while there, and a couple weeks after we were there someone stole all of the credit card records... shady. The good things are that it is the closest thing to the trail between Kennedy Meadows and Red's Meadow, and that they let you stay there on moldy cots for $10 for the first night. (We squatted in the yard - they do however let you chop wood in exchange for a meal or camping)
Muir Trail Ranch - I met hikers that forked out the fortune for a meal and a night at MTR, though I don't know if they are willing to special order a vegan meal.
Red's Meadow - GSD, but with lots of camping supplies. Also a little restaurant that has a couple veggie items, including grilled cheese, but nothing vegan when we were there. We gorged on tacos of iceberg lettuce, fritos, veggie bean dip and salsa.
Tuolumne Meadows - awe, back in the greater influence of the Bay Area... although small, the Tuolmne store was well stocked with avocados, fresh tomatoes, zucchini, bread and Newman O's. Great for a meal, but I still don't think I would personally choose to resupply from there.
(We were met by my now wife and other friends at Sonora Pass)
Echo Lake - this is a classic Tahoe style resort vibe. Rustic, but well shi shi. Everything you need for a gourmet picnic. 1 ltr. box wine, olive oil preserved eggplant, olives, fancy crackers, etc. They also have a deli with plenty of veggie options. The best of all was when we were there in July they had a huge selection of fresh fruit, most notably black berries! Their smoothies aren't normally vegan, but they were more than willing to customize one for me.
South Lake Tahoe - if you make it into South Lake proper, there are a ton of veggie resources. At the junction there is a small natural food store with a good selection of produce, bulk goods, and vegan cookies. Down 50 toward the Casinos there are a couple veggie friendly restaurants including Sprout (rice bowls, sandwiches, soups), and Freshies, an Island style restaurant with boca burgers and sweet potato fries.
North Lake Tahoe (Truckee & Tahoe City) - N. Lake towns are large and offer your basic selection of grocery stores. Truckee has New Moon Natural Foods and a few veggie friendly cafe's.
Sierra City - GSD, but they have a decent produce section and some tastey old-timey pickles in a big jar on the counter.
Beldon - Beldon "Town" is basically a meth head trailer park that they call a resort. They sell a few things like fishing kits and snickers in their store. It is a long story, but this is the first time we got in a car... for the purpose of getting quickly out of Beldon, on to Quincy - where there is in fact many grocery stores, plus Quincy Natural Foods and Pangeae Cafe and Pub.
Old Station - GSD, but with a nice little picnic area to hang out in before diving into the 30-mile dry stretch of Hat Creek Rim. There is also a pair of Trail Angels that are rumored to be uber-nice (what Trail Angel isn't).
Drakesbad Guest Ranch, Lassen - This is a hot little secret on the trail. Everyday, they serve a huge buffet breakfast, luch and dinner to their guests. People staying there have first priority, so you may choose to stay there. If you don't stay there though, just wait patiently, because after they are satisfied that their guests have made it through the line once or twice, they let PCT hikers dish up all they can eat at the childs price. When we were there everything was vegan except one chicken dish and macaroni and cheese - vegan all you can eat for $5!!! The manager also sat down with us and asked us about our time on the trail and told us we weren't allowed to leave without a soak in the hot springs. Meal hours are very specific. Make sure you know them and show up on time...
Burney Falls - GSD + State Park concessions, yeah french fries...
Castella - GSD, but with a nice little section of produce that they grow on the owners adjacent property. Also, they had a good selection of juice and soy milk (including chocolate soymilk). A 13 mile hitch up the road will get you to the community of Mt. Shasta City whose tiny population boasts two natural food stores and a variety of veggie friendly cafe's.
Etna - We didn't go to Etna, but everyone says that the Brewery is the place to go. Don't know about he food, but I doubt the beer uses isinglass and is probably vegetarian... It is also rumored that David Arora the mushroom guy lives there now and let some hikers stay with him in 2005. This is also your best jumping off point to hitch to Humboldt County for trees, trees and natural food stores.
Seiad Valley - GSD, sorry the pancakes in the famous competition aren't vegan.
=== Oregon & Washington soon to come...
A note about gas-station shopping: Although many of us would like to think we only eat organic, whole food, after a month on the trail I was quickly willing to lower my standards for some variety. We always sought out any fresh (or not so fresh) produce, vegetarian canned beans, corn & green beans, bags of nuts (watch out for hydrogenated oils), salsa, pickles, popsicles, box wine (yes it is packaged in plastic), beer, etc. The most unexpected favorite was Fritos (3 ingredients: whole corn, corn oil, salt and rumored to be GMO free). Gas Stations along the PCT tend to be a little better than your average. They often have more canned food, a small veggie section and other basics to supply the locals in between their supply runs to larger towns. Additionally, many of these stores are supply depots for campers and other outdoor recreation enthusiasts. You often find a small supply of camper food, etc.
The following are places that I stopped at or talked to others about. Hopefully my comments will help any veggie hikers trying to plan their resupply schedule. Note, GSD will henceforth be the abbreviation for "Gas Station Dining."
Campo - didn't linger here long, but it seems that GSD is your only option.
Mt. Laguna - GSD
Idyllwild - Although it sits less that two-weeks into the trail, Idyllwild is a welcomed haven. It is small, but still boasts 2 full grocery markets plus an organic grocery buyers co-op. The smaller market, which is only one block from the campground, has a deli with veggie meats (and Tofutti Cream Cheese when we were there). This is also where we first discovered Uncle Eddies cookies, which I believe are the same cookies that Trader Joe's repackages as their own vegan cookies.
The other hot spot in Idyllwild is the buyer's co-op. It is a small store-front downtown, halfway between the two markets. I don't recall their schedule, it has probably changed... essentially they order organic produce from the valley twice per week by pre-order. Inevitably, they always have a few left-overs which they sell at the store to the public. They also have a small produce section including some bulk items, Amy's and Newman's products (and Tofutti Cutie's).
There were also a couple of other small cafe's that served vegetarian and vegan soups. Incidentally, I believe that the guy who runs Nomad Ventures used to be a vegetarian hippie type. He was giving us a hard time about our synthetic bags untill we told hime that we were vegetarian at which point he told us his whole life story (and consequently gave us some nice discounts!)
Big Bear City - We kinda splurged in Big Bear, maybe it was because we missed a spring and went 15 miles without water before reaching Big Bear, or maybe it was because we were so excited to see a vegan menu at a restaurant! Magedeline's, the hobbity looking restaurant on the main drag has a vegan menu if you ask. Although it was a little pricey, the food was on par with the price. They had 3 or so entrees and a couple of appetizers on the vegan menu - this comes at somewhat of a surprise in a world of steaks in hamburgers. There is also a nice little natural food store just as you enter town. We made sure to grab a pint of Soy Delicious Rocky Road as we set back out on the trail.
Wrightwood - I didn't go down to Wrightwood, but my understanding is that it has a decent sized convential grocery store. Reports from other hikers didn't really indicate that it had anything particularly veggie friendly.
