Lost on the Long Trail: What’s in the Box

Don’t worry, it’s not Gwyneth Paltrow’s head.

It’s my resupply!

I mentioned in my first post that I decided to send myself resupply boxes instead of buying all my food in my selected resupply towns. Though this gave me less flexibility about which towns to stop in, it guaranteed I would have Dobby’s high calorie/high protein dog food (I feed him Crave). Since the boxes are flat rate boxes, I filled them to brim with food that could cover six days worth of breakfasts, snacks, and dinners.

I didn’t include lunch supplies because buying these in resupply towns allows me to incorporate whatever foods I may be craving and provide variability (more on lunches in a moment).

Most of my breakfasts and dinners are in the form of Mountain House meals. I bought the #10 cans, which have approximately ten servings of each meal. I portioned these out to 1.5 servings per meal, knowing from experience that one serving would not be enough for my inevitable hiker hunger.

Though there is some variation between boxes, here’s what my Killington resupply box holds:

Breakfast

Five Mountain House Breakfasts (Blueberry Granola, Bacon and Eggs)
Quaker Oats Protein Instant Oatmeal
Fruit and Grain Cereal Bars
Honey Buns
Oatmeal Cream Pies
Lipton Tea

Snacks

Kind Bars
Clif Bars
Quest Bars
Blow-Pops
Trail Mix
Dried Fruit (pineapple and banana chips are the favorites)
Granola Bars
Swiss Rolls
Peanut Butter Crackers
Chocolate covered Acai/Blueberries

Dinner

Powdered Milk
Breakfast Essentials (strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla)
Four Mountain House Dinners (beef stew, teriyaki chicken, chili mac)
Two ramen

Dobby’s food

Six days worth of Crave dog food
Dentastix
Milk bones
Dried duck jerky
Bacon bits

Now for Lunches

What I worked out as I hiked was that protein bars get old. Fast. I think many a hiker has looked at protein bars with disgust bordering on loathing. So as my hiker hunger set in, I realized I needed more than snacks during the day. One benefit to hiking in the fall is that cooler temperatures enable you to carry food that would spoil during a summer hike. I turned to tortillas/flat bread, cheese, and easily sliced meat for my lunches.

Then, of course, there are the other snacks and impulse buys. These are my store purchases in Killington.

Lunches/Town-Bought Snacks

Sandwich thins or tortillas
Wet food for Dobby (he gets to indulge in town, too)
Pupperoni
Cheetos
Peanut M&Ms
Reese’s
Starbursts
Goldfish
Cheezits
Cabot Sharp Cheddar Cheese (shop local when possible!)
Salami
Hershey’s Chocolate
Rice Crispy Treats (so light!)
And nail clippers, because the toenails are getting beat up

And this is a less-organized picture of what all my food (resupply box and town purchases) looked like in Waitsfield. Hint: the Oreos never made it out of the hotel room.

Let’s refer back to the resupply box contents.

See that little gray bag? That’s my food bag. In theory, all that food plus the store-bought food needs to fit in there. Good thing I love Tetris.

Have any questions about my (or Dobby’s) food that I didn’t cover?

Leave me a comment below and I’ll do my best to answer it.

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Comments 7

  • Sue Hilgendorf : Oct 19th

    I enjoy your adventure spirit Taylor! I have been trying to follow, maybe with my email I won’t miss anything.

    Reply
    • Taylor : Oct 23rd

      Thanks! I’ll do my best to get the updates out soon!

      Reply
  • Phoebe : Oct 19th

    Loving your blog, Taylor! Wishing you and Dobby (LOVE the name, btw) a wonderful & safe adventure!

    Reply
    • Taylor : Oct 23rd

      Thank you!

      Reply
  • Michael C Grabowski : Oct 20th

    stay warm, be well, M&M , ( Mary & Mike )

    Reply
    • Taylor : Oct 23rd

      Thank you! We will do our best!

      Reply

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