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whitney day hike food?
#43172 06/17/15 01:51 AM
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Hey everyone I'm new to the forum. So I have scored a set of permits to hike the day hike for mount whitney in late july . I've been training and simulating elevation as best I can here on the east coast. I'm trying to organize my pack.. weight.. what to bring.. and I'm stumbling trying to find info on how much food to bring and what food to bring I've read that you should eat constantly on the trail because of altitude it's going to make you not want to eat.

Look forward to hearing from yall. Any other tips or pointers would be great!!

Happy trekking
Sam

Re: whitney day hike food?
sshock517 #43173 06/17/15 06:53 AM
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1. Have a solid breakfast on the morning of each day hike.

2. Take whatever high-carbo energy snacks you prefer, with plenty in reserve. Include electrolyte replacement powder to add to your water.

3. Most important of all is to drink plenty of water during the hike. I drink a little every 15 minutes or so, instead of one big drink occasionally. This will help stave off altitude sickness. A good thing to remember is that if you feel thirsty, you are already dehydrated.

4. Allow plenty of rest time during the hike; don't push it.

Last edited by Bob West; 06/17/15 06:55 AM.
Re: whitney day hike food?
Bob West #43174 06/17/15 08:06 AM
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Don't bring and eat foods you are not accustomed to eating regularly. If you don't like cold pizza slices, don't eat cold pizza slices on your hike. Eating food you are not used to eating can or may cause major gastrointestinal problems.

In other words, don't experiment...but experience the grandeur!

A good rule to follow and I got this from Kurt Wedberg:

Pace, pace, pace...Nibble, nibble, nibble...HYDRATE, HYDRATE, HYDRATE!

And yet another: Co-"pee"-ous and clear...s"pee"ks volumes. You get the picture regarding hydration.


Journey well...
Re: whitney day hike food?
sshock517 #43175 06/17/15 09:27 AM
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My favorites on day hikes:

Canned sardines (in oil, for the extra calories), with a fresh flour tortilla. Bring salt, too.

Peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Fruit: banana, orange, juicy peach. I've found with AMS when I have no appetite, a fruit can be eaten, while those other things are like cardboard in my mouth.

Granola bars. I have several favorites, and I'll take at least 4 for a day hike.

Candy: shot blocks, everlasting gobstoppers.

Trail mix: I like almonds and pecans, and those giant raisins from Trader Joes.

When climbing Whitney, eat often, and sooner rather than later. As you ascend, your appetite may disappear as altitude issues set in, so eating before this occurs is best.

Drink: At least a pint an hour for serious hiking/climbing. I bring lemonade or Koolaid mix for the added sugar. Add one or two of those electrolyte tablets you buy in the tubes. They make the drink taste sooo good -- like a lemonade soda!

Re: whitney day hike food?
Steve C #43203 06/20/15 08:16 AM
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Hi gang,

I've got the same question. How much food should I plan to bring for my day hike on June 24, 2015?

My practice hikes here in the southern California hills have shown me I can tolerate snacking about 200cal every 3 miles. I am eating sweet rice rolls(Costco), freeze dried fruit, fruit and nut Cliff bars, and small packages of beef jerky. For my main meal on the trail I have been having a can of sardines in olive oil.

I currently have about 2300cals (7 packs of 2 snacks) of these snacks packed in my bag based on my pace of snacking every 3 miles.

So my question is is this insanely overthought out, a good plan, or do I need to adjust? Do not be gentle with me. I am a first time extreme hiker but I'm a big boy and I have my asbestos britches on for forum chat.

Mike

Re: whitney day hike food?
Mike M #43205 06/20/15 04:03 PM
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I am guessing I would carry about 3 lbs. If it got over 4, I'd start throwing stuff out.

Re: whitney day hike food?
Steve C #43206 06/20/15 04:15 PM
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Currently, including recently added GU jells, my food weighs 2lbs, 2.5oz

Re: whitney day hike food?
Bob West #43219 06/21/15 09:32 AM
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Take foods you like and have your second big meal of the day at elevation you know you can eat at. Personally, once I cross 12,000' it's over most of the time until I return to about 10,000'.

Everyone is different...experience counts.

Re: whitney day hike food?
wbtravis #43222 06/21/15 04:32 PM
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Yesterday I day hiked Mt. Langley, which I considered as tough a day hike as Whitney. I kept it simple & packed only foods I knew I like that contained nutrition given the circumstances. Ate two hard boiled eggs & a banana the first three miles or so. Sipped lots of water along the way, then a PB&J sandie. Lots of hard candies all day too. Every hour or so I consumed fruit, veggies or string cheese. At the summit I enjoyed my soggy turkey sandwich & Gatorade. Trail mix, Cliff Bars on the descent.