Aqua Dulce - The main event in Aqua Dulce is of course the Sauffley's Trail Heaven. In town, just a mile down the road from Casa Sauffley is the grocery store. Mmmm.... full kitchen + full grocery store... good times. Fresh corn on the cob. Nuff said.
Casa de la Luna - We didn't know about these Trail Angels and didn't plan time to stop with them. They are famous for making taco salad and pancakes. As we sadly declined the ride, she assured us that she would have found a way to make vegan taco salad. She said if we were coming again to give her a heads up and she would make 'em really good.
(Dena's parents met us at Tehachapi Pass with delicious Vietnamese sandwiches and Indian food, so our next stop was Kennedy Meadows)
Kennedy Meadows - GSD... in fact, expired GSD. There was one Orange Juice left when we got there and it had gone bad. Our best find was a jar of pickled cauliflour, garlic and green beans. Your best hope is a vegetarian weekender that wants to become an instant trail angel...
(we pushed past Independence and Lone Pine and went the 11 days to VVR)
Vermillion Valley Resort - Basically way over priced GSD. I wish I had good things to say about VVR. The price gouging I could overlook, but it just isn't a very positive place. They sell all of the resellable stuff out of the hiker box. A few hikers reported having things stolen while there, and a couple weeks after we were there someone stole all of the credit card records... shady. The good things are that it is the closest thing to the trail between Kennedy Meadows and Red's Meadow, and that they let you stay there on moldy cots for $10 for the first night. (We squatted in the yard - they do however let you chop wood in exchange for a meal or camping)
Muir Trail Ranch - I met hikers that forked out the fortune for a meal and a night at MTR, though I don't know if they are willing to special order a vegan meal.
Red's Meadow - GSD, but with lots of camping supplies. Also a little restaurant that has a couple veggie items, including grilled cheese, but nothing vegan when we were there. We gorged on tacos of iceberg lettuce, fritos, veggie bean dip and salsa.
Tuolumne Meadows - awe, back in the greater influence of the Bay Area... although small, the Tuolmne store was well stocked with avocados, fresh tomatoes, zucchini, bread and Newman O's. Great for a meal, but I still don't think I would personally choose to resupply from there.
(We were met by my now wife and other friends at Sonora Pass)
Echo Lake - this is a classic Tahoe style resort vibe. Rustic, but well shi shi. Everything you need for a gourmet picnic. 1 ltr. box wine, olive oil preserved eggplant, olives, fancy crackers, etc. They also have a deli with plenty of veggie options. The best of all was when we were there in July they had a huge selection of fresh fruit, most notably black berries! Their smoothies aren't normally vegan, but they were more than willing to customize one for me.
South Lake Tahoe - if you make it into South Lake proper, there are a ton of veggie resources. At the junction there is a small natural food store with a good selection of produce, bulk goods, and vegan cookies. Down 50 toward the Casinos there are a couple veggie friendly restaurants including Sprout (rice bowls, sandwiches, soups), and Freshies, an Island style restaurant with boca burgers and sweet potato fries.
North Lake Tahoe (Truckee & Tahoe City) - N. Lake towns are large and offer your basic selection of grocery stores. Truckee has New Moon Natural Foods and a few veggie friendly cafe's.
Sierra City - GSD, but they have a decent produce section and some tastey old-timey pickles in a big jar on the counter.
Beldon - Beldon "Town" is basically a meth head trailer park that they call a resort. They sell a few things like fishing kits and snickers in their store. It is a long story, but this is the first time we got in a car... for the purpose of getting quickly out of Beldon, on to Quincy - where there is in fact many grocery stores, plus Quincy Natural Foods and Pangeae Cafe and Pub.
Old Station - GSD, but with a nice little picnic area to hang out in before diving into the 30-mile dry stretch of Hat Creek Rim. There is also a pair of Trail Angels that are rumored to be uber-nice (what Trail Angel isn't).
Drakesbad Guest Ranch, Lassen - This is a hot little secret on the trail. Everyday, they serve a huge buffet breakfast, luch and dinner to their guests. People staying there have first priority, so you may choose to stay there. If you don't stay there though, just wait patiently, because after they are satisfied that their guests have made it through the line once or twice, they let PCT hikers dish up all they can eat at the childs price. When we were there everything was vegan except one chicken dish and macaroni and cheese - vegan all you can eat for $5!!! The manager also sat down with us and asked us about our time on the trail and told us we weren't allowed to leave without a soak in the hot springs. Meal hours are very specific. Make sure you know them and show up on time...
Burney Falls - GSD + State Park concessions, yeah french fries...
Castella - GSD, but with a nice little section of produce that they grow on the owners adjacent property. Also, they had a good selection of juice and soy milk (including chocolate soymilk). A 13 mile hitch up the road will get you to the community of Mt. Shasta City whose tiny population boasts two natural food stores and a variety of veggie friendly cafe's.
Etna - We didn't go to Etna, but everyone says that the Brewery is the place to go. Don't know about he food, but I doubt the beer uses isinglass and is probably vegetarian... It is also rumored that David Arora the mushroom guy lives there now and let some hikers stay with him in 2005. This is also your best jumping off point to hitch to Humboldt County for trees, trees and natural food stores.
Seiad Valley - GSD, sorry the pancakes in the famous competition aren't vegan.
=== Oregon & Washington soon to come...
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Vegan Hiking Clothing Part 2 - Socks
Okay, so I must confess that in addition to possible glue in my shoes, I wore... wool socks sometimes. Although I unnecessarily broke from my vegan covenant, you certainly don't need to.
For a warm season thru-hike you most likely won't need particularly thick socks - in fact, so much of the Pacific Crest Trail is in deserts that thin, well breathing socks are your best bet. I am an Eagle Scout, and thus grew up in the old world of hiking - heavy leather boots that required nothing short of a sweater wrapped around your feet for padding with poly-pro socks underneath. The last mile of trail was usually a near sprint as I couldn't wait to get to camp, tear off my boots and air out my feet in some camp shoes (running shoes!). Well, fortunately I now wear running shoes to hike in and don't need all of the padding. The only times that I wear something thicker than a light running sock is when I know that I'll be spending the day in the snow or if a blister is beginning to form. Incidentally, I didn't get a single blister after 2 weeks on the PCT.
Within the world of thin socks there are endless possibilities. Just about every athletic company makes wicking socks for running these days. Hiking companies still make a number of different types of non-wool hiking and walking socks and liners that also do the trick. The "Ray-way" is probably to grab some polyester dress socks out of the bargain bin at your local clothing store. I hiked with people that wore poly dress socks and had no complaints. I carried 3 pair of socks with me at any given time on the trail - 2 thin pair for hiking and 1 thick pair for sleeping. The world of thick socks gets a little trickier for vegans. Companies are pretty good at making it unclear as to exactly what goes into their products. It seems as though wool is enough of a selling point these days to the average outdoor enthusiast that companies often advertise the wool content even if there is very little. CoolMax is an engineered high-wicking polyester material used by a number of sock companies such as ThorLo and WigWam.
