Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board amount and type of food for day hike?

Hi all, first timer looking for advice on the number of calories I should pack for a day hike. Any personal favorites / suggestions would be appreciated.
For water is 2 litres appropriate? Where is the last place to fill up and how much to take to summit? Is filter required or are iodine tablets sufficient? many thanks.

Figure you are going to chew through about 400/500 calories/hr. of hiking. Also figure you are going to run a calorie deficit for the day. Try to eat around 2,000 calories, eat early and eat offend. I usually take a couple of sandwiches, a couple of bars, couple of gels, some co****s, some ****y and gorp. Lots of food, just in case I get stuck out overnight because of illness or injury.

I start with 2 litres and refill at Trailside Meadow or on the Switchbacks...this source won't be available if go through this area early in the morning but it will be good on the return. I usually go to the to with 4 L of water, two of them I mix Cytomax in for an electrolyte replacement. I don't mind carrying the extra water for the reason stated above. You can give it away to the ill prepared somewhere on the westside if in deed took too much.

Pick your poison...filter or iodine.

Bill

For a day hike, just bring enough energy food. Sugars and sweets help when you're tired. Maybe sandwiches, if you like. I like to diet when I'm climbing, because then I feel so good when I finish. All I ate on my last summit hike was a tiny fruit bar. Gatorade worked wonders for me, once upon a time. Maybe Red Bull or other energy drink will help (there was a thread on this last year).

I'd carry all my water, since there probably is e. coli and more in the water there. I trust only boiled water. Never worth getting sick!

A warm or hot day, bring 4-6 liters, depending on your size. Carry your favorite drink, it's all the same weight. If I hadn't quit massive coffee drinking, I'd carry Starbucks Frappuccino in my bottles. Because I'm frugal, now, I get two liter bottles of Diet Pepsi or Coke. Reasonable at Von's (Bishop and Mammoth).

Stash a liter or two a few miles up, for consumption on your return. Keep good notes on where you left your stuff. Things look the same to a beginner.

marcus - We have used both a filter pump and iodine tablets without getting sick from the water. If you iodine, note that it takes at least a half hour to work. Do not add any sport drink powder until that much time has passed. Start out with 2 full liter bottles plus 2 empties. There is no point in carrying the weight of more water because you can refill all along the way to Trail Camp. The pond at Trail Camp is the last reliable water source. Fill all 4 bottles for the summit and return. If weight is a big concern, you might get by with 3. As for food, energy bars, trail mix, and Gu shots work well. I think Bill's advice to pack 2000 calories is good. Just remember to eat it. No point in packing it to the summit and back untouched. Good luck!

I'd recommend carrying 3000 calories or more, though with increasing altitude you'll probably be less and less inclined to eat! Definitely all carbs on the way up(Ramen noodles, oatmeal, pasta, dried fruit, energy bars), but you might want to bring something rich in fat and protein for the summit or the hike out, as your body will probably crave it by then.

Carry some powdered electrolyte juice, and a water filter. You won't need to carry more than a liter or so for the first 6 miles to Trail Camp, as water is plentiful, but above TC you'd best carry enough tankage for 3-4 liters if you want to avoid altitude sickness.

I started with 2 ltr gatorade and filled 2 1/2 ltr at Trail Camp useing iodine, then gatorade, to get to the top. More than I needed. (Not sure where the other guy got water on the switchbacks?) Protein bars, sandwiches, & dried bannans were easy. (Trail mix was to much of a hazzle to get your hands on while moving.) Good luck and just keep putting one foot in front of the other!

Wow... I think I'd watch the caffeine - it's notorious for causing dehydration. Definately bring a lot of food - when I'm hiking I'm pretty much eating constantly. If you've got any kind of low blood sugar condition (I do) you don't want to run low on your reserves. Bring a variety of foods, too. It's funny how something can sound really good at the grocery store, and gets disgusting really fast when you're up on the trail. Sweet stuff gets sickening really fast for me. I understand Cliff Bars have come out with a new line that is suposedly more salty-than-sweet. I haven't tried them yet, but I plan to. Drink the sports drinks but drink plenty of plain water, too. Bring your water filter, and enjoy the beautiful mountain as you take time to filter.

