Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Food, Hydration & Electrolytes....Oh My!

You can answer this question yourself by going upstream to Trail Camp and randomly overturning rocks to find all the wonderful surprises beneath them. Enough people do not use their wag bags and don't even bother to find decent places to go. I will never drink water draining from the Trail Camp area without filtering and chemical treatment. The last time I was there with some scouts, we stopped for a rest on the way down from the summit. We sat on rocks at the edge of the trail, and one of the scouts lifted a rock to find someone's deposit right there at the edge of the trail.

For reliably clean water, look for streams coming from side drainages before they meet the creek coming down from Trail Camp. There are a few of them.

Less than a week ago, I drank straight from the stream at Trailside Meadow and two points further downhill, as I've done for the last few years, with no ill effects. My general rule is flowing water is OK, still lake water probably needs a filter. Trailside Meadow, btw, has what looks like a waterfall at its uphill end, what with all the late snow melting off. And the Switchbacks' spring is running like its own creek.

Phil

I buy mine from Trader Joe's - wonder if you could swing by one en route to Lone Pine! It really is good jerky - not salty like a lot of others'. But I think now I am going to buy a dehydrator and starting making my own. TJ's is cheaper than most, but still $5 for a 1/4 lb.

Enjoy!!

Make your own jerky. Use a New York steak and Trader Joe's marinade, oven @120 and one day. It is much better than the leather they sell as jerky in the stores. As mentioned in these posts, what works for one may not work for you. It is important to find what works for you. Eating is important, but at altitude it can be hard, you lose your appetite and you can really feel the effects of the altitude in both your head and stomach. Eating something, anything, is better than not being able to eat at all, so take what you know you can eat. I went on a climb in South America and they gave us local snack food. Nobody could eat it, it was too strange and with the altitude it was impossible. A very valuable lesson was learned then. With that in mind, one item that I like is a powder, Sustained Energy. Lots of calories, mix it with your water and it is food and hydration in one package. I use it in the mountains and on century/double century bike rides. Just mix it in 1/2 of what they recommend. Good luck, have fun.

I tend to have a real big appetite when on the trail and the snacks I like to carry are, as has been mentioned before, ones I love to eat anytime: Snickers (but I'm careful to keep it near my camelbak to keep the melting to a minimum - can't stand gooey, melted chocolate), Slim Jims (Walmart sells them in cans for the cheapest), fruit rollups, and jerky. As a trail meal I like PB&J's (one or two - lots of jelly or preserves)and bananas (not chips - too dry for me). An extra treat for me is to pack a small stove and canister and heat water for cup-o-noodles at the summit and also a can of soda.

As far as hydration is concerned, I prefer the 3L camelbak with Vitalyte mixed in - it isn't as sweet tasting as Cytomax (my second choice) but it works for me to keep the water and electrolytes always on board. I highly recommend bringing an empty Nalgene bottle "just in case". The choice of whether to bring a filter is a personal one - I'm ok filling up straight out of the streams feeding into Outpost and Trail Camps but some prefer to filter to be safe. There are soooo many threads on here on that subject I don't want to sidetrack this one with another water debate .

BobR has linked a list of reliable water sources on the Main Trail: Here

Yesterday (8/3) I hiked up Mt San Gorgonio as a trainer for MWMT. The mileage on the 2 trails is similar, 11.6 each way on SG, 10.7 – 11.0 on the MWMT depending on the source. The altitude gain and max altitude on MW are greater making that a harder hike. My time trailhead to trailhead yesterday was 11-1/2 hours.

For the first time in all my years hiking I kept a careful record of my calorie intake (t.c. = total calories). For whatever it’s worth, here it is.

Electrolytes (all mixed full strength):
3 packs Heed (1 on the way to the trailhead): t.c. = 300
3 packs Cytomax: t.c. = 420
(I didn’t drink any plain water)
1 bottle Trader Joe Protein Pzazz: t.c. = 440*
1 can Ensure: t.c. = 250*
10 Shot Blocs: t.c. = 266
1 small bag peanut M&Ms: t.c. = 250
2 hard boiled eggs: t.c. = 154
1 apple: t.c. = 65

Total calories consumed on trail = 2145.
*Carrying liquid food isn’t efficient from a weight standpoint but I can swallow these when anything else is really hard to get down.

This intake worked well for me. I felt hydrated and fueled all day. My weight was exactly the same yesterday morning before the hike and this morning.

Take this for what it’s worth to you. Everyone is different and what worked well for me may not be right for you or your Aunt Eunice.

Good hiking,
Burt

I dayhiked Mt. Whitney and Wotans Throne on 1 August. Here's what I ate: One bag of Brach's Wild 'n Fruity® Gummi Worms (except for the few I gave to a marmot on the summit).

Yep. Like I said, everyone's different.