PCT 2020 | Backpacking Food For 8 Days on the Pacific Crest Trail

what's up everybody my name is kathleen former pct through hiker avid pacific northwest day hiker and the hungry hiker here on youtube today i'm going to talk about one of my all-time favorite topics food and more specifically i want to talk about the food that i had in my food bag on my backpacking trip while section hiking the pacific crest trail this summer for eight days i hiked on section l here in washington from rainy pass up to the canadian border at the northern terminus and then turned around and head back to rainy pass so it was a total of 122 miles in eight days in this video i'm going to talk about all the food that was in my food bag the gear that i used in my cooking system and the meals that i prepared on trail before we get started be sure to subscribe to my youtube channel and hit that bell icon to get notified any time i add new videos all right let's get into my food bag shall we hands down my section hike on the pct this summer was the longest food carry i'd ever done for any backpacking trip up until this trip the longest food carry i'd ever done was a seven day stretch in the high sierra on the pct in 2018 so why was my food bag so heavy for this trip a section hike on the pct this summer was a long sectional in washington starting at rainey pass off of highway 20 where i'd hiked northbound along the pct for 62 miles until i reached the northern terminus at the canadian border since the canadian border was closed it would be illegal for me to walk into canada and head into manning park when i got to the border i camped there for the night and then headed back towards rainey pass the next morning along the bct southbound making this trip a total of 122 miles over eight days from rainy pass to the canadian border and back there aren't any resupply options because this section of the trail doesn't go into any towns this meant i'd need to pack all eight days worth of food with me actually it was more like nine to ten days worth of food because i always pack at least an extra day's worth of food they say you pack your fears and one of my fears is going hungry out on trail my resupply strategy was simple pack it all with me from day one and carry everything i needed the entire time i was out there i was pretty motivated to eat the food i had in my pack because the more i ate meant the lighter my food bag would be let's talk about the gear i carried for my cooking system on trail first my diy stove koozie since the cooking i do on trail requires boiling water and the stove i use isn't insulated i needed a way to insulate my stove so i could cook my meals on trail as efficiently as possible without using too much fuel with my diy stove koozie i'm able to cook my meals using less fuel because the koozie helps trap the heat inside my pot i'll put a link to a video in the description below showing you how to make your own diy stove koozie my cooking pot and stove i recently made the switch from using a jet boil to the snow peak trek 900 titanium cook set which is my pot and my stove which is the bsr 3000t ultralight titanium backcountry stove i have been loving this combination for a few reasons first off it's lighter by 3.3 ounces my snow peak cooking pot and the bsr stove together weigh a total of 8.7 ounces whereas the jetboil micromo i was using weighed a total of 12 ounces my new cooking system saves me space in my pack i prefer using the medium size or the 8.11 ounces fuel canister on trail because i'm always paranoid i'll run out of fuel on trail the medium-sized fuel canister fits perfectly inside the snow peak cooking pot with my jet boil stove i'd have to store the medium sized fuel canister separately which took up more space in my pack and cost all together the snow peak cooking pot and bsr stove cost 70 dollars the jetboil microremote runs about 150 my new cooking system is eighty dollars cheaper than the jetboil with saving weight saving space in my pack and saving money the switch to my new cooking system this year was a no-brainer for me my cooking system isn't as sturdy as my jet boil was i have to be careful to set it up on a fairly flat surface or run the risk of toppling it over while cooking which i did during lunch on day two of my trip also this wouldn't be as good of a cooking system in the cold winter weather like the jetboil would but for long distance hiking during the spring summer and fall where every ounce counts this system works perfectly for me it also boils water in the same amount of time as the jetboil does which is super quick another piece of gear my cooking system is my eating utensil this is my trail magic spork someone went in there's a spoon on the other end there's a fork there's also a little knife here i have no idea what brand this is this was actually part of trail magic that i received on trail heading to the northern terminus so day two i'm guessing sometime at lunch i lost i had a long titanium spoon that i really enjoyed i really love that spoon and i lost it i must have set it down on a rock that was the same color and then forgot to put it in my pack and didn't notice it was gone until the next time i sat down to eat and realized that i didn't have it and had to use a tent stake to eat my food how this came to be was i was talking to a couple hikers on trail who had just come back from the northern terminus and we were talking about the trail talking about our adventures up until that point they were heading southbound i was still heading northbound and i mentioned how i had misplaced my spoon somewhere and um one of the hikers asked me if i needed a spoon and i said yeah i mean i'm using a tent steak and he's like well would you like one and i said well sure do you do you have an extra spoon and he's like actually i do and i said well is it easy to get to and he pulled it right out of his pocket and gave me this he's like yeah i have multiple and i'm so