Webtravis and everyone else,
Unless you are 150 lbs and in tip top shape you are going to burn more than 4-500 calories an hour hiking.With a 40 Lb pack on you are looking at more like 1,000 calories an hour, at least.If your day hiking you will of course be burning less. Last weekend I went on a 1 hour 15 minute day hike on moderately steep terrain and covered about three miles.I carried a 15lb day pack and according to my heart rate monitor that I wear when i do any sort of exercise i burned 920 calories. Granted, I'm not in the best shape yet, having just come out of winter, I'm in the 180-190lb range.
I bet you would all be suprised at how many calories you burn an hour, probably a lot more than you think.
One thing that I bring with me on all of my hikes, cyling, running etc. is an electrolyte replacement drink.I think Cytomax tastes the best. I've found that drinking water with Cytomax during and especially after excersise that my muscles and my body in general feel better the next day and that I am able to peform at or near my previous days level of intensity.
Stay away from Gatorade as it is mostly sugars and starches.
As for foods to eat at high altitude stay away from fatty foods and if possible freeze dried food.I'm sure a collective gasp just went out but it's true.Freeze dried food is probably some of the worst things you could eat while hiking.Any sort of nutrition that was in the food has been destroyed by the rapid freeze/heat/freeze/vacuum process.The taste is destroyed too.The flavors that you are tasting are modified food starches or what some call "excito-toxins" or otherwise known as MSG, they basically trick your brain into thinking the food is good when in actuallity it is not. Deydrating your food is a much better way of lightening your pack weight and still getting proper nutrition.

BTW:Energy Bars are crap too.Whats usually the first ingredient on these bars?Malted corn or Barley.What are they? Sugars.What are other ingredients? Honey-a sugar,fruit concentrates-sugars, maltodextrin-is malted sugar and an "excito-toxin"/MSG.
Other ingredients are natural flavors which is basically MSG and the protein in the bar is usually milk, powdered or other.Gotta love all the protein you get from milk!

The hiking foods that are pushed down are throats as being healthy and filling are in fact not.You don't get energy and cell replacement from foods that are void of nutrients and full of sugars.
While I don't advocate hauling a sack of oranges up the mountain, we do need to eat foods that will replenish our systems.Foods like nuts, fruits,deydrated meats and pasta sauce.Give your body what it needs and your trip will be that much more enjoyable.

V-man

My rule of thumb would be to figure your "normal" (i.e. resting) caloric intake and double it. That would probably tell you somewhere around 4,000 calories for the day. Basically, if you're like most people, you'll start at oh-dark-thirty and be hiking all day, so you'll need breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. Maybe skip dinner and count on eating at the Portal Store if you're early enough or somehwhere in Lone Pine if not, but you'll walk off the trail ravenous.

As for water...I would not start a summer hike from Trail Camp with less than four liters of water. Trail Camp is the last reliable source of water, as the trickles across the switchbacks may well be dry, depending on snowmelt and when you're up there. You'll have to balance weight versus time. You could start from Portal with 2 liters, and probably make it to Trail Camp, but then you'll have to filter four liters there (four minutes with my First Need pump). Or, you can carry an extra eight pounds all the way up and start out with six liters and not have to filter until you get back to Trail Camp.

(Carrying all the water you'll need from Portal to Portal would probably mean something like eight liters, and that's over 16 pounds of water, added to food, clothing, foul-weather gear and other day-hike necessities.)

I have depended on my First Need in various places in the Sierra as well as around the midwest (where barnyard runoff is a real issue) and it has performed as advertised, even in places (like Trail Camp's lake) where I'd bet the coliform count is sky-high.

As noted elsewhere, you should carry some GatorAde or other sport drink (powder) for some of your fluid intake to replenish electrolytes. Food should be a mix of carbs, fat and protein, just like in the "real world." (I like making up my own gorp so it has a mix of sweets, nuts and salty stuff, with some M&Ms (yeah, I know, lots of simple sugars) for taste and fat content, peanuts and raisins for protein, fats and complex carbs. For a day hike, I'd probably carry a sub sandwich and chips for lunch, and just some extra snacks, counting on eating dinner at Portal.)

...but then I'm not one to day-hike Whitney in the first place...the last 21-mile hike I did was here in MO where altitude isn't an issue...

Hi all. I wanted to thank everyone for their advice. I now have good idea of what to bring. Thanks so much. Marcus

Veloman...