Re: whitney day hike food?
Gina #43224 06/21/15 05:10 PM
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Thank you Gina.

That is exactly the type of report that I was hoping for.

Wish me luck.

Re: whitney day hike food?
Mike M #43225 06/21/15 06:08 PM
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Best of luck to you, Mike! It will be a day to remember.

Re: whitney day hike food?
sshock517 #43260 06/22/15 09:03 PM
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Just a different spin on this subject as I did something earlier this year that threw my hiking menu for a loop - I got braces. So things in the past that I relied on - sandwiches, fruit, balance bars and the like, hard candy and beef jerky are now big no-nos. Here's what I ate last Saturday that got me up and down the mountain:

Breakfast (such as it is at 2:15 am - does not count towards hiking weight)
2 pop tarts
Starbucks doubleshot + protein
Odwalla OJ

3 fruit and cereal bars
3 Gu's
Naan bread
Jif Peanut Butter pack
snack pac pudding

I use Nuun for electrolytes so they hardly count towards weight and calorie counts.

So that adds up to a little over 2000 calories. I did not weigh it but it's not that much. Enough calories to get me up and down the mountain (just under 200 lbs).

I have tried fruit pacs and the like and while they taste good, they are not very calorie dense.

Re: whitney day hike food?
RonDiego #43266 06/23/15 02:55 AM
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Thanks everyone for the responses they have helped a lot my other kinda question is "big meals" I plan on having a big breakfast I normally down a backpacker's pantry meal for the morning before Mt hike.when do you suggest another meal is?.. I'm gonna snack through out the hike as suggested above but is there suggests certain distance or elevation everyone tends to have another other solid meal at or should I just wait till the top??

Tha ns

Re: whitney day hike food?
sshock517 #43269 06/23/15 09:25 AM
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Do not plan on eating much at the top. Most people are affected by the altitude enough that they have no appetite at 14,500'. I would try eating the most by Trail Camp, and plan on just snacking after that -- because snacks may be all your stomach can take.

Re: whitney day hike food?
Steve C #43275 06/23/15 04:33 PM
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A few years ago - 2010 I think - a large group actually hauled a freakin' smorgasbord to the summit to celebrate something. They killed themselves doing it, only to find that at the top they had very little appetite. They had all this food - heavy food like salmon, cheese and fruit - laid out on the summit rocks and were begging other hikers to, "please, PLEASE help yourselves! We do NOT want to haul all this back down!"

There must have been 50 people on the summit watching in fascination, but they got very few takers. I and my partner each took an apple and munched on them half-heartedly, more from pity than hunger. We left the summit before they did so we didn't see the end result, but I suspect the marmots had a field day.

It varies by person, but the more acclimated you are, the more likely you are to have an appetite at altitude. My appetite, however, goes MIA once I'm above 12.5K' or so, regardless of acclimation.

Cardinal rule: take ONLY what you enjoy eating. And the less effort chewing, the better. It feels like work.

Re: whitney day hike food?
Bulldog34 #43277 06/23/15 05:34 PM
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That's a great story Bulldog34. I still remember my first summit many years ago. The ONLY thing I could eat at the summit was a juicy nectarine -- because it was juicy, and could be swallowed. My mouth could not generate a drop of saliva to swallow anything else.

...and I recall that nectarine tasted Oh So Good!

Re: whitney day hike food?
Steve C #43279 06/23/15 05:53 PM
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Steve, I've learned to eat totally differently on a mountain than I do during a normal day. It's almost like cheating. I'm burning these tremendous caloric amounts, so I can eat the stuff I love but usually deny myself due to bad carbs and sugar. On Whitney, I take a lot of two things: Honey Buns, and one of Doug's Portal pancakes broken up and stored in baggies. The beauty of it is that they consist of both complex and simple carbs - dually needed on a long, strenuous hike.

That's what I keep telling myself, anyway . . .

Re: whitney day hike food?
Bulldog34 #43280 06/23/15 06:56 PM
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A long time ago...a couple of local (Bishop) climbers, who shall remain anonymous, started their hike to Iceberg Lake, for some east face Whitney climbs, but discovered that their climbing partners had taken all the food, leaving them with just a loaf of bread and a jar of mayo. They reported to me that they have never had so much energy on an approach hike.

During the same era, another four locals ascended Mt. Williamson from the valley floor (!), taking four days for the climb. Each guy took a bottle of wine, which they drank as part of their dinners.

Whatever fuels yer tank, I suppose.

