RESUPPLIES

We've had requests for a schedule of resupply locations, and so posted below are all the stops we hope to make along the CT with their resupply addresses and approximate dates of arrival (we may also hit up a couple other trail towns but will have no resupply box sent).  We have no expectations to receive anything, but because interest has been shown in sending letters or care packages, all the information is below to do such.  We may move faster or slower than what is listed below and will try to keep you updated as we head along the trail.  

As mentioned previously, here are our resupply packages of food (the 5 boxes shown).  That's a lot of food...  

So what's in the boxes??  A typical day of food for me looks something like this: oatmeal with nuts and raisins or cereal with dried milk and nuts for breakfast, a couple snack bars, a large bag of trail mix of some sort or peanut butter and wraps for lunch, a carb-loaded dinner (I dehydrated a lot of my own meals but also put in some packaged meals like mac and cheese), and a couple mini candy bars for dessert.  The packages also include things like toilet paper, fuel for the stove, instant coffees, maps, photocopies of pages in the trail book (why carry the whole book when you could carry just a portion of it and then use the pages as a fire-starter?), information for the next trail town, shampoo and soap to use in town, laundry detergent to use in town, wet wipes, hand sanitizer, vitamins, and a few other extra things.  

As you can see, we will eat a lot of dried foods and will have a lack of fresh foods, as they weigh too much to carry around on the trail.  Usually when I head into a trail town to resupply, I indulge on things like salad and fresh fruit, but of course other things are enjoyed while in town, often including a pint of ice cream and some sort of meal, like pizza.  One time while in a trail town I ate a large pizza as a snack and then had a huge dinner prepared by another hiker a couple hours later.  More impressively, I met and hiked for a period with a guy on the AT who ate over 15,000 in a 24-hour period...he was as skinny as a rail.  

Of course, hiking up and down mountains requires a lot of calories.  According to a calorie calculator on Backpacker Magazine website, I will burn around 3500-4200 calories a day.  Based on previous experience, though, I have a feeling I burn more than that.  Calories burned depend on a lot of factors, including altitude, pack weight, body weight, terrain, and distance traveled.  All of those factors change daily on the trail, so it's really difficult to have an accurate calculation.  I can say this, though: it is next to impossible to eat too much while backpacking, and a backpacker is inevitably hungry most of the time.