Part of the reason that I wore wool socks is because I have pretty sensitive skin to synthetic materials. There are a number of non animal natural fibers out there, althoughI do not have a great deal of experience with them. I have a pair of hemp socks that are marketed as hiking socks, however, even though hemp has more oil than cotton, the socks seem to perform like cotton when wet - i.e. they don't. I've seen bamboo socks available but know very little about them. Although not organic (yet) there are a number of treated cotton socks that offer a nice balance between natural fibers and high performance. Many CoolMax socks are, in fact, a blend of polyester and cotton.
For a warm season thru-hike you most likely won't need particularly thick socks - in fact, so much of the Pacific Crest Trail is in deserts that thin, well breathing socks are your best bet. I am an Eagle Scout, and thus grew up in the old world of hiking - heavy leather boots that required nothing short of a sweater wrapped around your feet for padding with poly-pro socks underneath. The last mile of trail was usually a near sprint as I couldn't wait to get to camp, tear off my boots and air out my feet in some camp shoes (running shoes!). Well, fortunately I now wear running shoes to hike in and don't need all of the padding. The only times that I wear something thicker than a light running sock is when I know that I'll be spending the day in the snow or if a blister is beginning to form. Incidentally, I didn't get a single blister after 2 weeks on the PCT.
Within the world of thin socks there are endless possibilities. Just about every athletic company makes wicking socks for running these days. Hiking companies still make a number of different types of non-wool hiking and walking socks and liners that also do the trick. The "Ray-way" is probably to grab some polyester dress socks out of the bargain bin at your local clothing store. I hiked with people that wore poly dress socks and had no complaints. I carried 3 pair of socks with me at any given time on the trail - 2 thin pair for hiking and 1 thick pair for sleeping. The world of thick socks gets a little trickier for vegans. Companies are pretty good at making it unclear as to exactly what goes into their products. It seems as though wool is enough of a selling point these days to the average outdoor enthusiast that companies often advertise the wool content even if there is very little. CoolMax is an engineered high-wicking polyester material used by a number of sock companies such as ThorLo and WigWam.
Part of the reason that I wore wool socks is because I have pretty sensitive skin to synthetic materials. There are a number of non animal natural fibers out there, althoughI do not have a great deal of experience with them. I have a pair of hemp socks that are marketed as hiking socks, however, even though hemp has more oil than cotton, the socks seem to perform like cotton when wet - i.e. they don't. I've seen bamboo socks available but know very little about them. Although not organic (yet) there are a number of treated cotton socks that offer a nice balance between natural fibers and high performance. Many CoolMax socks are, in fact, a blend of polyester and cotton.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Vegan Hiking Clothing Part 1 - Shoes
I wish that I had a great definitive solution to the vegan and socially conscious footwear dilemma. Those of us trying to live humbly and consciously can eat from local farms, buy organic clothing that is locally/fairly made and even build our houses from local resources such as mud, straw and sustainably harvested timber - but when it comes time to buy new shoes, good luck. If you are reading this because you are interested in long distance hiking you will probably have to compromise your veganity and/or social righteousness for the sake of your feet.
Perhaps if you have a personal cobbler that will stitch up 4 pair of organic hemp shoes with sustainably harvested cork insoles and recycled tire outer-soles you will be set. For the rest of us there are some pretty good options if we are willing to make a few compromises. The great debate sort of centers around the question of whether leather, usually a byproduct of the meat industry, is really any worse than petroleum derived synthetic leathers. Since this is a vegan blog, we'll just assume that most readers will side that synthetic is better, even if only slightly so.
Athletic shoe companies seem to be finding it cheaper to make shoes from synthetic materials - additionally, some of the synthetic materials are now engineered to outperform and be more durable than leather. In fact, with the exception of Nike, I think that essentially all athletic shoe companies offer styles of shoes made from all human-made materials. Some companies even make shoes explicitly labeled vegetarian or vegan such as Garmont's Vegan Hiker. Although not as heavy as a mountaineering boot, this is still a fairly rugged boot to take on a thru-hike.
This raises the need for a small discussion on thru-hiker footwear. Ray Jardine makes a fairly good argument for hiking in running shoes in his books. Unless you are planning to carry an 80 pound pack or need to front point in your crampons, I highly recommend that all hikers consider running shoes as standard hiking footwear. Consider these previously held beliefs...
1. We need boots to support our ankles: Our ankles are designed to keep us stable. Ultralite hiking greatly reduces our packweight so that we no longer are overburdened by extra weight that our ankles can't support. The more we wear boots, the more we weaken our ankles.
2. Boots last longer: Boot soles don't tend to last much longer than those of running shoes. Which is easier while on the trail... have a new pair of shoes sent to you? or try to get your one pair of boots resoled? New shoes.
3. Boots protect our feet and have better
traction. This may be technically true, but they also make our feet so clumbsy that they bang into more stuff anyway. Most thru-hikers survive just fine in their running shoes. I have summited a number of peaks, including Whitney, Shasta and the 3 Sisters in trail running shoes and never wish I had something heavier.
The primary advantage of running shoes over traditional boots is that they are much lighter. Your feet are being lifted perhaps 1000 times each per mile. Hiking with lighter shoes makes a significant difference. Additionally, running shoes breath better than boots. As a hiker, our feet become our most important asset. A critical part of keeping our feet healthy is keeping them cool and dry. Good ventilation helps to reduce swelling and moisture that leads to odors, fungi and blisters.
The best way I found to protect my feet was to stop every 2-3 hours for a 15 min. break where I would take off my shoes, pull out the insoles and air everything out.
So, back to the shoes.
There are many resources on the web for vegan shoes. A quick google search will turn up hundreds. I think that Zappos.com is a nice place to start because they have a vegetarian shoe section. In this section you will see that nearly all of the running, trail running, and hiking shoe companies are represented in the vegetarian section: Asolo, Montrail, Vasque, New Balance, North Face, New Balance, Adidas, etc.
What I haven't mentioned so far is that while all of these shoes may not be made of leather, they all contain glues which may or may not contain animal products. Many glues use casein, other animal proteins, or even ground bones and hooves. Unfortunately, I don't know anyone who has had any luck finding out which shoes use which type of glue. New Balance tends to issue blanket statements that they get their glues from different sources and cannot guarantee whether or not a particular shoe has animal products in the glue.
With that said, I believe that New Balance is a very good option for hiking shoes. What I like about them is that they assemble many of their shoes in the U.S.A. and their shoes come in 4 different widths to accommodate a variety of foot shapes. This is particularly nice, because as thru-hikers know, your foot will tend to swell at least 1/2 a shoe size from its regular size. Most of this swelling makes the foot wider rather than longer. The whole "Made in the USA" thing is a little confusing. New Balance claims that certain materials cannot be acquired in the USA, therefore none of their shoes are 100% made in the USA. If a shoe bears the "Made in the USA" logo, that means that more than 70% of the shoes value was made in the USA. Although not
perfect, there really aren't other companies that even offer 70%.