I stated you will have a calorie deficit. Whether its from 500 or 1000 cal./hr. You will not be able to carry enough food, nor will you have the appetite to eat enough food, to replace the calories you expend.

You also have a weight isssue. This is why I try to go with calorie dense foods, bagels instead of bread, fatty meats, cheeses, etc. The last thing I care about on hike day, or on a backpacking trip, is that my food is healthy and is what I am eating is going to cause my chlorestrol to spike up.

The reason for the 2,200 calories is most of the day hikers are going to lose there appetite somewhere on the trail, everyone I've day hiked with has. I use to carry a heck of a lot more food. I still carry a lot.

Sorry the censor didn't like dried meat and oreos in my original post.

For those of you that are thinking about cache water and the like up on the mountain remember there are a lot of ro****s out there. I remember as a ro**** that I thought these caches were people dumping stuff they didn't need and almost took someone's Gatorade. I'm sure I wasn't the only one with that idea.

Bill

Um,Bill,
Are you saying that I have a weight issue or are you saying there is the issue of how much weight food adds to a pack?
I'm hoping you meant the latter!

Also,
I wasn't talking about watching what you eat so your cholesterol doesn't go up, I was talking about foods that are nutritionally void and how freeze dried foods and "energy bars"(the foods we are lead to believe will give us energy and give our muscles what they need to rebuild)are pure junk laced with MSG and sugars.You probably should care about what you eat on day hikes and backpacking trips.Eating "fatty meats" at high altitudes such as when your on Whitney will take far longer to digest than when you are at or around sea level.Your stomach may be full but you are still starving your muscles.

Everyone has an opinion on what foods you should eat when backpacking.Most opinions come from what the individual thinks taste the best or what we are told to believe by the food companies, not on what foods are actually best for your body.Twinkies taste good but I don't think anyone in their right mind would think that a Twinkie would be the best thing to eat while backpacking.But if you compare the ingredients of a Twinkie and a Power Bar you will see quite a few similarities.
Liscensed Clinical Dieticians such as myself are usually a better judge of what foods you should and should not consume, especially when it comes to exercise.Just because Lance Armstrong's face is on the Power Bar box doesn't mean that he eats them.You will be hard pressed to find a PB in a professional cyclists feedbag or in any runners duffel bag.

People should really think about what foods they eat and why.Do we eat Power Bars and freeze dried foods because they taste really good and you can actually feel the energy returning?Or, do we eat them beacuse the food companies tell us we need them to perform better and that they taste really good? You choose.

The fact is that simple sugars are ineffective at replenishing our muscles glycogen reserves which ultimately leads to fatigue and cramping.

If you eat better while you're exercising you will last longer and feel better at the end of a day and then in turn you will be ready for the next day etc.

Think about it this way: The food that you put into your body is basically fuel for your body to burn, just like a car. What do you want powering your engine? Do you want 87 octane like simple sugars, MSG and modified food starches or do you want 92 octane with techron like fruits, veggies,seeds, nuts, fish,chicken etc.?
V-man

For a day hike, I don't eat a lot. The reaction to food obviously varies from person to person. Although 92 octane fuel is better than 87 octane fuel, I can only stomach so much when in the middle of a strenuous activity like doing a day hike up and down Whitney, so I end up eating a mixture. But I do need to avoid running out of fuel, and I want to have some extra food in case something goes wrong.

I do OK with seeds and nuts, dried fruit is nice but I can only take so much, and I can only take so much dried meat or chicken. I pretty much carry what Bill does, except I like to take a little bread, spreadable cheese, and cucumber instead of the couple of sandwiches. And a really good dark chocolate bar is good for celebrating at the top. I don't know how many calories I take, I just take enough to get me through the 22 mile hike, and have enough left over for emergeneices.

As for how much liquid, I like to carry three or four liters to start (with one or two being electrolyte replacement). Although this may be more than I need initially, I don't refrain from drinking so much when I know I won't need to have so much filtered or iodine water. I also like to carry enough powder to make another liter of electrolyte replacement.

