Sharkies Sports Chews

On a trip to Wal-Mart today, I saw a pack of "Sharkies Kids Sports Chews" in the check-out lane. They were advertising the trial size pouches (40 cents). Being a fiend for gummy snacks, I could not help myself. They might serve as a plausible backpacking snack, so I grabbed a pack and decided to do a review of them.

The package states that they're an excellent source of Vitamin C (exact value listed below!), "No High Fructose Corn Syrup", "No Trans Fats", and "No Wheat Gluten & Nuts". All while being certified USDA organic. I have no allergies to gluten or nuts, but that could be a very key point to someone else (although these are packaged in a plant along with Soy, so that's also a consideration). Tropical Splash? I'm normally not a fan of "tropical" flavors, so this may be over before I even get to try them.

Checking the nutritional information (something I just started doing, and only in regards to backpacking food), I was surprised to see that 23g of fruit snacks gave 70 Calories (more than I figured they would - which is good for backpacking), no fats, a respectable amount of cations, and... wait, 58% of the daily recommended dose of Vitamin C? Well now, they have a very nice nutritional value in a pack that weighs less than three AAA batteries.

I opened the package, and quickly grabbed one and ate it. Oops, I'm trying to do a review of these, better take a picture of the next one... The texture was pretty good for a chewy candy. It's not like gummy bears - it feels like it will hold up fairly well in heat. The texture is somewhat similar to Sour Patch Kids - but a little more firm and a little less tacky. The way they're coated, I was expecting a slightly sour flavor, but they're not sour at all. Not overly sweet, either. The tropical flavors, to my abilities, were identified as lemon-lime, mango, passion fruit, and watermelon. But I'm terrible at these things. There may have also been pomegranate.

Curious, I went to find information about non-trial size packages of these. The retail packages will be 45g (12 pieces), and therefore 140 Calories and a full daily serving of Vitamin C. More surprisingly, they also have "Smart Twists" which appear to be similar to Twizzlers in appearance. The nutritional information for a single 20g twist: 70 Calories, 100% Vitamin C, and also has Omega 3s.

The downside is the price. For the little shark pieces, a box of 12 bags is around $18 (3.3 cents/gram), or 12 boxes, each with 5 bags (23g size, though, according to the site) for $48 (3.5 cents/gram). The twists are sold by the case: 12 boxes, each with 5 twists; so 60 twists for $48. It might be something valid for doing mail drops, or to keep a stock of and use when you do day hikes/weekend trips/single-supply backpacking trips. The shelf life seems pretty workable - the trial pack that I picked up today is best by 03/31/13.

If I'm resupplying and come across the trial packs in the future, I'll likely pick them up. Might be something good to keep handy in the hipbelt to grab at quick.

Hikers Need Calories

Nutrition is something that is easily overlooked on a thru-hike, and one that is often cited as contributing to a prospective 2000-miler's failure. I admit, it's one of the things that still concerns me. That's why I decided to make a trip to Wal-Mart and do a test-run of a resupply.

I hoped to benefit from this mainly to get in the mindset of what things would make good backpacking food, what wouldn't, and what I might expect to spend.

Everything (mostly) repackaged...

Here's the list of items I purchased, categorized into different meals:

Breakfast

• Instant Oatmeal, Fruit & Cream variety - 10 packets total; 2 Strawberry & Cream, 2 Blueberry  & Cream, 4 Peach  & Cream, and 2 Banana  & Cream. Each breakfast would include 2 packets (probably not mixing flavors), which would be 230 Calories, ~200mg Potassium, ~50g Carbs, 6g protein, 40% Vitamin A/Iron/Vitamin B6, 20% Calcium. Just boil ~1C water, add the two packets, then let it sit in the cozy for 2 minutes.
• Toaster Pastries - I picked up the Brown Sugar Cinnamon variety, as I find the fruit-filled with icing variety too sweet in the morning. Each one gives 200 Calories, 70mg Potassium, 37g Carbs, 2g protein, 10% Vitamin A/Iron/Vitamin B6. Just eat as-is. I may either use as a breakfast (probably eating 2, or doing 1 of these, with 1 donut stick), or my first snack during the day. I'll have to refine my snack options to really figure that out.
• Donut Sticks - Many people swear by Little Debbie Honey Buns. I know I like those, and I can definitely see their value on the trail. I want to experiment while I'm still safe in a house with other food options, though, so I decided to grab some of the donut sticks. Each one gives 220 Calories, 25mg Potassium, 26g Carbs, 1g protein, and 15% Calcium. Since these don't require cooking, I'd likely boil water to drink some coffee or some other warm beverage. Or just eat one of these and a Poptart on a morning where I just want to get started quickly and not deal with boiling water. Like the Poptarts, these will probably be an ambiguous mix-and-match between breakfast and a first snack.
• Carnation Instant Breakfast - I've never had these before, so I don't know how well they'll serve me. I won't be bringing milk to mix them with, and I've never really dealt with dried milk before. This is going to take more figuring out, but I'll start with seeing how these serve me with just water. Or perhaps I'll give powdered milk a shot. Without milk, each packet gives 130 Calories, 320mg Potassium, 27g Carbs, 5g protein, 15% Vitamin A, 140% Vitamin C, 25% Calcium/Iron/Vitamin D/E/K, 20% Vitamin B6, and 10% Vitamin B12. Those values would obviously increase a nice amount with some powdered milk. Can even be mixed with instant coffee packets for a little kick, without having to deal with the awful taste of instant coffee.

Lunch

• Hard salami, sharp cheddar, tortillas - They've got a ton of flavor, and amazing nutritional value. It's a common hiker lunch for a reason. I find no reason to switch from it.
• Ramen - The single packets of Ramen could serve as variety if need be.

Snacks/Add-ins

• M&Ms - I prefer to not mix the different snacks together into GORP. At least not right now. I'd rather grab into different bags to take what I want - when things are mixed together, I tend to search for one thing that I'm craving, anyway. I went with pretzel for now, but will also go for peanut.
• Dried cranberries - Something nice and simple, like raisins, that can be picked at on their own, or added to oatmeal, or even the salami wraps I suppose. Nice and light (surprisingly cheap, too: I got a half pound bag for $1.25), and more of a tart flavor than sweet - which I like.
• Goldfish crackers - I like salty snacks, and Goldfish crackers would be a good way to get that, while still having a durable cracker (unlike saltines), which are actually a decent source of protein. Go figure. I might mix a small bag of GORP (even though I don't have raisins or peanuts in this...) from these three items and carry it in the hip belt for easier access to the three while hiking, but I'll keep the "bulk" separated in the food bag itself.
• Beef jerky - Prefer sweet & hot flavor, but jerky itself is just awesome, regardless of flavor. Yummy protein.
• Haribo Gummy bears - I really like them. I'll pick some up on occasion as a treat.
• Austin variety cracker packets - I had these in bagged lunch in elementary school all the time. The idea of variety isn't as much as if I didn't have the Goldfish, but these will still serve as a change of pace in the texture/taste departments. Pack away easily, although being individually wrapped does mean I need to pack out a little more. Not a big deal, really.
• StarKist Tuna packets - I figured I would list them with the add-ins. Varieties of fish packed in foil packets, already with oils and the wonderful nutritional boosts of fish. Yummy. Add to various dinners or the lunches.
• I'll likely also pick up things like raisins (or other dried fruits), peanuts, cashews, or almonds (especially almonds, actually) to serve as stand-alone snacks or "seasonings" for oatmeal or something else. Actually, I'm far more likely to have a variety of nut in lieu of the Goldfish while on the trail, and get my salty fixes from the Austin packets. In addition, I'll likely be carrying a small bottle of olive oil, and possibly a bottle of hot sauce (or a bunch of sauce packs from Taco Bell stuffed into a bag to keep them organized). Because I can.