When I hiked the PCT, I wore New Balance 906's that are no longer made. I got about 700 miles per pair. That was fairly long relative to other hikers. I observed that hikers usually got from 400-800 miles per pair of shoes. During the High Sierra/John Muir Trail section of the PCT I switched from my NB's to a pair of Montrail Hurricane Ridge's. Although the Montrails seemed like some serious mountain shoes with a partially plastic sole and GoreTex XLR throughout, they turned out to be the worst shoes I've ever owned. They have plastic pieces on the side that focus all of the stress in the shoe to a thin piece of fabric near the ball of your foot. Both shoes had gaping holes within 60-70 miles of use. Fortunately R
EI reluctantly replaced them. Since hiking the PCT, I've switched to a pair of Montrail Mountain Mist's and a pair of Vasque trail running shoes (Blur, I think). These shoes are great. I don't wear GoreTex shoes, though, unless I know I'm going to spend the day on snow. Asolo shoes always seem pretty hard core, but I don't have any personal experience with them.
I think that the most important part of selecting shoes for a thru-hike is making sure that they fit your feet. Every brand of running shoe fits slightly different, so it is good to try a number of shoes to see which fits your feet best. Some running shoe retailers have tread mills and trained fitting specialists that can analyze your foot and gate and recommend the optimal shoe for you. I don't recommend trying shoes on at a local retailer and buying them online. I think that it is only fair to at least buy the first pair from the local retailer that offered the service of letting you try it on. Once you have a pair of shoes that you have settled on, make sure to break them in. The great thing about running shoes is that it doesn't take much to actually break them in, but the important part is that you have spent some time on the trail actually testing the comfort and support of the shoes that you have chosen.
And don't forget to shake your shoes out in the morning!!!
Perhaps if you have a personal cobbler that will stitch up 4 pair of organic hemp shoes with sustainably harvested cork insoles and recycled tire outer-soles you will be set. For the rest of us there are some pretty good options if we are willing to make a few compromises. The great debate sort of centers around the question of whether leather, usually a byproduct of the meat industry, is really any worse than petroleum derived synthetic leathers. Since this is a vegan blog, we'll just assume that most readers will side that synthetic is better, even if only slightly so.
Athletic shoe companies seem to be finding it cheaper to make shoes from synthetic materials - additionally, some of the synthetic materials are now engineered to outperform and be more durable than leather. In fact, with the exception of Nike, I think that essentially all athletic shoe companies offer styles of shoes made from all human-made materials. Some companies even make shoes explicitly labeled vegetarian or vegan such as Garmont's Vegan Hiker. Although not as heavy as a mountaineering boot, this is still a fairly rugged boot to take on a thru-hike.
This raises the need for a small discussion on thru-hiker footwear. Ray Jardine makes a fairly good argument for hiking in running shoes in his books. Unless you are planning to carry an 80 pound pack or need to front point in your crampons, I highly recommend that all hikers consider running shoes as standard hiking footwear. Consider these previously held beliefs...
1. We need boots to support our ankles: Our ankles are designed to keep us stable. Ultralite hiking greatly reduces our packweight so that we no longer are overburdened by extra weight that our ankles can't support. The more we wear boots, the more we weaken our ankles.
2. Boots last longer: Boot soles don't tend to last much longer than those of running shoes. Which is easier while on the trail... have a new pair of shoes sent to you? or try to get your one pair of boots resoled? New shoes.
3. Boots protect our feet and have better
traction. This may be technically true, but they also make our feet so clumbsy that they bang into more stuff anyway. Most thru-hikers survive just fine in their running shoes. I have summited a number of peaks, including Whitney, Shasta and the 3 Sisters in trail running shoes and never wish I had something heavier.The primary advantage of running shoes over traditional boots is that they are much lighter. Your feet are being lifted perhaps 1000 times each per mile. Hiking with lighter shoes makes a significant difference. Additionally, running shoes breath better than boots. As a hiker, our feet become our most important asset. A critical part of keeping our feet healthy is keeping them cool and dry. Good ventilation helps to reduce swelling and moisture that leads to odors, fungi and blisters.
The best way I found to protect my feet was to stop every 2-3 hours for a 15 min. break where I would take off my shoes, pull out the insoles and air everything out.So, back to the shoes.
There are many resources on the web for vegan shoes. A quick google search will turn up hundreds. I think that Zappos.com is a nice place to start because they have a vegetarian shoe section. In this section you will see that nearly all of the running, trail running, and hiking shoe companies are represented in the vegetarian section: Asolo, Montrail, Vasque, New Balance, North Face, New Balance, Adidas, etc.
What I haven't mentioned so far is that while all of these shoes may not be made of leather, they all contain glues which may or may not contain animal products. Many glues use casein, other animal proteins, or even ground bones and hooves. Unfortunately, I don't know anyone who has had any luck finding out which shoes use which type of glue. New Balance tends to issue blanket statements that they get their glues from different sources and cannot guarantee whether or not a particular shoe has animal products in the glue.
With that said, I believe that New Balance is a very good option for hiking shoes. What I like about them is that they assemble many of their shoes in the U.S.A. and their shoes come in 4 different widths to accommodate a variety of foot shapes. This is particularly nice, because as thru-hikers know, your foot will tend to swell at least 1/2 a shoe size from its regular size. Most of this swelling makes the foot wider rather than longer. The whole "Made in the USA" thing is a little confusing. New Balance claims that certain materials cannot be acquired in the USA, therefore none of their shoes are 100% made in the USA. If a shoe bears the "Made in the USA" logo, that means that more than 70% of the shoes value was made in the USA. Although not
perfect, there really aren't other companies that even offer 70%.When I hiked the PCT, I wore New Balance 906's that are no longer made. I got about 700 miles per pair. That was fairly long relative to other hikers. I observed that hikers usually got from 400-800 miles per pair of shoes. During the High Sierra/John Muir Trail section of the PCT I switched from my NB's to a pair of Montrail Hurricane Ridge's. Although the Montrails seemed like some serious mountain shoes with a partially plastic sole and GoreTex XLR throughout, they turned out to be the worst shoes I've ever owned. They have plastic pieces on the side that focus all of the stress in the shoe to a thin piece of fabric near the ball of your foot. Both shoes had gaping holes within 60-70 miles of use. Fortunately R
EI reluctantly replaced them. Since hiking the PCT, I've switched to a pair of Montrail Mountain Mist's and a pair of Vasque trail running shoes (Blur, I think). These shoes are great. I don't wear GoreTex shoes, though, unless I know I'm going to spend the day on snow. Asolo shoes always seem pretty hard core, but I don't have any personal experience with them.I think that the most important part of selecting shoes for a thru-hike is making sure that they fit your feet. Every brand of running shoe fits slightly different, so it is good to try a number of shoes to see which fits your feet best. Some running shoe retailers have tread mills and trained fitting specialists that can analyze your foot and gate and recommend the optimal shoe for you. I don't recommend trying shoes on at a local retailer and buying them online. I think that it is only fair to at least buy the first pair from the local retailer that offered the service of letting you try it on. Once you have a pair of shoes that you have settled on, make sure to break them in. The great thing about running shoes is that it doesn't take much to actually break them in, but the important part is that you have spent some time on the trail actually testing the comfort and support of the shoes that you have chosen.