Re: whitney day hike food?
Bob West #43282 06/23/15 09:34 PM
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A few years back when I did my day hike, I grabbed a footlong subway and ate it at trailside meadow, even though I was not that hungry. I was feeling great UNTIL I STOOD UP. I was nauseated and in a world of hurt until I finally snapped out of it a good way up the switchbacks. I'm fairly sure the heavy meal was at least a short-term disadvantage, but it may have helped the rest of the trip.

For me though, I think water is the biggest concern once you know you have enough snacks to stretch out through the day.

Last edited by jondotcom; 06/23/15 09:35 PM.
Re: whitney day hike food?
Bob West #43286 06/24/15 05:24 AM
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Originally Posted By: Bob West
A long time ago...a couple of local (Bishop) climbers, who shall remain anonymous, started their hike to Iceberg Lake, for some east face Whitney climbs, but discovered that their climbing partners had taken all the food, leaving them with just a loaf of bread and a jar of mayo. They reported to me that they have never had so much energy on an approach hike.

During the same era, another four locals ascended Mt. Williamson from the valley floor (!), taking four days for the climb. Each guy took a bottle of wine, which they drank as part of their dinners.

Whatever fuels yer tank, I suppose.


Bob, that reminds me of a certain Bishop-area mountaineer who thinks nothing of hauling up a bladder of wine, a bladder of scotch, several steaks, a few salmon . . .

Re: whitney day hike food?
Bulldog34 #43289 06/24/15 08:07 AM
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Must be....


DAH MOOSE!!!


Journey well...
Re: whitney day hike food?
Bulldog34 #43311 06/25/15 08:31 PM
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Thanks for all the help gang. My hike was successful yesterday.

As reported by many, my appetite diminished greatly on the trail. I had planed for 8 snack stops and a small meal at the top and almost none of that happened. What did happen was the pop tart that I had started munching on at the start, to compliment the two Muscle Milks I chugged at 1:45am, was almost inedible. My mouth got dry and I could not drink enough from my hydration pack to wash it down. Keeping with my plan I opened the rice rolls and dried fruit at Lone Pine Lake junction and had similar problems. I think regular dried fruit and not the freeze dried would have been better. By SB 23 I ate the last of the dried food I could and abandoned any more planned stops. 4 of the 8 rice rolls and 6 of the dried fruit came back to camp. I switched over to the GUs. I consumed a total of 6 at various points along the remainder of the day. I also managed to eat 2 of the 3 cliff bars. I ate one Cliff Bar at the top. My mouth stayed pretty dry the entire trip and the sourness of GU really got my saliva going and saved the day. Total I ate less than half of what I brought. FYI I drank 6 liters of water on the trail.

Mike

Re: whitney day hike food?
Mike M #43314 06/25/15 10:57 PM
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Thanks for the followup, Mike. It sounds like the altitude affected you early on.

What, if any, acclimatization did you try?

Re: whitney day hike food?
Steve C #43322 06/27/15 06:18 AM
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I stayed at the WP camp for 36 hours prior to my departure.

I had no headache or nausea. I took 125mg Diamox twice a day for 2 days prior and the morning of.

The only noticeable effect of the altitude was the reduced appetite.

As I said in my earlier post, I'm a first time hiker (anywhere) and I am proud of my 15 hour round trip achievement. The only thing I would change is to bring more GU and savory foods and less really dry stuff.

fyi: I'm 57yo, 192#, 6'2"

Last edited by Mike M; 06/27/15 06:25 AM.
Re: whitney day hike food?
Bulldog34 #43340 06/28/15 09:28 AM
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Bulldog,

My first trip up I took everything including the kitchen sink. Neeedless to say, beside the alien trying to crawl out of my right eye, I had zero appetite from 12,000' back to 10,000'.

Also, the food I took, I liked but I would not take them hiking with me for years. I was so turned off by them after this trip.

Over the years, I have found I can eat over 12,000' when I do not push hard...those days are rare. There are many nights I have not had diner above 10,000' after a hard day. I will usually start snacking late in the evening just before tossing and turning time. My first meal usually in the morning.

Re: whitney day hike food?
Bulldog34 #43499 07/12/15 07:18 PM
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Thanks for all the food replies I did my practice hike this weekend for whitney and think I got my food all set. Another question while you are all here is would you Consider the whitney hike a very steep incline hike or like a gradual hike?

Re: whitney day hike food?
sshock517 #43513 07/13/15 04:22 PM
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Personally I'd consider it steep, but the altitude influences that answer. The switchbacks (and there are many of them) aren't all that bad and the backside is definitely an incline but it's nothing drastic. There are other sections with quite a few stairs however, and the lack of oxygen coupled with a pack makes every step a lot more work than it would normally be.

There's almost no level ground - you're heading uphill pretty consistently the whole way.

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