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What Happens to Your Body on a Thru-Hike

outsideonline.com

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Re: What Happens to Your Body on a Thru-Hike

#171

Post by NoGravitas »

notspanishflu wrote: post #164
jon_richards wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The best foods for backpacking are actually peanut butter, salami (depending on the brand), cheese, and nutella. They all have roughly the same calorie density at about 70% fat. Toblerone actually comes surprisingly close (even compared to other chocolates/candies). Raman noodles or tortillas or something like that are generally used as a carrier for those foods to keep you sane, but they aren't very good from a weig…

I don't think is a good idea to feed a healthy activity with unhealthy palm oil. That peanut butter has palm oil probably, but Nutella has it for sure. Palm oil is very bad for your health, and it's very bad for the environment.

Real peanut butter only has peanut oil.

Re: What Happens to Your Body on a Thru-Hike

#172

Post by mauvehaus »

GavinMcG wrote: post #142
ceocoder wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Some people actually just drink cooking oil, but it's rarely worth the tiny bit of extra weight efficiency. Is this really a thing? I've read quite a bit about thruhikers and have never encountered this. If you have any more details, mind sharing?

I've encountered it once. He preferred to mix it into foods whenever it made sense to do so, though.

The 2010 AT thru-hiker with the trailname "Butter" was so named because she was eating a stick of butter with a spoon somewhere down south.

Re: What Happens to Your Body on a Thru-Hike

#173

Post by beachstartup »

gydfi wrote: post #119
morgante wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I vividly recall one of their dinners: Dried ramen noodle, straight from the bag. I'm embarrassed to admit how many times I've eaten that on hikes. For my next long hike I'm probably going to ditch my stove completely: it's not so much the weight, but personally the last thing I want to do after a day of hiking is cook.

I'm embarrassed to admit how many times I've eaten that while not on a hike. "Sure, I could boil some water. Or I could just sprinkle seasoning on the top and eat it now..."

david chang agrees with you:

https://youtu.be/ikr5wVxzpjk?t=95

Re: What Happens to Your Body on a Thru-Hike

#174

Post by omegaham »

SwellJoe wrote: post #152
dmtroyer wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed but don't waste your time with the film

I'll be the lone dissenting voice with regard to the film. I liked it. It wasn't nearly as funny as the book; it was barely funny, at all, in fact. But, it still contained some of the gentle charm of the book. At the end of it, I said to my girlfriend, "I guess I just really like movies about hiking, even when they're kinda boring." (I also really liked Wild , and liked that book, too...in that case, I think the film…

> I guess I just really like movies about hiking, even when they're kinda boring.

As someone who is willing to tolerate utter dreck as long as it's In Spaaaaaaace, this made me smile. I think it's just the fact that the setting is so compelling and romantic for me, and I can ignore the flaws and enjoy the little redeeming value that is in there.

Re: What Happens to Your Body on a Thru-Hike

#175

Post by bitexploder »

SamWhited wrote: post #129
bitexploder wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You just kind of... do it. Step 1.) Pack what this dude tells you to and follow his advice for food -- http://www.adventurealan.com/best-backpacking-food/ Step 2.) Go when temperates are cool at night, but not cold (high 40F as a minimum). This allows you to buy cheap gear to learn with. Step 3.) Pack the gear this guy tells you to -- https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-ultimate-hikers-gear-gu... Step 4.) Buy the ch…

> If you are athletic stick with "trail shoes" and not hiking boots Use what works for you, but I completely disagree with this. I thru-hiked the AT in 2014 in full hiking boots, and didn't have any of the feet problems like friends in normal trail shoes did afterwards; I would have rolled my ancle several times if it weren't for the support, and it only took two pairs (friends with trail shoes went through a lot mor…

Athletic is subjective of course. I do think boots are fine for most, so this is a good addition, but if you run a lot your ankles are probably pretty strong. And moving heavy boots every step slows you down.

Caveat: I run ultramarathons and have thousands of trail miles on my feet. Never rolled an ankle. Never worn boots for 99%. Sample size of 1, etc, but I have met many others in this camp. Shoes can get "religious".

If you are on super rough terrain or mountaineering you also want specific boots.

