Food Dehydrating

posted by tom

Asparagus dries beautifully!

I have been doing a fair bit of dehydrating. I bought a dehydrator around the start of February, and have had some good success. So far I have dehydrated:

5 pounds of bananas
25 pounds or so of potatoes (which is more work than other stuff because you have to blanche the taters).
10 pounds of apples
4 pounds of tofu
3 pounds or so of broccoli
6 pounds of asparagus
1+ gallons of pasta sauce
8 cups? of cooked red lentils (this was one of the most stressful. As lentils do not take very long to cook, I think I am just going to lug a bit more fuel than try to do these again).

I can't figure out how to spin the picture, but this is me with some "pasta sauce fruit leather." Yum?

things you dont think about until you will be living in the woods:

Posted by: Jenna

Both Tom and I wear contacts to see and it has become so second nature, I never really think about it anymore. But I started planning out this hike and realized I wouldnt want to be sticking my grubby hands in my eyes every night, or carrying a heavy container of saline solution. So I decided I ought to hike with my glasses on. However, my glasses are thick-framed and heavy, and not the most hiking-savvy item. So I made a trip to my eye doctor, found out my eyesight had worstened (great), and tried on new frames (for my designated "hiking glasses"). I also decided to kill two birds with one great pair of glasses by getting transition lenses (they transition to tinted sunglasses when it is bright out, and back to regular glasses when it is cloudy or dark). I have gone on two hikes in my new glasses, and they are highly practical. They are not, however, the most stylish- but I keep reminding myself I will be in the woods. They look great as regular glasses, but a bit goofy as the sunglasses. Honestly, they make me look a bit like an old man.

Tom also made a trip to his eye doctor (bi-coastal optometrist visits), and ended up with a pair of glasses, and a pair of prescription sunglasses (Ray-Bans, nonetheless. There is no question about who will be more stylish for those 2,700 miles). Now we will both be able to see the trail, each other, and the amazing views. Which checks another thing off of our to-do list.

what to eat:

Posted by Jenna.

I have been doing a lot of reading and researching about nutrition and what to eat when you are expending a ton of energy. The other day at the gym I stumbled on an old issue of Backpacker (October 2009) that had a great article about eating for energy. So, here is my mini book report:

• 7am: Replenish glycogen stores which dip low overnight with a complex carb-heavy meal. Oatmeal with powdered milk, or granola with nuts and fruit.
• 10am: Get a quick burst of fuel from a snack containing simple sugars. Raisins, honey gorp, or granola bars.
• 12pm: Eat a balance of complex and simple carbs, and protein. Peanut butter and jelly and pretzels, or an energy bar.
• 2pm: Fuel yourself for the final push of the day: eat slow burning healthy fats with a dash of protein. Gorp with chocolate, nuts and fruit, cheese and crackers.
• 4pm: Drink a lot, and keep fueling. Energy bars, pretzels and peanut butter.
• 6pm: Eat 6-8 ounces of lean protein, grains, and healthy fats. Lentils, pasta, dried veggies, and protein.
• 8pm: Drink water (or a hot drink) before bed, so you are hydrated and ready for the morning.

Microspikes are amazing.

My good friend, Lindy, and I hiked up Catamount (my local ski area) today. Since the ski season is about finished in the Northeast, we were the only ones on the mountain, but we still had plenty of snow to practice on. We both strapped on our microspikes and headed up the mountain with our trekking poles and ice axes, and it was a lot of fun.

But now I am going to praise MicoSpikes for a little while: they are fantastic. We walked up ice, porous spring snow, mud, and everything in between, and we didnt slip once. They gave us confidence, especially descending, because we knew that when we put our foot down somewhere, that is where it would remain. If you ever find yourself out in the snow in the winter, I would highly recommend a pair of these. They stretch right over any boot (we put ours on while standing at the bottom of the hill), and they are both serious and casual. I believe they may prove to be one of the best pieces of gear on this hike. They are worth their weight in gold (you can also strap them to your pack when they are not on your feet to double as a "bear bell".)

Now that the ski season is over, however, I am devoting more of my time to hiking. And Tom is coming back east on April 5th, which is very exciting. Some more exciting news: I passed my Professional Ski Instructors of America Level 2 Skiing Exam (and written exam) this past week up at Mount Snow, in Vermont. I passed 3 out of 3 of the skiing sessions, and got a surprising 88% on the written exam. A great way to end the season.

my obsession with trail mix

Post by Jenna.

I love trail mix. I could seriously sit and eat it all day, because there is so much variation that you never get bored. And thats probably a good thing, because it is going to be a staple of mine and Tom's diet on the trail. People suggest that you should have 2 cups of trail mix a day to snack on all of the time. The other day while riding up the chair lift, I started wondering how much trail mix that would really be for the whole trip.
Lets do some simple math (the best kind):

2 cups of trail mix
x
30 days a month
x
6 months
=
360 cups of trail mix (per person).

Thats a whole lot of peanuts and raisins.