Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Food/Menu Suggestions

I'll be heading to Horseshoe Meadows for a few days of acclimatization in a couple of weeks before my solo day hike up the MT. As I'm starting to pull together the menu/food list I realized I have gotten in a rut as far as my meal planning.

I have been searching and reading various suggestions from other web sites. As my head is spinning, I thought I would throw out the question to this community.

What would your menu/food include for a Sunday evening, all day Mon & Tues? (Day hiking on Mon & Tues, heading to the portal on Wed)

On the day before heading out I prefer to keep things relatively simple in so far as cleanup and preparation goes. Also, I also keep the carb level high to help keep glycogen stores up - this includes pastas and rice. Preparing as much as you can at home helps alot such as cooking the rice and pasta dishes which also keeps the perishables down in the ice chest. The Horseshoe Meadows campgrounds is walk-in so one must haul everything from your vehicle and store the foodstuffs in the bear boxes so keeping the loads to a minimum is helpful especially with early morning starts.

As far as dayhiking goes, my personal choices are Cliff Bars (chocolate chip), tropical blend trailmix form Walmart, Goo, and Snickers (if weather is cool). Gatorade makes small packets to add to your water which helps make it more appealing without adding too much sweetness. For lunch, I've yet to find anything better than PB&J. Altitude is a factor that really messes with my food preferences. Certain foods that taste great at home such as sunflowers seeds, pistachios, and beef jerky I can't stomach above 10k and interestingly enough some things I seem to like more like PB&J (rarely eat at home) and Cliff Bars. Just have to keep trying things and see what works for you.

Wazzu.....I can't wait for your TR.

I have a tradition of "Snickers at the Summit". That's any summit, Baldy, San Jacinto, Wilson, Whitney, etc.

For your hike to the summit, I don't do PB & J. I'm the opposite of John and don't enjoy them on the trail. I do get a turkey or tuna from Subway and keep it in a cooler, then put it in my pack for the hike up. Peanut M&M's, Cliff bars, possibly trail mix that you KNOW you will like. I drink Vitalyte. Before I head up, I drink about a liter of water or Vitalyte mix in water. The latter is probably a bit better. I also don't like GU, but I do like "Honey Stinger" with Ginseng. If you bring a P B & J, it tastes good on the sandwich. I also bring chocolate covered coffee beans, just in case I feel the need.

Not sure how you feel about over the counters, but I take Extra Strength Excedrin before my hike (with food)and also a bit before Trail camp and then again near the summit.

Good luck.....and keep hydrated.

wazzu, as others have said, I strongly recommend lots of complex carbs in the 48 hours before your Whitney hike. Pasta, breads, rice, potatoes, etc. - build a store of easily-convertible energy for those 6000 calories you'll need to burn to get to the summit and back. Personally, I pig out on pasta and breads the 2-3 meals before heading out on a big hike like Whitney. Doug's pancake is a shining example of complex carbs that you can eat one day and still have with you while pulling that 6150 feet of uphill the next day on Whitney.

Being in an eating rut is not necessarily a bad thing before a big hike, assuming the rut is providing good fuel for the hiking engine. In fact, I would caution you not to vary your eating habits too greatly once you get to Lone Pine - at least not just for the sake of changing them. First, you don't want gastric issues at 13,000 feet sapping your strength. Secondly, your food intake in the 48 hours before you hit the Whitney Trail should be geared towards what will get you up and down the mountain. Taste and personal preference are secondary considerations.

The day of your big hike, taste and personal preference are everything. Take with you only those things that you know you like to eat under most circumstances. What might seem OK at sea level can be horrible at altitude. Last year I took some packaged tuna with me up Whitney. I generally like tuna. Tried to eat it on the switchbacks and got maybe two bites down. Dumb. Tuna is not one of those foods I crave and love. Take stuff you have a strong affinity for, 'cuz that's generally all you can stomach above Trail Camp. For me it's Pop Tarts and M&Ms - I can eat these anywhere, anytime, and they're tailor-made for hiking a big mountain. Naturally, you want some items to be simple carbs with lots of quick sugary-energy burst, but now is not the time to be testing out new or different foods if you can avoid it. The chances are very high those new foods will come back in your pack untouched.

Best of luck, and post a TR!

Cliff bars,Natures Valley Honey Granola bars, and soft beef jerky.Gummy bears.Walkers Shortbread cookies.That's it.

The short answers is foods you like and eat at sea level.

Sunday at Horseshoe Meadow...a big stinking meal. Barbeque this and that; and a adult beverage of your choosing. This is supposed to be fun...make it fun. The last thing you want is Mountain House freeze dried food.

