My friend shared her gear list for a 22-mile backpack journey and asked for suggestions on how to lighten her load. Here is her list, with my suggestions for her to consider. Items to eliminate are crossed out, with suggestions to consider in parentheses. My suggestions are bold and in red. These are simply my suggestions for her to consider. In the end, the key is to LOVE YOUR GEAR! One inspiring moniker I heard as a beginning backpacker is “if you don’t have it, you don’t need it!” I think about that every time I go out.
How Much Food for Vegan Hiking?
In response to the question “I’m vegan. What food do I take hiking?”
I sprout mung beans and lentils on trail. Hummus, olive oil, sweet potatoes, corn mush, maple syrup. Did I mention olive oil – most calorie dense food? I was soooo afraid of being hungry and not getting enough calories when I started my thru! My first week southbound from Katahdin, I carried 13 lbs of vegan food for my 10 days to Monson. I had several pounds left!!! What I’ve discovered in my 15 yrs and 10,000+miles of walking is that food can be lightweight, easy, tasty and nutritious. When I count the calories of my day, feeling energetic and satisfied, its more like 2,000 calories. I haven’t consumed 5,000 calories ever! Maybe I don’t hike as hard? Dont know, but the advice that I’ll need 5,000 calories a day (hmm. used to be 3,000) doesnt seem to be real for me. I enjoy fresh foods and have my favorite dehydrated staples to build meals around. I eat pretty much the same foods on trail as I do off trail. Happy to explore this with you!
- For detailed video instruction on my favorite trail foods, check out Fabulous Foods For Backpacking.
Preparing for a Long Walk
July 20, 2019
What a blessing to have a five-day walk in Great Smoky Mountains National Park! The lush, green, and lavishly diverse landscape truly exemplifies the fad of Forest Bathing and contrasts starkly with my winter desert habitat!
Although my body cringed a bit with muscle soreness since I haven’t taken a long walk since last August, my soul basked in the sensory luxury while my body remembered how to meet the mountains!
During the walk I received a message from a woman yearning to get out on another five-day walk herself, inquiring about guided walks for next fall. That sounds like a long way away, until I consider all that life might already have scheduled plus the preparation required to create a radiantly fulfilling walk!
Benton MacKaye Trail: Deep Creek Bridge
=&0=&
It’s October, 2009. I’m standing on the north side of Deep Creek in the Smokies. “It’s not good to be here alone”, I thought. “It’s not safe here. I shouldn’t be doing this by myself. I should turn back. Is there another way?”
I’m at mile 44, three miles shy of the half way point in the Smokies section of the Benton MacKaye Trail I’m looking at my map, tracing a possible alternate route around the swollen torrent that is Deep Creek. I’m considering scooting across the tipped log that’s interrupted by perpendicular poles. That’s what the bridge had become.
“What a surprise!” Last June, on my first BMT traverse, this had been a simple walk across a log bridge. Now, crossing this big creek required a strategic decision.
Hiking Memories: Four Seasons
=&0=&
=&1=&
=&2=&
=&3=&BMTSouthbound – June, 2009; October, 2009; January, 2013
BMTNorthbound- April, 2010
BMT Davenport Gap to Beech Gap, January, 2010
Links: Photos, Journals, Reflections, Slide shows
http://www.trailjournals.com/mssnglnk Pictures galore in many trail journals
https://forgivenesswalks.com/newsletter-archives/ Words for Winter Walking series
https://forgivenesswalks.com/benton-mackaye-trail/ First Winter Walk and Spring Walk slide shows
https://forgivenesswalks.com/benton-mackaye-trail-winter-thru-hike/ Second Winter Walk slide show
https://forgivenesswalks.com/free-resources/fabulous-foods-for-backpacking/ Upcoming Foods Course
=&4=&=&5=&
It’s milepost 119 from the northern terminus of the Benton MacKaye Trail.
The six men in the BMTA Fall Backpack Trip party keep their pace stepping over the two small streams there. They keep chatting as their feet land firmly on the flat triangle of earth between the streams. In just seconds, they’re stepping up the steep bank and heading south on the trail, bound for the night’s camp at Cold Spring Gap.
“But wait!” I call. “This was my Winter Camp! I thought I could have DIED here!”
No one heard me as I alone halted at this unremarkable spot. The Fall foliage and dark Earth blended pleasantly with the gently rushing streams with no fanfare. My mind was rushing though as I relived the memory of my first winter walk. I had camped here two years earlier as snow fell, choosing a site with a water source and a surprise phone signal.
The snow fell through the night and morning revealed a world of white. Wrapped up in my sleeping bag, peeking out under the edges of my tarp, I questioned my preparedness to go on alone in this deep snow, past the Cherohala Skyway into “The Heart of Darkness”, the ominous name for the remote 10-mile section of the BMT along the North Carolina/Tennessee state line.
Delighted with the beauty of the snowy woods, I was satisfied with the plan I had been able to make with Brenda Harris, a BMT friend who lived nearby, to pick me up at Beech Gap, about 4 miles south, the next morning. “You’ll have to wait until they open up the road,” she had said.
Benton MacKaye Trail Winter Thru-Hike Slide Show!
Regina, founder of Forgiveness Walks, completed the 300-mile Benton MacKaye Trail during a walk in January, 2013. Follow her journey, photographed by John Lemberg in slides and music.
Please comment below!
Take your own journey!
Walk into YOUR dream!
Let Regina and Forgiveness Walks inspire, train, and coach you to love yourself and your life just as you are, opening the gateway to shifting old beliefs and stories. As you do, vibrant energy, fulfilling relationships, and freedom from your past will fill your life.
Click the photo below to take your first steps.