happy to give this to you so uh this is a very special piece of gear because it was trail magic gifted to me from another hiker and it meant i didn't have to use a tent stake for the rest of my trip so that's pretty awesome i also like to pack with my cooking system the rei multi-tail light microfiber towel in small which i use to clean out my pot and it dries fairly quickly to store my entire cooking system in i use the 3 liter osprey ultralight bag for my food bag i store all of my food on trail in a 20 liter osprey ultralight dry sac check the description below to get more details about the gear and my cooking system i'll also include a link to my entire gear list for this trip on lighterpak.com if you want to learn more about all the other gear i brought with me and used on this trip you'll want to check out my pct 2020 hiking gear video when putting together a backpacking food list for any long distance hike not only will you want to pack the food you enjoy but also keep calories in mind the more miles you hike the more calories you're going to burn a long distance backpacking trip is not the time to go on a diet you're going to need the calories if you want to put in the miles my long distance backpacking diet is the only time where i get to eat like a 15 year old boy and still manage to lose weight here's how i ate throughout the day during my trip interesting fun fact about me i don't drink coffee and i also don't like to cook breakfast in the morning i'd rather sleep in and eat something quick and on the go that doesn't require any sort of cooking my ideal breakfast is something in a bar form so for this trip i packed my holy moly breakfast bars one for each day which are about 400 calories per bar depending on how hungry i got and how soon i'd get hungry after breakfast i might stop for a second breakfast second breakfast for me usually was one of my snacks my sacks for this trip included cheddar and beef stick combos which are 200 calories a pair i brought two packages of these for my trip and i only needed one a snickers bar which are about 250 calories apiece i brought eight bars with me on this trip and only ate four of them on trail a handful of almonds a handful of cashews chocolate covered pretzels something salty and crunchy like a handful of gardenos a packet of my favorite cookies the dark chocolate covered blues or a handful of sour gummy bears from the bulk section at the grocery store for lunch i try to keep it easy and do a non-cooked meal unless i was at a water source for non-cooked lunch options i brought fancy hard cheese peppered salami and crackers chicken tortilla wraps i usually had two per serving and the buffalo style flavor is my favorite dinner was the one meal of the day where i would cook because i had more time and was usually at a water source my dinner options for this trip included a packet of ramen with peanut butter the peanut butter makes the consistency of the ramen a little thicker and it turns it into a backcountry pad thai for this trip i brought powdered peanut butter to save space and weight and i loved it chicken stovetop with a packet of coconut oil for more calories chicken flavored nor rice sides with a packet of coconut oil for more calories a couple of my dehydrated backcountry spaghetti meals and a mountain house chili mac freeze dried meal repackaged in a ziploc bag to save space sometimes if i didn't feel like cooking dinner i'd opt for one of my non-cook meals like cheese salami and crackers or a chicken wrap throughout the day i'd replenish the salt i'd lose through my sweat from hiking all day and carrying a heavy pack with my electrolytes of choice for this trip blue powdered gatorade i packed out 9 servings for this trip i'd make a batch in the gatorade bottle i brought with me each time i stopped for water the blue powder gatorade was always a nice change of pace from drinking something other than water all the time and a treat i'd save for myself after doing a big climb i brought a few packets of the emergency with me but ended up only using one of these during my trip pack it in pack it out so whatever you bring with you you must take with you there's no leaving trash on trail there's no garbage cans out in the backcountry it is your responsibility as a day hiker overnight backpacker through hiker to pack out your trash leave mother nature more beautiful more pristine than you found it how i like to store my trash on trail in my pack is by using a ziploc bag and so usually i'll use i use ziploc bag that i had stored some food in so once i eat the food then i'll turn that into a trash bag and i'll just collect my trash in the trash bag and then close up the bag and then store my trash bag on the outside of my pack in the mesh pocket and then as soon as i get into town or a trail head or when i come across a garbage first thing i do is i throw out my trash bag because these tanks can get pretty gross after a few days don't forget to check out the description below for details on the gear that i use in my cooking system as well as a link to my lighterpack.com gear list for this trip if you like this video hit the thumbs up button and if you haven't already be sure to subscribe to my youtube channel thanks for watching everyone happy trails and keep on truckin [Music] you

Channel: The Hungry Hiker

Views: 146,110

Rating: 4.9282632 out of 5

Keywords: Backpacking Food For 8 Days, Backpacking Food, PCT 2020, Pacific Crest Trail, PCT, Washington, Backpacking, Hiking, Food Bag, Backpacking Food Bag, Backpacking Food Ideas, Backpacking Food List, Backpacking Meals, PCT Food, PCT Food List, PCT Food Planning, PCT Food Resupply, PCT Food Bag, Food Bag PCT, PCT Trail Food, Food on the Trail, Trail, Trail Food, Trail Meals, What’s In My Food Bag, What I Eat In A Day, Hiker Trash, Section Hike, Food on the PCT, The Hungry Hiker

Id: cR_sOlNa3gA

Length: 11min 49sec (709 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 10 2020