I've got food issues up high. If I do not watch my level of exertion I will lose my appetite completely. This does not manifest itself during the day or the morning of the following day, just with the evening meal. Therefore, I bring foods where I can adjust portion size, pasta/sauce and extra this and that for calories if I cannot eat a meal...hot chocolate, cookies, Milky Ways. You want something before you crawl into your tent, if you have lost your appetite.

The food topic always amazes me, guess I am in this camp:

Most expeditions have some story about their food and attitudes to it vary from the haute cuisine of some French expeditions to the blunt assertion of Tilman, the famous eccentric and explorer, that he did not mind as long as there was some.

Joe Tasker, Everest the Cruel Way page 158

It takes some time to gather the ingredients and make it, but I always take my homemade granola when I camp.

If camping at the car, I use real milk with the granola. On the trail, I add the powdered milk and coffee creamer powder to the serving before I go. Then just add water. Love that stuff!

Lunch on the trail: canned sardines with some crackers or pita bread. (bring salt!)

Or peanut butter and grape jelly on pita bread. I have a little plastic bottle I use to carry the PB and J; It originally carried chicken or beef bullion.

Steve C, your granola receipe is what got me started thinking of ths topic. I made a batch of your granola and think it will be a good alternative to my usual camping/hiking breakfast of regular flavor instant oatmeal with raisins and a cup of hot chocolate. I will be taking both to HM.

It just got me wondering if there were other food ideas out there. Thanks to all who replied. As always, good info.

I also experience a loss of appetite at altitude. I recently discovered ginger chews. ( www.gingerpeople.com ) I eat one once I get over 9k and have found food is appealing and I can get more than a bite down. In fact, I was able to eat a bagel with cream cheese, sliced turkey and bacon sandwich at 11k on San Gorgonio a couple of weeks ago. I have never been able to eat that much over 10k in one instance. Ginger is known for settling stomach upset. Some people use antacids, pepto, etc I find ginger ale or ginger tea works for me. Don't know why it took me so long to think of using ginger candy on the trail.

Ginger chews / ginger candy .... nice tip. Thanks! Do you think Trader Joe's will have it?

Not sure about Trader Joes for the brand of ginger chews I use. They may carry some type of ginger candy.

The link I posted has a store locator for the brand I use. I saw 1 store in Fresno, Cost Plus World Market. You can also order online from the web site.

Steve: I get mine at Trader Joe's here in Palmdale, and that's the brand they carry. Sara turned me onto them. A couple of weeks ago, I got nauseous coming down the chute, and I ate one (Sara gave it to me for the summit and I forgot) at Iceberg, and it made me feel better. Didn't know it was the properties of ginger... They'll be going up with me as I try Langley this weekend,

I actually purchased my box of ginger chews this summer on the ferry to Catalina. (Went over to try out the new zip line, which I highly recommend)

The ferry was selling the ginger chews for sea sickness. Fortunatley I don't have a issue with sea sickness, but had recently done San Bernardino peak (over 10k) and experienced some nausea, that eventually passed, but thought the ginger chews might be worth a try as I was going up San Jancinto the following week. I used on San Jancinto and San Gorgonio and no nausea. So they will be in my pack for every trip.

wazzu....don't worry about the nausea. I've gotten it all three times I've been on the switchbacks, I am guessing 12,500 or so. Gary got it last time too. Mine was just slight and came and went....and then came again. Eating is tough. But, the nausea usually goes away. It was gone by Trail Crest and came back a few hundred feet from the summit. I was feeling good at the summit though. I ate an apple at the summit and that helped a lot for the trip back down.

I almost always get nausea at about 12,500, too, and if I can remain calm & push past it, I find that I sometimes feel better at 13,000 than I did at 12,000. Switchbacks require a lot of exertion, too, so I think that pairing that combo of switchies and elevation is a "winner" (loser??) I had the same thing happen on the switchbacks on the way up to Mono Pass (Mosquito Flat trail) and I found that I could almost talk myself out of getting worse by remembering that I had done my "homework", so that I would not get sick (and I did not)

For me it isn't nausea but just lack of hunger and then not thinking about eating while hiking.Once you get on the switchbacks last thing I am thinking about is eating.It is one foot after the other. I am known to get nauseus when my blood sugar is low. I wonder if some of the stomach nausea is not really related to low blood sugar due to high energy output?I had no problem eating at Trail Crest but I ate very little between Outpost and Trail Camp and nothing on the switch backs.