Long-Haul Backpacking
All of the issues I've discussed above become critical if you're planning a trip lasting a week or longer. For most people, seven to 10 days is about as long as they can go before they need to resupply. Even if you could find a pack big enough to carry more days of food, you probably couldn't pick it up without assistance once you filled it, and your shoulders, hips, knees and feet would declare a sit-down strike after the first mile. Even if the trip lasts only a week, bulk can be a major problem. You may find yourself tying cumbersome items of clothing to the outside of your pack at the beginning of the trip. I like to lash my rain gear outside because it's usually the item of clothing I need in the biggest hurry.

To help cut down on bulk, shed excess packaging. You'll find that much food as it comes from the grocery store is swaddled in unnecessary amounts of cardboard, foil and paper. You can reduce the amount of bulk tremendously by repackaging these items. For example, several companies sell dried soups in individual serving packets. Rip open the packets and put three days' worth in a small plastic bag. You'll be amazed at how compact the bag is compared to the three foil-lined packets. One caveat: be sure to save the cooking directions! Where possible, avoid items packaged as individual servings altogether. Instead, buy the same item in one large, undivided package, then measure it out yourself as needed during the trip. This saves room in the landfill as well as your pack. Cora and I do occasionally carry crackers in their cardboard boxes, since they resist crumbling much longer if carried that way. In many areas, the cardboard can be recycled when you get home.

People hiking the full length of the Appalachian Trail or the Pacific Crest Trail usually recruit a friend to serve as their "ground-control" person, whose job is to ship a box of food at weekly intervals to the towns closest to the hikers' route. Naturally, the hikers should pack each box in advance. Boxes should be left unsealed until the last minute so the ground-control person, perhaps better known as the baggage handler, can add a few fresh items just before sending the box on its way, addressed to "Hungry Hiker, General Delivery, Hottubandbeerville, Wildstate USA." Boxes should also contain a few other items, like a fresh book, more toilet paper, more sunscreen and lip sunblock, film and extra batteries for headlamps, cameras etc. Long-distance hikers often find that they want to shed some items along the way, such as exposed film, unnecessary items of clothing, maps whose usefulness is past and guidebooks which led to three wrong turns in three miles. Each box should include tape and padded envelopes and perhaps a cardboard box, broken down flat, so that returning these items is easy. Before the trip, hikers should also gather together some items that may be needed in the event of unforeseen calamities. These items might include spare tent poles, extra first aid supplies or extra spare parts for the stove. If required, the ground-control person can include the necessary items in the next shipment.

Food for backpacking will never quite equal the delights you can produce in your own kitchen or the delicacies you can pay restaurateurs to produce in theirs. To remain blissfully content in the backcountry, you need to learn the truth of Lucius Annaeus Seneca's words, written in the time of Christ: "A great step towards independence is a good-humored stomach, one that is willing to endure rough treatment."

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