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Trip Planning Forum

1 Month SOLO (mostly)

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Date/Time: 04/29/2024 09:45PM

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1 Month SOLO (mostly)

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Author	Message Text
VoyageurNorth	05/25/2017 05:07AM I bring tortillas and salami (sometimes hard cheese) and that is much of what I eat on my solo trips. Maybe some different "flavored" tortillas and variations of the salami & cheese. It even works for breakfast & I rarely cook.
boonie	05/23/2017 03:32PM I've had pretty much the same experience as Alan. Every year it gets simpler, and simpler is easier and just as good. It's not a social experience when you're solo; it's just refueling. I eat the same couple of cold breakfasts, essentially the same lunch/snacks, and the same few dinners. I'll sometimes get 1 new breakfast and 1 new dinner to try, and if I like it better than one of the others, it'll replace it in the future.
Alan Gage	05/23/2017 10:35AM quote FOG51: "What I do for my solo trips is simply decide what I will eat on week one then just repete it on week 2 and repete it on week 3." I do one step simpler. Decide what I'm going to eat on day 1 and then repeat that for as many days as I'll be out. Each year I seem to simplify my meals more and more as the "extra" stuff I bring just isn't worth it. Most of the time I actually prefer to eat my standard repetitious meals instead of the stuff I brought to break up the monotony. I'll plan to have special meals on a few days but for the most part it's the same thing day in and day out. Never been a problem for me. I'm not out there for the food but I'm still surprised how good it tastes after 40+ days. Working hard and building an appetite makes all the difference. Potatoes (mashed and hashbrowns) and OvaEasy eggs are something I thought I'd really like that I've now cut out entirely. I just can't eat enough of either to fill me up, even when I add plenty of oil. Those repetitious meals are: Breakfast - Quick oats with raisins and brown sugar. Maybe a handful of almonds if I still feel hungry. Lunch - Bannock and peanut butter cooked fresh and hot Dinner - Quinoa, vegetables, and some red or black beans rehydrated with a healthy dose of olive oil for fat and more calories. Snacks in between - Almonds, dried apples, bananas, strawberries, raisins, and peanut M&Ms. Also hot chocolate made with whole milk powder. I never get tired of eating those meals and usually relish them. I used to bring a wider variety of grains (farro, rice, pasta) to mix things up at dinner but I like the Quinoa the best so the others stay home. I also used to bring potatoes (mashed and hash browns) and Ova Easy eggs but they never seemed to fill me up and didn't taste as good as my standard meals so I leave them behind too. Alan
FOG51	05/23/2017 12:31AM What I do for my solo trips is simply decide what I will eat on week one then just repete it on week 2 and repete it on week 3. I don't take any fresh food, and my summer sausage is the kind that does not need refridgeratging. Works for me your results may vary. FRED
boonie	05/18/2017 02:20PM There are things you need to consider, things to figure out, and decisions you need to make. For a I-month solo, weight and bulk are obviously a consideration. Fuel needs are another. Portion size/calorie needs is an individual thing and hard to base off others. I usually have about 2200-2400 calories per day, but have also found myself getting hungrier after the 10th day. I do lose a little weight at first, but like some others am not that hungry sometimes in the beginning. Obviously you don't want to run way short; on the other hand, you don't want to carry the dead weight of way more than you need. Did that on my first couple of trips. Leftovers are a pain and you don't want to have to eat way more than you're hungry for. And you don't want to eat three weeks of your food in the first two weeks, so if you go for the bulk packing system, which will save a little weight and bulk I imagine, you need to have good a measuring system. I pack mine in daily/meal portions, but have only done a 12-day trip. I like the simplicity of the approach, especially after a tough day. I just add hot water to the meal bag, rehydrate in a cozy, eat out of the bag, and there's really nothing to clean up, so I save that weight, but it's offset somewhat by the slightly increased amount of garbage to pack out. Just boiling the water and rehydrating in a cozy saves fuel. I usually eat cold cereal for breakfast, which saves time and fuel. I eat a ProBar Meal bar for lunch and have snacks of nuts & fruit usually. The ProBar Meal Bars are good because they have close to 400 calories vs. about half that for snack bars. I also like the taste/texture better. I usually pack a 3:1 ratio of nuts to fruit, so a 4 oz. snack bag is about 600 calories. I have a dehydrated meal for dinner. Both the breakfasts and dinners are usually about 600 +/- calories - about 700 for 4 oz. of nuts or PB. I usually have about 18-20 oz. I pack some extra snacks for the end of the trip when I might be hungrier. With the experience of your 2-week trip and 6 weeks to test things out, you should be able to dial it in pretty well.
Alan Gage	05/18/2017 11:39AM Now I just need to find one of those blue 60L barrels and make some straps for it!" If you're in the Minneapolis area you can get them at Midwest Moutaineering. Lots of places to find them online too. Making your own stuff is great but I'll throw out a plug for the barrel packs from CCS. The foam insert makes them comfortable enough on a long carry and the extra outside pockets are handy. Not to mention the grab straps for lifting in/out of the canoe. And padded shoulder straps. And a good padded hip belt. I find the top pocket handier than the side pockets so you could save a little money by buying the regular barrel pack (which I believe now comes standard with the top pocket) as opposed to the quad pack. When completely full I find that it chafes my lower back, just below the belt, so I keep a small piece of scrap foam in the top pocket of pack and slip it behind my belt before a carry. After a week it's not needed anymore. Alan