And don't forget to shake your shoes out in the morning!!!
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Vegan/Ultralight Sleeping Systems
This is really a pretty simple topic. In the world of commercially available and generally accepted sleeping systems (bags) there are essentially two choices: down and synthetic insulation fill. Since this is a vegan blog, down is not a choice and thus, synthetic is the only choice.
Perhaps the main reason for writing this entry is to dispel the down myth as well as share my PCT sleeping experience. I'm sure many readers have at one point or another had a sleeping bag sales person or other hiker try to convince them that down is the only way to go. I got tired of hearing it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know you can special order some $300+ down bag that only weighs 1 pound - but for less than a pound more one can get a comparable synthetic bag for $80-$200. Yes one whole pound does seem like a lot of weight to someone who cuts the tags off of their clothes to save weight, but keep in mind that most down bags actually come in between 1.5 pounds and 3 pounds.
Mostly, I think that down has been over hyped up. Althoug
h sleeping bag fabrics have improved and down is "less likely" to get wet, the last thing that you want is to find yourself several days hike from anywhere with a limp, useless down bag. Down is worthless when it gets wet. On the other hand a synthetic bag can be wrung out and still retain as much as 50% of its insulative value when wet. Getting a bag completely soaked is not as unlikely as it may seem. Although many hikers don't run into extended periods of rain on the PCT, it is also possible that you get stuck in a week of rain, never allowing your gear to properly dry out. Also, any one of the many river crossings is an opportunity for an unexpected swim and gear wash.Down is the soft quill-less feathers closest to a duck or goose's skin. Some times these feathers are removed after the animals has been slaughtered as part of the meat industry. Often, particularly with geese, the feathers are painfully plucked from the live bird on regular schedule - in fact these are often the same birds being tortured for foie gras. For more information about down checkout PETA's factsheed: http://www.peta.org/mc/factsheet_display.asp?ID=121 or their video, Plucked Alive: The Torture Behind Down: http://www.petatv.com/tvpopup/Prefs.asp?video=down
My choice for the trail was a well used 35degF North Face bag. I still think that a 35deg bag is fine for summer purposes but in the mountains and desert it is important to know smart camping practices to stay warm inside the light of a bag. The bag that I started the PCT with was extremely compacted and was probably more like a 40-50 deg bag at that point. It got me as far as Aqua Dulce before I was able to switch it out for essentially a new version of the same bag - a 35degF North Face synthetic bag. After removing unneeded bells and whistles such as pillow pockets, watch pockets, etc. each bag weighed in at just under two pounds.
As mentioned earlier, I would say that goo
d camping/survival skills are more important than the sleeping bag itself. The PCT Hiker's Companion has a number of good tips for staying warm at night. If you think that is going to be cold, it is important to shelter yourself from the wind, clear skies and cold ground. If you cannot completely shelter yourself from the wind sleep feet into the wind so that the wind doesn't go down your bag and so that the least amount of your body is exposed to the direct blasts. Clear nights act as blackbody radiators, literally stealing heat from you. This (and dew prevention) is a good reason to camp under tree cover if possible. Tree cover also means that it is more likely that there is a good layer of humus on the ground. Humus is the layer of organic matter than builds up on forest floors. This stuff is fluffier than lower strata of soil, thus it holds more air and helps to insulate your body from direct conductive body heat loss to the ground. If humus isn't an option due to availability or the site is sensitive and shouldn't be slept on, use extra clothing, backpacks and other gear to pile up under you. Finally, don't camp in a low flat spot. Flat spots at the base of a hill or mountain often collect extremely cold air that pours down the mountain and settles. One of the main thru-hiker tricks is to keep a little high calorie snack next to your bed to eat in the middle of the night when that 3am chill sets in. The extra calories give your raging metabolism a little more fuel to keep yourself warm.Another sleeping option:
Although I haven't personally tried it, I am not convinced that the Jardine sleeping quilt is the worst idea in the world. The basic idea behind it is that the when you sleep in a sleeping bag you compress all of the fill underneath you so that it is effectively doing nothing. Therefore, R.J. suggests using just a quilt over you and some sort of closed cell foam type sleeping pad below you. "The Goat People" aka Rob and Katherine used quilts that they made and seemed pretty happy with them (especially through the sections when they had a warm goat to cozy up to). I think that each of their synthetic fill quilts weighed about one pound. I think that if my wife and I did more long distance hiking together I might make a quilt for the two of us to share. Also, I might try putting a piece of nylon across the bottom of the quilt to make sure the quilt doesn't slip off and to prevent warm air from leaking out around the edges.
Other down gear:
Most other down gear has an equal synthetic counter part. I hiked the High Sierra section of the PCT with a Patagonia puff vest made from synthetic insulation. Also, when I got to Stehekin there was a severe threat of snow storm - and conveniently a sale at the Stehekin Lodge ultralight gear shop - I was able to get a previous season Go-Lite puff parka for only $40. This is now one of my favorite pieces of backcountry gear summer or winter.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
My Food Strategy
Overview
Anyone interested in the PCT probably knows all about resupply strategies by now; hopefully I can provide a little insight to how strategies are effected by being vegan and introduce them to those that don't know at all. Essentially there are two primary strategies, plus a number of hybrids of the two.
1. Buy all of your food in advance, package it into boxes and send them to any of a number of post offices or resorts along the trail. A list of commonly used resupply points, their addresses and important information is available on the PCTA Website.
This is essentially the strategy that I used. It is a good strategy for vegans and those concerned about what they put into their bodies. You can purchase food in bulk, buy local, organic, vegan, exactly how you want. Shipping can get expensive though (definitely use flat-rate boxes to save money) and most likely you won't be able to really know exactly what you want to eat every day for the next 4-5 months.
2. Buy your food along the way. There are a number of larger towns within 4-10 miles of the trail that can be hiked or hitched to, however, most of the time the shopping is limited to what one might find at a typical gas station. Hiker's that buy along the way tend to eat a lot of candy bars, pop tarts, ramen, instant rice and instant oatmeal. Although a considerable amount of money might be saved on shipping, mountain resort food prices are significantly higher than one can find when buying bulk.
3. The main hybrid strategy involves buying along the way at locations where good food is available and sending food from some of these locations to the places where good food is not available. For instance, Ashland is only a 10 mile hitch from the trail and is a great place to buy bulk, organic, etc to resupply for Oregon and possibly Washington. If you are willing to hitch, you can probably buy good food within 10 miles of the trail for most of the Southern California portion.
