Wind River

[jentzschman]

Planning a 9 day trip to Wind River range in Wyoming and I am in the process of preparing, gathering, and planning my food. I did a rough weigh in tonight and I am at ~1 lb 8 oz per day giving my 16 lbs 2 oz of food for 9 days.

This has been a bit of a process planning out food for that many days. After a lot of research, it seems like the sweet spot is 1.4 lbs PPPD (per person per day) Finding calorie dense foods is a little bit of a challenge as I am trying to create a variety of foods each day but ended up going a much simpler route I think:

• 2x Instant oatmeal packets + a pastry for breakfast each day.
• 2x medium tortillas + 2x Justins almond butter packets + trail mix for lunch each day (2 almond butter packet might be over kill and I might subtract one packet while still taking 2 tortillas to save a little more weight)
• 1x freeze dry dinner each day (I bought 2 serving pouches and plan on using one serving and repackaging each freeze dry meals into baggies. In addition, I am only taking one freeze dry pouch to reuse each for each dinner thus saving some weight)
• 4x snacks per day (mix and match of various bars and cookies)

All of this will be ~3k calories per day with should be spot on as far as enough energy each day, I hope.

With food and base weight, I will be ~28-30 lbs total which is not too bad I don't think.
I would love to get down to ~25-27 lbs total pack weight for a trip this long in the future, however, I know I would need to drastically changing my shelter and sleeping systems. Right now I have a solo tarp tent (notch model) and while it is much litter then my previous solo tent, I believe moving in the direction of a tarp shelter+waterproof bivy would save me close to 1 lb of weight alone.

Honestly, I think when I get back from this trip I am going to buy a tarp and bivy and begin the transition to a true UL shelter/sleeping system. Knowing how to pith a tarp in all weather conditions and in multiple configurations take a bit of practice and I want to start practicing for future trips.

 

[Blake Merrell]

I had a similar menu for my winds trip. I never felt starved or hungry with what I had.

With a total pack weight of 35lbs for 9 days you will be comfortable.

 

[Upgrayedd]

Thanks for posting, I really need to work on the food I carry (among other things) when backpacking. I'm just not very creative and end up snacking instead of eating real meals and that can get old quickly.

28-30lbs is really a pretty decent weight for that long on the trail. Without knowing your current loadout it sounds like you're in the 12-13lbs baseweight range which is the point at which it starts to get difficult and expensive to reduce weight carried without sacrificing safety, comfort or both.

What pack are you using? What sleeping bag/pad? Your notch is actually pretty light at 27oz but you're right, you could shave weight going with a tarp setup. I'm not sure that I'd want to in the Uintas or the Winds though since having a fully closed shelter sure is nice when dealing with the weather you often encounter on high alpine trips.

 

[Venchka]

If you find a tarp and bivi that weighs 10 ounces or so please tell where I can buy them. I'm in the market for a new shelter. The TarpTent Notch & Rainbow and LightHeart Gear Solong 6 are on my short list. I'm open to other solutions.
Thanks.
Enjoy your trip.

Wayne


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