It rained a lot that day. I was glad not to be out hiking in it. The saying goes, “No pain, no strain, no rain, no Maine. Everyone out here will have to hike in the rain. The southern Appalachian mountains are a temperate rainforest, rain is frequent occurrence.

I worked on my blog and rested up for the hike the next day. It was known to be a rough hike coming out of the NOC, basically a straight up hike to get back up in the higher elevations. A full resupply for the next four days was going to be heavy in my pack.

I’m still learning about my food. What works, how much is enough, it’s tricky to figure out. If you get too much, you end up carrying it all that way for nothing. Everybody out here is trying to figure it out. Most, myself included, tend toward having more than enough. They say you pack your fears, nobody wants to run out of food.

What to eat is a whole other issue. I’ve gotten into the habit of eating a peanut butter and honey sandwich made out with two strawberry or blueberry pop tarts instead of bread. I also eat dried fruit in the morning if I have it. I heat water twice a day, in the morning for coffee and for my evening meal. A can of fuel lasts me about two weeks normally. Mid morning I’ve been eating a protein bar and adding electrolyte tablets to my water. At lunch I eat another peanut butter sandwich made out of a flour tortilla and honey. I add pork rinds to it too if I have them. It actually tastes a lot better than it sounds. I eat a snickers bar mid afternoon, and maybe some trail mix or mixed nuts, whatever I have. I eat pickles and olives when I can find them in foil packs at the grocery store. I eat cheese for the first couple of days after a resupply. I’ve eaten summer sausage and pepperoni too, but the grams of protein in those are not as high as other sources. I eat ramen of course, it’s a staple out here.

For dinner I eat freeze dried meals. They are a little pricey compared to Knorr sides and Idahoan potatoes, but definitely much more palatable. They also are calorie dense, and it’s nice to have a hot meal in the evening. You can basically eat anything you want out here. Once you are hiking 8 to 10 miles a day carrying a pack, it’s impossible to carry enough food to replace the calories you burn each day. As your miles get above 10 or 12, it’s critical that you eat enough food, you will feel like you can’t walk another step, only to discover you are just hungry. I’ve taken a break in the afternoon and wondered how I was going to finish the hike, I felt so exhausted. Then I eat a Snickers bar and twenty minutes later I feel completely refreshed and ready to hike again. It’s amazing how much it affects the way you feel. Electrolyte replacement is also critical to your performance. You sweat a lot all day everyday, it doesn’t take long to deplete your electrolytes.

Some people out here go stoveless, eating only cold food such as bars, nuts, trail mix, whatever. Others do what’s called cold soaking their food. They put water in their noodles or whatever and let it soak all day or all afternoon while they’re hiking. Hey “hike your own hike”, as they say, but that stuff looks really nasty to me, I don’t know how they stomach it.

There are kids out here hiking the trail on a diet of Snickers bars, Little Debbie cakes, and sour patch gummies. It’s hilarious to watch. Everybody is losing weight despite what they eat. Some people come out here with losing weight specifically a goal for their hike. I’m positive there are easier ways to lose weight, but it’s definitely effective. The problem with that is it doesn’t teach you to make better dietary choices. If you go home after the hike and keep eating like you where eating on the trail, you will gain your weight back with interest in no time. I hear that’s what happens most of the time.

I had a restful day. That evening some other hikers came and we cooked steaks and potatoes. I was ready to get back to the trail in the morning.