My Food Planning:
My typical, off trail, diet primarily consists of organic fresh fruit, vegetables and whole grains. I was a little concerned about 4+ months of no fresh vegetables and a diet of a great deal of dehydrated foods. Additionally, I was overwhelmed by the idea of
planning all of my food for 4.5 months in advance. To begin to reduce the stress I made a day by day itinerary of my trip down the trail in Excel. I used the PCT data book and guide book to get a general idea of where I would be and when. I allowed myself 2 weeks to build to a 20 mile per day average (based on the recommendation of another thru-hiker I had talked to) and barely hit 25 a day before the Sierras where we reduced mileage again to below 20. After the High Sierras we planned for 25's again (but in reality we averaged 30 a day from Tahoe to Canada).
After creating a rough day by day itinerary, we were able to plug in the resupply locations that we had chosen. Most of the points were chosen due to proximity to the trail since we were planning to avoid getting in cars when possible. Therefore, all of our resupply locations were within about 4-5 miles of the trail where we could easily walk to them. We resupplied at:
Mt. Laguna, Warner Springs, Idyllwild, Big Bear, Cajon Pass, Aqua Dulce, Tehachapi (we had family deliver this one), Kennedy Meadows, VVR, Tuolumne Meadows, Echo Lake, Sierra City, Belden Town, Old Station, Castella, Seiad Valley, Crater Lake, Shelter Cove Resort, Santiam Pass (again family delivered this one), Timberline Lodge, Cascade Locks, Naches, Snoqualmie Pass, and Stehekin.
My original plan was based on recipes from "Lip Smackin' Vegetarian Backpacking" a book of backpacking recipes by Christine and Tim Conners. Essentially I picked about 20 recipes that "seemed" good
to me. Unfortunately I never really went and tested them all - worse, I thought that for some reason while out on the trail I would begin to like hot cereal... not the case. So, I made another Excel sheet of all of the recipes and used it to total all of the ingredients that I needed to buy, went out and bought them all and the weekend before beginning the trail I packaged each meal into zip-lock baggies and put them in bags that would eventually be packed into flat-rate boxes.
My general plan included 3 "meals" per day plus several baggies of snacks, which included nuts, dried fruit, trail mix and energy bars.
My Revised Plan (What actually worked for me):
As I mentioned, the whole hot cereal breakfast thing was a no go, also my other breakfast plan - soymilk powder + granola, just add water was a gooey disaster. I also realized that a number of my untested meals were no good (inlcuding: Green Dragon Pad Thai, Absaroka Sweet & Sour, and Time Travelers Tamales). It is funny, I had done a decent amount of backpacking before this trip but it was rarely in the desert and rarely did it involve sunrise to sunset hiking. I should have known that 3 "meals" a day would never work. In addition to problems with the actual food, I had pretty serious "trail shock"/heat sickness the first two weeks on the trail. I could barely eat a thing (fortunately I had plenty of fat reserves to give me energy...)
My saving grace was that my girlfriend (now wife) was sending each of my resupply boxes one at a time - so I had a little room to make some changes. I had her take out every breakfast and about a third of the other meals (starting with the above listed). She replaced my old breakfasts with about 1.5 cups of dry granola and doubled my nuts, dried fruit and energy bar supply. So, the new plan that got me the from about Idyllwild to Canada was granola first thing, nuts, fruit and energy bar in the morning, the same in the afternoon, and a cooked dinner when we reached camp. It is strange getting used to the idea of exercising all day, eating, and immediately going to sleep - it seems contrary to what we are told about healthy eating, but for a thru-hiker it makes a great deal of sense. If you look at Barbara Braatens articles that I refer to in the previous post, she recommends eating a large carb meal within 15min to an hour after stopping exercise - this help to restore glycogen levels. Additionally, thru-hikers metabolisms never stop racing which means when your body is out of calories in the middle of the night it can get cold fast. A meal before bed restores glycogen and gives it the energy to feed your metabolism through the night.
In addition to the above noted regime of granola, nuts, fruit, bars and cooked meals there were a number of little extras mixed in. I brought ONE powder with me, a whole food veggie based powder that meets most of a persons daily needs for vitamins and minerals. Since I wasn't getting fresh veggies often, this seemed to best way to keep my body in balance. At a few points along the trail my dad surprised me with care packages of his dehydrator creations. Some of my favorites were tofu jerky and smoothies. For the smoothies he would simply dehydrate some fruit, throw it in the blender with some soy milk powder and I would add water - not exactly Jamba Juice, but it sure is refreshing. Other treats included chocolate, fruit leathers, halvah (5000 calorie sesame based dessert bars) and what we called energy goo - essentially peanut butter, chocolate chips, rolled oats and coconut mixed up in a zip lock. Whenever we hit town we loaded up on any and all fresh produce that we could find.
Thoughts For Next Time
I have many thoughts for next time, which will most certainly be topics for future posts, but the main one I will share now is a change in strategy for my cooked meals. It seems as though I would divide my cooked meals into three types and bring about 1/3 of my meals from each type.
1. Pre-assembled meals - This is essentially the approach that I already took. There is very little prep really, you simply buy a few ingredients, combine them in a zip lock, throw them in a pot of boiling water and done. Some of my favorites from "Lip Smackin Vegetarian Backpacking" were: Miso Madness, Ketchikan Cous Cous and Lone Pine Lentils.
2. Make a meal trailside - We spent a good amount of time with the infamous "Goat People" aka Rob and Katherine and they had a similar set of dietary goals but a different meal approach. They pre-cooked all of their rice, beans, lentils, etc. and dehydrated them. In their packages they sent themselves larger bulk supplies of these grains and kept an array of spices, oils, etc. with them to create new meals each night.
3. Full meal dehydration - This is my dad's approach. He has a book called "Backpack Gourmet" by Linda Frederick Yaffe. He posted one recipe "Portobello Curry" that is either vegan or he adapted it to be vegan on his blog oregonhiker.wordpress.com. Another favorite was a potato and tofu breakfast scramble that he sent. The parents of my hiking partner, Dena, sent dehydrated Indian food leftovers and one point - in other words the options within the world of food dehydration are endless.
Some of My Favorites:
I've already listed a number of my favorite treats and recipes. But to recap...
Miso Madness - a combination of instant rice, miso soup powder, dried mushrooms, tofu and seaweed. You can make it soupy or like a pilaf.
Lone Pine Lentils - A delicious stew of lentils with fresh dumplings. Even though mixing the water and oil to the dumpling mix (flour and veggie broth powder) is super easy, something about this meal doesn't hardly seem like trail food. This meal never got old to me.
It is amazing how many things can be dehydrated and still taste great on the trail. I already wrote about the smoothies (mmm, smoothies), and mentioned the tofu jerky. There are a number of marinade recipes, but all you really need to do is marinade the tofu, slice it thin and dehydrate it. Spaghetti sauce rehydrates well as do other sauce like meals like baigan bharta and other Indian foods.
