Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Trail food

In two weeks I will be heading up Whitney for a day hike and am in the process of getting supplies. I was wondering what type of food to pack. I hike a lot in Arizona and usually pack PBJs and Trail mix but I am SOOOO sick of them.

Anyone have some secret recipes that they love? Lets make these recommendations fun and not the typical "30% carb, 40% prot, 30% other" fitness nutrition science that this can turn into.

I was thinking of packing pre-made pancakes with a packet of honey. A collection of dried fruits. Maybe even an MRE from the military supply store.

Zukalous

Lots of Cliff Bars and Granola from Trader Joes for me. Gummy Bears for the trail.I may throw in a few Natures Valley Oats N'Honey granola bars with a few Adkins Advatage Chocolate Peanut Butter protein bars.

See the threads What to Eat and What to Bring.

Beef Jerky is an amazing treat too, provided you aren't a vegetarian But cliff bars can be hard to eat trust me. The pankake and honey sounds great though. Make sure its lots of carbs/sugars

perfect opportunity to wiegh in:

cold pizza
mango slices
sushi(pre-packaged of course)
cheddar cheese goldfish
roasted & salted pistacios
and an apple

Oh! how about Frozen chicken strips wrapped in a tortilla. Then, when you get to the top, perfectly thawed chicken burrito. Just don't put salsa in there because it will make the tortilla soggy.

my favorite treat for some of my Sierra day hikes is to relax on the summite with can of fruit cocktail or peaches. Yes, on the way up all the standard stuff - odwalla and power bars as well as a mini can of pringles. I prefer to save my appetite for when I get down as in a steak dinner or ravioli or pizza. Definately something to drink that has hops, barly, and malt in it. Either way you will have earned your meal with a hard earned day hike up whitney.........

I'd love to suggest that I bring some exotic foods to eat when on the summit of some tall peak, but ... the reality is I have little appetite above 12K' and I have to force myself to eat in order to make the trip down half-way enjoyable. Things like mini Snickers bars, squishy sugar candies - anything that delivers a load of glucose to my muscles in the least amount of time works. A bit of fat helps too.

Pack snacks you know you'll eat no matter what. Tall peaks are not the time to finally start eating right or going on a diet. If I'm going to indulge, it's going to be after ,not during, the hike.

Gallo Dry Salami
Piece of French Bread
Sharp Cheddar Cheese (if you can do cheese)
Dry almonds
Apple (if you don't mind the weight)


Easy but delicious. I like Cliff Bars also but would NOT recommend the Chocolate Almond Fudge.

MC

Can of smoked oysters
Cheeze-its
String Cheese
Mandarin oranges
Gummy worms

How do you smoke your oysters? Rolling papers or in a bong?

If you're overnighting, you can actually make Jello @ Trail Camp. Dissolve your jello in boiling water, add the cold water & put it in a snap-tight lid plastic container (or water bottle). Double-bag it in ziploc bags, & put it in the water in the pond. We use the upper area where there are a lot of rocks to anchor the bag so it doesn't float away. Pluck it out of the water a couple hours later, & Voila! Jello. Just don't put it in the snow to set, because it won't get cold enough. The icy water works best.

I've noticed people mention cheddar cheese as well as string cheese. I'm just curious; will it last a couple of days without being refrigerated? I know it may seem dumb my asking, but I've always noticed on the packages, it says to keep refrigerated.
Thanks.

Some cheeses "hike" better than others. For a day or two, cheddar might work but don't allow it to sit in a warm place - too much oil separation. String cheese had very little oil.

Two good cheeses for longer trips are Aged Gouda (expensive) and Dried Jack. Both are very hard and have wonderful taste if you like zesty cheeses. (and your question drove me downstairs to taste a bit of the Gouda I purchased last week.

My favorites are:

Fresh Fruit - the best
Trail mix - from trader joes
Jerky is good
Soaked Almonds - I bet you haven't heard this before... my wife soaks almonds overnight in water and then rinses them off in the morning and they taste amazing the next day on the trail... moist!

the last summit with my son jake he brought a small box of goldfish crackers and a odwella strawberry banana shake for the summit... nice

bobj

How clean is the snow? Is it edible? You could bring up a little packet of Hawaiian Punch concentrate, pour it over a snowball and then instant mountain-fresh snow cone. Mojito and margarita mix would work well too.

Zukowski

On a similar post I mentioned that I like to suck on Life Savers. I'm also thinking of trying little packets of honey. I think that the honey would give you a good burst of energy. Does anyone have any ideas on the use of honey?

I'm a bit non conventional in my trail food. But since I like the taste these keep me eating and drinking. Your mileage may vary but these are my favorites: fritos and/or ruffles potato chips, a PBJ, a bagel, a brownie and/or donut, ham and cheese sandwich, a couple of zone or south beach bars, gels, sports drinks, trail mix, and lemon drops. Try a lot of things before you go. Eat and drink whatever you can and like, because at altitude most of us don't have much appetite or thirst.