I see Bill says eat early and eat often. I have trouble doing that. Since I don't really feel like eating so much in the middle of a strenuous hike, a crucial thing for me if I am going to day hike is to get well fueled beforehand, what some would think of as carbo loading. I like to have a very substantial meal in Lone Pine the night before the hike, and I like to be well acclimated so that I can afford to spend the night in Lone Pine, and get up and also have a decent breakfast between 2:00 and 2:30 at the 24 hour cafe, not enough to slow me down when I start hiking, but enough to top off my gas tank with some high octane fuel. And I also try to be well hydrated when I start. This does not eliminate the need to eat on the hike, and certainly does not eliminate the need to drink plenty on the hike, but it eliminates the need to eat more than I want to stay well fueled, and means that I don't need to drink more than I want to stay well hydrated. Since I'm going to have a caloric deficit during the hike, it is good to have a caloric surplus before the hike. I'll take a decent food break at Trail Camp, and then somewhere in the middle of my stay on top take a decent food break, but otherwise, I graze very lightly on what I have going up and down until I get back to the store (and then it is time to make up some of that caloric deficit).

I prefer a personal filter bottle to iodine, but I always carry iodine for emergencies.

In the end, you can listen to what others say, but what is most important is what works for you. What I do today is different from what I did 30 years ago, because not only are there different things available from what there was 30 years ago, but experience has taught me what works. When new things come along, and others recommend them, I try them out to see if they work for me. If not, then forget it.

Velo...

I believe in a mix. Bread, meat, cheese, dried fruit, nuts, dried meat..the j word, Oreos...meaning the c wood, bars, gu gels and electrolyte replacement. This is my basic list of food stuffs. It amounts to about 4,500 calories but I will only eat about 2,200 because I will have lost my appetite somewhere around the Sierra Crest. It will return at Whitney Portal where I will have a chicken sandwich and garlic fries at the Portal Store, or two. What I was getting at was no matter what calorie expended number/hr. is you will never replace it on this hike. Calorie dense foods is a way to minimize food weight. The day hike of the mountain is one big balancing act between weight and safety.

The reason I carry so much food is there is a chance you will be stuck out on this mountain overnight because of illness or injury. I have seen both on my travels up and down the main trail.

Bill

Summarizing food, I'd say bring what you like. Your favorite goodies will go down more easily, and wbtravis is right about energy bars. They are costly, and I get nothing out of them. I used to carry one or two in my pack for other people, but they have an expiration date, so I had to eat them (yuck!).

My favorite thing to do, before a good climb, is going early to a regular restaurant and having plenty of coffee, then the usual heart-clogging sausage and eggs, with potatoes. This is convenient and easily done along 395! P.J.'s in Lone Pine, or whatever it's named now, is open 24/7, and I made good use of them on my last ascent. I'd have to get hotcakes or waffles with fruit, now, but I think having your stomach full with a good meal lends to enjoyment. And carbo-loading the night or nights before your climb works for me.

Dieting is the worse thing you can do climbing, by some, and although I can do it, others note my slowness, which is remedied by a handful of gorp.

The USFS used to recommend boiling only, but I see they have recanted. They really should put in a good water source at TC. All the backs that would save! I like Bearpaw Meadow Resort on the HST. Fresh tap water for all! Saved me more than once!

Avoid the caffeine. It made my heart race and flutter last time up.

V-Man,

Your posts suggest several foods which are high in fat and/or protein, which goes against the conventional thinking that one should eat carbs and avoid fat and protein during the energy-intensive portion of the hike. Are you saying that the muscle-nutritional value of those fats and proteins are so high that it outweighs the additional energy required to digest them?

A couple of quick points - I, and most people I have talked to, feel that they took too much food with them on a day hike to the summit - and most people felt they should have eaten more.

For my day hike last year, I changed from my usual trail food snacks to include raw almonds - as many recommend. However, when your mouth is dry, raw almonds are not very apetizing.

I think a good rule of thumb is 64 oz of liquid from Portal to Trail Camp, 64 oz + from Trail Camp to summit and back - and then somewhat less from Trail Camp back to portal. Although there is water available from Portal to Trail Camp, on a day hike you may not want to take time to stop and filter it.

Marcus,
I'd recommend filtering your water from the small lake at Trail Camp; there's no need to carry the dead weight (the water you won't be using) up six miles when you can filter or add iodine at 12,000 feet.

If/when you gather water from this lake, do so from the *far* side, farthest from the tents and solar toilet; the water's more pure there.

L