Re: What Happens to Your Body on a Thru-Hike

#176

Post by JofArnold »

jamii wrote: post #113
cpncrunch wrote: post #25

So the question is: at what point does this kind of long-term exercise turn from beneficial to burnout/overtraining? https://www.outsideonline.com/1986361/running-empty And can you reliably predict it beforehand? Having suffered from burnout/CFS, I would be very careful about doing something like this, and I'd be on the lookout for early warning signs such as elevated heart-rate, anxiety/depression, excessive fatigue…

The old-school method is to get a grip dynamometer and keep a daily log. If your grip strength suddenly takes a dive you need to take some recovery time. Lot's of other indicators seem to work too, eg resting heart rate, but grip strength is really easy to measure reliably. https://www.trainingbeta.com/why-do-i-suck-at-climbing-some-...

That's a very useful and informative post. Thanks!

Re: What Happens to Your Body on a Thru-Hike

#177

Post by miguelrochefort »

notspanishflu wrote: post #164
jon_richards wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The best foods for backpacking are actually peanut butter, salami (depending on the brand), cheese, and nutella. They all have roughly the same calorie density at about 70% fat. Toblerone actually comes surprisingly close (even compared to other chocolates/candies). Raman noodles or tortillas or something like that are generally used as a carrier for those foods to keep you sane, but they aren't very good from a weig…

I don't think is a good idea to feed a healthy activity with unhealthy palm oil. That peanut butter has palm oil probably, but Nutella has it for sure. Palm oil is very bad for your health, and it's very bad for the environment.

Palm oil is one of the healthiest oils.

Peanut oil is one of the worst oils (arachidonic acid).

You're correct about palm oil production hurting the environment.

Re: What Happens to Your Body on a Thru-Hike

#178

Post by mauvehaus »

cpncrunch wrote: post #25

So the question is: at what point does this kind of long-term exercise turn from beneficial to burnout/overtraining? https://www.outsideonline.com/1986361/running-empty And can you reliably predict it beforehand? Having suffered from burnout/CFS, I would be very careful about doing something like this, and I'd be on the lookout for early warning signs such as elevated heart-rate, anxiety/depression, excessive fatigue…

The glib-sounding, but basically true answer is: If you're planning to do it every day for 5-6 months, you ease into it, and do it at a level you can maintain for the next 5-6 months. And if you're feeling sore, ease back off a bit. Your body will mostly tell you what it needs.

The conventional wisdom among thru-hikers is that the only way to get in shape for a hike is to start hiking and get in shape as you do it. This seems to be largely true. In 2010 on the AT, down south, a number of people who started out in good shape from e.g. running, pushed too hard early on, had various health problems and dropped off. People also take far, far more Ibuprofen (I.B. Broken) than they ought to so they can continue pushing out long days.

For something like a thru-hike, you adjust your level of exertion to what you can sustain for the time you expect to take, which for practical purposes is "indefinitely" when you're talking about a 5 month walk.

The above applies to a "normal", unsupported thru-hike. People shooting for the speed record are a whole different case.

Re: What Happens to Your Body on a Thru-Hike

#179

Post by miguelrochefort »

ceocoder wrote: post #138
jon_richards wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The best foods for backpacking are actually peanut butter, salami (depending on the brand), cheese, and nutella. They all have roughly the same calorie density at about 70% fat. Toblerone actually comes surprisingly close (even compared to other chocolates/candies). Raman noodles or tortillas or something like that are generally used as a carrier for those foods to keep you sane, but they aren't very good from a weig…

> Some people actually just drink cooking oil, but it's rarely worth the tiny bit of extra weight efficiency. Is this really a thing? I've read quite a bit about thruhikers and have never encountered this. If you have any more details, mind sharing?

Just make sure it's not vegetable oil (safflower, grapeseed, soybean, sunflower, corn, etc). It's full of Omega-6, which is very inflammatory.

Re: What Happens to Your Body on a Thru-Hike

#180

Post by 24gttghh »

reneherse wrote: post #121
chrismartin wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The conditions of a race are very different from a thru-hike done for enjoyment. I got the best sleep of my life on the PCT. 8-9 solid hours each night (sometimes I would wake up to eat), and an hour nap after lunch every day.

That sounds like backpacking paradise, of which I am delighted to hear of as a contradiction to my experience. I hiked the New England section of the AT in high school, but our small party included a guy who snored louder than anyone I've ever met before or since. A wet, sucking, horrific noise that to the mind of my light-sleeping sixteen y/o self was surely identical to the sound of a giant lamprey or hagfish, slur…

Try some earplugs next time?
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