Store bought treats include other vegan jerkies like Primal Strips or Stonewalls Jerquee, the above mentioned halvah, chocolate, Newman O's, Uncle Eddies vegan cookies and Tami found vegan, whole wheat doughnut holes at one point that she sent for a resupply day treat. Dena's mom did some research on the foods of nomadic people and sent a number of interesting dried breads and crackers along with spreads and chutneys that didn't spoil in our packs. Mary's Gone Crackers and various seed/nut based raw crackers are particular good. The easiest way to increase ones calorie to weight ratio is by adding a tablespoon or so of oil to meals. Many hikers use olive oil, I like coconut oil because it stays solid below about 75degF. Perhaps the health effects of coconut oil can be a future discussion.
Although I ate a Cliff bar nearly every day, I think that they are way too sweet and can hardly eat them now. I will post in the future about vegan energy bars, but Lara Bars and Bumblebars are some of my favorites. Lara Bars are raw and date based (and delicious). Bumblebars are sesame based and equally tasty.
- Resupply Strategies
- My food planning
- Revised food plan (what actually worked for me)
- Thoughts for next time
- Some of my favorites
Anyone interested in the PCT probably knows all about resupply strategies by now; hopefully I can provide a little insight to how strategies are effected by being vegan and introduce them to those that don't know at all. Essentially there are two primary strategies, plus a number of hybrids of the two.
1. Buy all of your food in advance, package it into boxes and send them to any of a number of post offices or resorts along the trail. A list of commonly used resupply points, their addresses and important information is available on the PCTA Website.
This is essentially the strategy that I used. It is a good strategy for vegans and those concerned about what they put into their bodies. You can purchase food in bulk, buy local, organic, vegan, exactly how you want. Shipping can get expensive though (definitely use flat-rate boxes to save money) and most likely you won't be able to really know exactly what you want to eat every day for the next 4-5 months.
2. Buy your food along the way. There are a number of larger towns within 4-10 miles of the trail that can be hiked or hitched to, however, most of the time the shopping is limited to what one might find at a typical gas station. Hiker's that buy along the way tend to eat a lot of candy bars, pop tarts, ramen, instant rice and instant oatmeal. Although a considerable amount of money might be saved on shipping, mountain resort food prices are significantly higher than one can find when buying bulk.
3. The main hybrid strategy involves buying along the way at locations where good food is available and sending food from some of these locations to the places where good food is not available. For instance, Ashland is only a 10 mile hitch from the trail and is a great place to buy bulk, organic, etc to resupply for Oregon and possibly Washington. If you are willing to hitch, you can probably buy good food within 10 miles of the trail for most of the Southern California portion.
My Food Planning:
My typical, off trail, diet primarily consists of organic fresh fruit, vegetables and whole grains. I was a little concerned about 4+ months of no fresh vegetables and a diet of a great deal of dehydrated foods. Additionally, I was overwhelmed by the idea of
planning all of my food for 4.5 months in advance. To begin to reduce the stress I made a day by day itinerary of my trip down the trail in Excel. I used the PCT data book and guide book to get a general idea of where I would be and when. I allowed myself 2 weeks to build to a 20 mile per day average (based on the recommendation of another thru-hiker I had talked to) and barely hit 25 a day before the Sierras where we reduced mileage again to below 20. After the High Sierras we planned for 25's again (but in reality we averaged 30 a day from Tahoe to Canada).After creating a rough day by day itinerary, we were able to plug in the resupply locations that we had chosen. Most of the points were chosen due to proximity to the trail since we were planning to avoid getting in cars when possible. Therefore, all of our resupply locations were within about 4-5 miles of the trail where we could easily walk to them. We resupplied at:
Mt. Laguna, Warner Springs, Idyllwild, Big Bear, Cajon Pass, Aqua Dulce, Tehachapi (we had family deliver this one), Kennedy Meadows, VVR, Tuolumne Meadows, Echo Lake, Sierra City, Belden Town, Old Station, Castella, Seiad Valley, Crater Lake, Shelter Cove Resort, Santiam Pass (again family delivered this one), Timberline Lodge, Cascade Locks, Naches, Snoqualmie Pass, and Stehekin.My original plan was based on recipes from "Lip Smackin' Vegetarian Backpacking" a book of backpacking recipes by Christine and Tim Conners. Essentially I picked about 20 recipes that "seemed" good
to me. Unfortunately I never really went and tested them all - worse, I thought that for some reason while out on the trail I would begin to like hot cereal... not the case. So, I made another Excel sheet of all of the recipes and used it to total all of the ingredients that I needed to buy, went out and bought them all and the weekend before beginning the trail I packaged each meal into zip-lock baggies and put them in bags that would eventually be packed into flat-rate boxes.My general plan included 3 "meals" per day plus several baggies of snacks, which included nuts, dried fruit, trail mix and energy bars.
My Revised Plan (What actually worked for me):
As I mentioned, the whole hot cereal breakfast thing was a no go, also my other breakfast plan - soymilk powder + granola, just add water was a gooey disaster. I also realized that a number of my untested meals were no good (inlcuding: Green Dragon Pad Thai, Absaroka Sweet & Sour, and Time Travelers Tamales). It is funny, I had done a decent amount of backpacking before this trip but it was rarely in the desert and rarely did it involve sunrise to sunset hiking. I should have known that 3 "meals" a day would never work. In addition to problems with the actual food, I had pretty serious "trail shock"/heat sickness the first two weeks on the trail. I could barely eat a thing (fortunately I had plenty of fat reserves to give me energy...)
My saving grace was that my girlfriend (now wife) was sending each of my resupply boxes one at a time - so I had a little room to make some changes. I had her take out every breakfast and about a third of the other meals (starting with the above listed). She replaced my old breakfasts with about 1.5 cups of dry granola and doubled my nuts, dried fruit and energy bar supply. So, the new plan that got me the from about Idyllwild to Canada was granola first thing, nuts, fruit and energy bar in the morning, the same in the afternoon, and a cooked dinner when we reached camp. It is strange getting used to the idea of exercising all day, eating, and immediately going to sleep - it seems contrary to what we are told about healthy eating, but for a thru-hiker it makes a great deal of sense. If you look at Barbara Braatens articles that I refer to in the previous post, she recommends eating a large carb meal within 15min to an hour after stopping exercise - this help to restore glycogen levels. Additionally, thru-hikers metabolisms never stop racing which means when your body is out of calories in the middle of the night it can get cold fast. A meal before bed restores glycogen and gives it the energy to feed your metabolism through the night.