Dinner

• Idahoan Instant mashed potatoes - I've never even given these a glance before while shopping for meals I'd be making on a normal stove. I'd heard they're fantastic for backpacking, though, so I decided to give them a shot. They're ridiculously simple to make - just add boiling water to them (or visa versa) and mix. With freezer bag cooking, this is essentially "pour hot water in bag, seal, and squeeze." Light weight, cheap, and lots of options on how to spice it up.
• Betty Crocker Stuffing - I got some chicken flavor to test out at home. Again, a nice balance between nutritional, economical, and weight/bulk value. Just gotta mix the stuff with some boiling water and let it all sit in a cozy for a few minutes. I can see myself splitting the box in half, mixing each half with 1 packet of mashed potatoes and a packet of tuna for a super hardy meal. I'll see how it tastes on its own, and how the mashed potatoes taste on their own. But mixing the two of them without the tuna will likely be a reality.
• Knorr pasta sides - Another item that I've never even batted an eye at while shopping in a non-backpacking mindset. They're $1 each, and give tons of variety - which I think is their best feature. Another item of "add boiling water to noodles + seasoning and let sit for X minutes" preparation. I picked up two different varieties to test out: Rice Sides Steak Fajita and Asian Sides Teriyaki Noodles.
• Pasta Roni - I picked up a box of Angel Hair pasta with herb sauce. The directions suggest that it could follow the boiling water + box contents + waiting formula fine. There were a couple other varieties on the shelf, all of which seemed viable to eat as-is, or add some of the tuna packets to.
• Mac and Cheese - Enough said. I haven't actually tried to cozy-cook it yet, though, so I may scrap this as an option.

I feel that these are worth their own shot. Yum.

In all, I was able to get a very solid supply of food for a decent price, and enough variety that I think it'll be easy to keep myself eating over the course of my thru-hike. I'm glad that all of this easily fit in the bag I was intending to use as my food bag, as this is more than I plan on carrying at any point during the hike. 

But for now, I practice cooking these up using the cozy method. Because repackaging all of this and then discussing it has very much peaked my appetite.

It's 2012

Well, the calendar is closing in on the departure date.

I've been refining my gear, figuring out arrangements and details, and testing my mentality. Mostly the latter. I keep trying to figure out what else I need to figure out before I leave. Ultimately, I'm confident that I'm ready. But there's not much I can do over the next few months to really convince myself of that. I won't be able to until I'm on the trail.

I'm glad that I've been able to shift myself into a lightweight rating before I even leave. While I feel that I'd be able to appreciate ounces far more if I were to start off with a 60 pound pack... I'm very ok with the notion of starting off with my base weight much lower. While I'm not ultralight (and not upset at the fact that I'm not), I'm very happy with the progress I've made. I've also become a lot more fond of each piece of gear while doing that. It's been an excellent process, and to anyone that is currently backpacking with extra weight on their backs, I definitely recommend giving your pack a critical eye. I know the gear won't be what gets me to Katahdin, but leaving behind 40 pounds of luxury and (more accurately) poorly planned gear should at least not hurt my odds. The process of packing away the other gear I've acquired over the years that I thought I would bring on the thru-hike has been fun, and relatively comical. I'm actually quite excited to see what my opinions on my gear are after I've put miles on the trail. I suspect I'll look back and shake my head, wondering why I thought I needed something in particular, or disappointed in myself for overlooking something that I'd obviously need. Oh, don't worry. I'm taking toilet paper.

In my time leading up to the actual hike, I've been asking a lot of questions and seeking a lot of encouragement from those within the backpacking community. Most questions seem to give three or more different answers. It can be very frustrating. That is, until you know the one answer that is very universal for a different kind of question. I've found that whenever someone asks for the best single piece of advice, or just assistance in general, the one answer that reliably arises is "HYOH". It stands for 'hike your own hike' and is very much the best single piece of advice than anyone can receive. Once you've acknowledge that you're indeed the one that is hiking the hike you're hiking, what seems to follow is a particular school of thought that works in tandem with that. I've started to be more introspective with the whole process than I was before the magical acronym. Not only is gear choice, hiking speed, trail choice, etc solely up to me, but reasoning  and evaluation of everything is all mine. It's a wonderful thought, really. While I never felt the need to follow someone else's expectations, explicitly telling myself that that's the case has really done wonders.

So here I sit on an early January evening, keeping my mind (hyper)active about the trail. It's only a matter of time until my body will be joining it.