A bit of an introduction for you. I'll post more details about the hike after we finish, but we are planning to do this 76 mile trip in 8 1/2 days. We will be doing it a little slower than normal, with less than 10 miles a day. That's a safe mileage as my knees continue to get older, but let me tell you, even that amount makes you hungry climbing a mountain and carrying a pack!
This first post is just on gorp, but there will be upcoming posts on Breakfast/Drinks and Dinners.
We are mostly gorp eaters for lunch. Some hikers bring cheese, dry salami and crackers, but that is usually too bulky for us. We like to graze versus eat a large lunch. If I stop backpacking and eat a full lunch, my stomach doesn't want that hip belt tightened around it afterward and I'm lethargic. So we graze throughout the day and keep it pretty simple.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines gorp as " a snack consisting of high energy food". It is otherwise known as trail mix.
I enjoy making up my own trail mixes. Some people like always having a sweet and some like more dried fruit. I focus on nuts and seeds myself. So here are the four mixes, we'll be eating on this trip.
Traditional Gorp
My husband wanted a traditional sweet mix. This one is easy, peanuts, almonds, m&m's, and raisins.
Sour Cherry Gorp
This is my favorite, because I like mixes without chocolate. This has Mary's Gone Cracker's Sticks & Straws, sesame sticks, dry sour cherries (dried by yours truly from our tree), almonds (roasted and raw), pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds.
Peanut/Sesame Stick Gorp
This is a new mix for us. It is another salty mix, sesame sticks, wild rice sticks, peanuts, and pumpkin seeds. Hmmm, on seeing this picture I might go back and add pecans to this mix!
Dessert Gorp
Some people get fancy with their desserts. I find that when I'm walking all day. I want simple food, that isn't bulky and I don't have to mess with or cook. As an unofficial rule, we only start the stove twice a day for coffee and dinner! Even then dinner has to cook in less than 10 minutes and if we are out for longer than a week, coffee isn't common. Fuel is something else you have to carry.
So I made this for a little something after dinner and I've packaged it in much smaller amounts. Here we have dark chocolate covered cranberries, dark chocolate covered almonds, dark chocolate m&m's, almonds, and pistachios.
Other Snacks
Other than gorp these are the things we eat throughout the day.
- Peanut butter and Larabars - these are all mine. Nobody touches my peanut butter! One might think you need crackers if you have peanut butter, but I just eat it straight when I need a dose of salt and protein - or perhaps because I have what some might describe as an unhealthy addiction to peanut butter. The good news is it's only natural peanut butter, I won't eat the stuff with sugar in it.
- Joe likes the Keebler cracker nabs. He usually take snickers, but says he doesn't want any this trip.
- This is not pictured here, but we'll carry some jerky. This is mostly for Joe as I'm not a big jerky fan.
- Dried fruit. I'm going to carry some prunes, dried mangos, and dried apples for something different and
Just for fun and because they are lightweight. I've also dehydrated some pickles and vegetables. This is a test, we'll see if I find them tasty on the trail. There is only one way to describe dehydrated pickles - zing! The next installment.... Breakfast and Drinks.
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