In addition to the above noted regime of granola, nuts, fruit, bars and cooked meals there were a number of little extras mixed in. I brought ONE powder with me, a whole food veggie based powder that meets most of a persons daily needs for vitamins and minerals. Since I wasn't getting fresh veggies often, this seemed to best way to keep my body in balance. At a few points along the trail my dad surprised me with care packages of his dehydrator creations. Some of my favorites were tofu jerky and smoothies. For the smoothies he would simply dehydrate some fruit, throw it in the blender with some soy milk powder and I would add water - not exactly Jamba Juice, but it sure is refreshing. Other treats included chocolate, fruit leathers, halvah (5000 calorie sesame based dessert bars) and what we called energy goo - essentially peanut butter, chocolate chips, rolled oats and coconut mixed up in a zip lock. Whenever we hit town we loaded up on any and all fresh produce that we could find.
Thoughts For Next Time
I have many thoughts for next time, which will most certainly be topics for future posts, but the main one I will share now is a change in strategy for my cooked meals. It seems as though I would divide my cooked meals into three types and bring about 1/3 of my meals from each type.
1. Pre-assembled meals - This is essentially the approach that I already took. There is very little prep really, you simply buy a few ingredients, combine them in a zip lock, throw them in a pot of boiling water and done. Some of my favorites from "Lip Smackin Vegetarian Backpacking" were: Miso Madness, Ketchikan Cous Cous and Lone Pine Lentils.
2. Make a meal trailside - We spent a good amount of time with the infamous "Goat People" aka Rob and Katherine and they had a similar set of dietary goals but a different meal approach. They pre-cooked all of their rice, beans, lentils, etc. and dehydrated them. In their packages they sent themselves larger bulk supplies of these grains and kept an array of spices, oils, etc. with them to create new meals each night.
3. Full meal dehydration - This is my dad's approach. He has a book called "Backpack Gourmet" by Linda Frederick Yaffe. He posted one recipe "Portobello Curry" that is either vegan or he adapted it to be vegan on his blog oregonhiker.wordpress.com. Another favorite was a potato and tofu breakfast scramble that he sent. The parents of my hiking partner, Dena, sent dehydrated Indian food leftovers and one point - in other words the options within the world of food dehydration are endless.
Some of My Favorites:
I've already listed a number of my favorite treats and recipes. But to recap...
Miso Madness - a combination of instant rice, miso soup powder, dried mushrooms, tofu and seaweed. You can make it soupy or like a pilaf.
Lone Pine Lentils - A delicious stew of lentils with fresh dumplings. Even though mixing the water and oil to the dumpling mix (flour and veggie broth powder) is super easy, something about this meal doesn't hardly seem like trail food. This meal never got old to me.
It is amazing how many things can be dehydrated and still taste great on the trail. I already wrote about the smoothies (mmm, smoothies), and mentioned the tofu jerky. There are a number of marinade recipes, but all you really need to do is marinade the tofu, slice it thin and dehydrate it. Spaghetti sauce rehydrates well as do other sauce like meals like baigan bharta and other Indian foods.
Store bought treats include other vegan jerkies like Primal Strips or Stonewalls Jerquee, the above mentioned halvah, chocolate, Newman O's, Uncle Eddies vegan cookies and Tami found vegan, whole wheat doughnut holes at one point that she sent for a resupply day treat. Dena's mom did some research on the foods of nomadic people and sent a number of interesting dried breads and crackers along with spreads and chutneys that didn't spoil in our packs. Mary's Gone Crackers and various seed/nut based raw crackers are particular good. The easiest way to increase ones calorie to weight ratio is by adding a tablespoon or so of oil to meals. Many hikers use olive oil, I like coconut oil because it stays solid below about 75degF. Perhaps the health effects of coconut oil can be a future discussion.
Although I ate a Cliff bar nearly every day, I think that they are way too sweet and can hardly eat them now. I will post in the future about vegan energy bars, but Lara Bars and Bumblebars are some of my favorites. Lara Bars are raw and date based (and delicious). Bumblebars are sesame based and equally tasty.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Nutrition for Thru-Hikers
Although being vegan is a lifestyle that guides ones decisions regarding most aspects of life, most people think first of how it effects ones diet. Thus, an intro to trail food seems an appropriate way to kick-off this blog.
I am by no means a dietitian, nutritionist or other expert on human dietary needs, but I have been vegan for about 8 years now and didn't have any dietary problems during my PCT thru-hike (after the first 2 weeks - more on that later). Brenda Braaten, however, is a PhD dietitian and has written a series of extremely useful articles on nutrition for long distance hikers and other endurance athletes. These articles can be found at:
http://thru-hiker.com/articles/pack_light_eat_right.php
The page includes articles on sugars/carbs, fats, protein, vitamins, minerals, recipes and even wild harvesting. Although the articles are not vegan specific, she writes mostly in general terms and does make a few specific recommendations for vegetarians. Additionally, her tables and charts of suggested foods tend only to refer to jerky and powdered milk - nearly all of the rest of the info is vegan.
Her primary suggestion is to create a diet that is approximately 50% Carbs, 35% Fat, and 15% Protein by calories. Although her fat recommendation is far higher than normal suggestions, fat tends to contain more than twice the energy of sugars by weight and since thru-hikers will burn the calories almost immediately it is okay. Braaten also focuses a great deal on carbohydrates. Carbs are our primary energy source - they feed both our brains and our muscles. Braaten recommends munching on carbs throughout the day and avoiding simple sugars (particularly before exercise has begun). She says that the protein recommendation for a long distance hiker is only slightly higher than that of a normal person - and as most vegans know, the average American consumes twice as much protein as they need. Protein is an inefficient source of energy, so it is really just needed for building new tissue.
I am by no means a dietitian, nutritionist or other expert on human dietary needs, but I have been vegan for about 8 years now and didn't have any dietary problems during my PCT thru-hike (after the first 2 weeks - more on that later). Brenda Braaten, however, is a PhD dietitian and has written a series of extremely useful articles on nutrition for long distance hikers and other endurance athletes. These articles can be found at:
http://thru-hiker.com/articles/pack_light_eat_right.php
The page includes articles on sugars/carbs, fats, protein, vitamins, minerals, recipes and even wild harvesting. Although the articles are not vegan specific, she writes mostly in general terms and does make a few specific recommendations for vegetarians. Additionally, her tables and charts of suggested foods tend only to refer to jerky and powdered milk - nearly all of the rest of the info is vegan.
Her primary suggestion is to create a diet that is approximately 50% Carbs, 35% Fat, and 15% Protein by calories. Although her fat recommendation is far higher than normal suggestions, fat tends to contain more than twice the energy of sugars by weight and since thru-hikers will burn the calories almost immediately it is okay. Braaten also focuses a great deal on carbohydrates. Carbs are our primary energy source - they feed both our brains and our muscles. Braaten recommends munching on carbs throughout the day and avoiding simple sugars (particularly before exercise has begun). She says that the protein recommendation for a long distance hiker is only slightly higher than that of a normal person - and as most vegans know, the average American consumes twice as much protein as they need. Protein is an inefficient source of energy, so it is really just needed for building new tissue.
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