Backpacking

I'm going backpacking next week whoo hooo. This maybe my only backpacking trip all year. I'm going to drag my 11 year old with me but I won't make her carry much even though she weighs 125 pounds and is fit. That is more then I weighed when I was 18! She is 1/4 inch shorter then I am. Big enough to scare away the bears and cougars (GRIN)

We will be doing it ultra light. Our ultra light gear will include a Shires Tarp Tent, Cheap down sleeping bags, a pop can stove and an Ursack. The food is all packed and weighs 20 pounds, I think that will be enough; I always end up packing too much food on my trips. My daughter will need to carry half the food, her clothes, her sleeping pad and her sleeping bag. I will carry the same stuff plus the tent and the kitchen. My kitchen weighs about 12 ounces without the fuel.

All of the food is either home dehydrated or quick cooking but none of it is pre-packaged. I ate a mountain house meal once and I hated it. Mountain House does not have very many calories for the price and the one meal I had tasted nasty.

For meat I fried and then dehydrated hamburger at home, it rehydrates well and last a long time if kept refrigerated between camping trips. We also will be eating Salami and foil packed tuna. At home I don't eat much meat so it's always a treat to go backpacking and get to eat meat a couple of times a day.

Breakfast will be rolled up corn tortilla smeared with peanut butter and sprinkled with raisons.

Lunch will be a trail mix that I did up at home and consists of, Sunflower seeds, Raisins, M&M's, Bananas Chips and figs. I find it much cheaper to buy the trail mix ingredients in bulk and then mix them myself. The GORP standard of Peanuts give me gas and sunflower seeds are cheaper then peanuts. Also for lunch or snacks we will have crackers with salami and parmesan cheese. I don't understand why my salami says to refrigerate it after opening it though. I hope it will be ok.

Dinner will vary for two nights we will have Idahoan 4 potatoes mix with added meat. One night we will have Spaghetti with meatballs. Since regular spaghetti noodles take a long time to cook we are going to use bean thread noodles instead, I hope that tastes good. Been thread noodles are quite high in calories anyway. For another dinner we will have instant brown rice with home dehydrated veggies, tomato sauce and mushrooms and for one night we will have cous cous with the same toppings. We are bringing our hand picked and home dehydrated chanterelles and king boletus from last fall.

I am sensitive to MSG so I have to shop and read ingredients very carefully. If I eat too much MSG in one day I get a migraine headache that literally lasts for 3 days and 3 nights. I am so glad that I discovered that MSG was the source of my headaches. It is a shame that MSG can legally be listed as "natural flavoring", because of that I avoid all foods that have "natural flavoring" as an ingredient.

I have gotten MSG head aches from instant tea (lemon flavored stuff often has MSG) Marmite (I guess that stuff is almost pure MSG), instant noodles (I used to buy them by the case) and Squirt brand pop (once again lemon flavoring.

Almost all bullion mixes and powdered soup mixes and lemon flavored drinks have MSG. MSG can be labeled as Naturally Flavors or Autolyzed Yeast Extract or as Monosodium Glutamate. MSG is often added to crappy food to make it taste like meat.

I’m excited about the trip but also a bit worried... My mind is shattered after all so I worry that I will not get everything packed that we need. I guess I will make a check list. It really is important to pack properly for backpacking.

I've got my pack loaded up and it weighs 34 pounds and my daughter's pack weight is 24 pounds. Not too bad for a 5 night trip. Our packs should get 2 pounds lighter each day as I have basically packed two pounds of food per person per day. But I plan on carrying all of the food as soon as it will fit in my pack so only my daughter's pack weight will go down at first. She is not in hiking condition but she is young and fit, I hope the trip is not too miserable for her. The first day will be an easy mostly level hike but will be our longest mileage day. The second and third day we will gain all the elevation then we will rest for two nights before we begin the trip back down.