PurpleHeartPaddle	05/18/2017 10:50AM Thanks for all the advice everyone. I will definitely be looking up that book and making some cozys. I really appreciate the food layout thread as well, it is not easy to find other people who have gone this long. Now I just need to find one of those blue 60L barrels and make some straps for it!
Alan Gage	05/18/2017 10:27AM I've done 30 day and 42 day trips. For the 30 day trip I arranged a food drop towards the end (I originally though the trip might take up to 40 days) but it turned out I didn't need it. I don't like the expense or hassle of flying in a food drop and going forward I'll try to avoid it if all all possible, despite the harder portaging. Here's a link to a thread on another forum where I discussed in depth what I took and how I arrived at the amounts. Starts with my 30 day trip in 2015 and then my 42 day trip in 2016 - Link to food thread It took a lot of stress and thinking about food that first year to try and get everything just right. The second year was much easier having that experience to base things off of. What really simplified it for me was when I realized I didn't need a big variety in my meals. Pretty much the same thing for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day. It's only 30 days and you'll be (presumably) working hard. Everything tastes good. Simple is better. Fitting 30 days worth of food in a 60 liter barrel should be easy. A 60 liter barrel is big enough for 30 days worth of food for both me and my dog. I'm pretty sure for just myself I could do 45 days out of one barrel. Even more if I relied on fish or was willing to go a little hungry. Alan
hooky	05/18/2017 08:32AM quote BobberRob: "The cozy concept helps a lot. I make my own with the cheap reflective bubble insulation and appropriate tape you can find in any hardware store. I make them for fuel canisters, those freeze dried meals in a bag, coffee cup, etc. Cheap and easily replaced if they are damaged over the course of a tripping season. " +1 A $15 roll of Reflectix will go a long way.
BobberRob	05/18/2017 07:48AM The cozy concept helps a lot. I make my own with the cheap reflective bubble insulation and appropriate tape you can find in any hardware store. I make them for fuel canisters, those freeze dried meals in a bag, coffee cup, etc. Cheap and easily replaced if they are damaged over the course of a tripping season.
missmolly	05/18/2017 05:18AM Good tips, MT! However, given your love of the nuances of gear, both fishing and camping, consider changing your moniker to MG or MasterGearhead! ;-)
mastertangler	05/18/2017 04:51AM I am usually out solo for 20 days minimum each year and have a few thoughts..... I like to have an ambitious plan and stay busy. Long days are typically the norm. I don't get lonely that way and sleep like a rock at night. Fish should factor into your protein needs. A "Solo stove" is a wonderful addition on any lengthy solo trip IMO. Just google solo stove........I also liked having "wet fire" chemical fire starter along. I didn't always need it but when I did it was quite handy and extremely lightweight. A few #10 tins of Mountain House freeze dried Pasta Primavera is a welcome addition on any plate as well as their freeze dried Granola with milk and blueberries which also comes in #10 tins. These food items can be transferred into Nalgene 64 oz wide mouth Water Canteens which serve as admirable food containers. A tough flexible plastic which I find almost indestructible. The wide mouth makes dispensing various foods easy and they are collapsible.........in other words they are perfect food storage containers. They may be hard to find and you may have to order direct. I have already purchased replacements should they ever be discontinued and are available in various sizes. A custom fitted "cozy" (Anti Gravity Gear) will reduce your fuel consumption dramatically as well as improve your meals. For example I like whole oats as opposed to instant.......typically whole oats require longer cooking, just boil water, add the oats and place your pot into the cozy. In 10 minutes or so breakfast is served and still piping hot. Same with any freeze dried meals (which should set 15 minutes, not 10, for a better meal) Nalgene wide mouth water canteens
Bannock	05/17/2017 07:53PM Check out the book, "Alone in a Canoe" by Michael Kinzinger. It's about solo canoe trips of that length and he has a menu section and philosophy. It will be a good read for you.
pswith5	05/17/2017 07:46PM Hey nctry, what did you bring for t.p? Might be a good gauge .
missmolly	05/17/2017 06:26PM I'd paddle and portage just far enough that you're not on a heavily traveled lake. Then I'd base camp for a week, eating down my load. After a week on a lake, you'll be ready to travel and much lighter.
boonie	05/17/2017 05:36PM If you've done some longer solos up to a couple of weeks, you probably have a good idea how much you need per day. And you probably know you'll get hungrier as you go and lose weight, so you'll need to add the extra food you'd normally eat plus a little more for the added time. For that long you'll want mostly dehydrated food for the light weight and lower bulk, plus some calorie dense (calories per ounce) food. Fat has the most calories per ounce and adding some to the normal meals is one solution; another is foods high in fat like nuts, nut butters, etc. Try to spread the fat out through the day if it gives you problems, and remember - TP is light ;). What did you take for 2 weeks before and what did it weigh? Was there a lot left over? About right? Not enough?
Mocha	05/17/2017 04:11PM quote PurpleHeartPaddle: "I am definitely planning on double-portaging, there will just be too much food to carry everything. Good idea with that entry point as well. In the past I have added olive or grapeseed oil to some evening meals to keep the fat content up but this can cause... other problems. " that's what charmin is for! :)
PurpleHeartPaddle	05/17/2017 03:42PM I am definitely planning on double-portaging, there will just be too much food to carry everything. Good idea with that entry point as well. In the past I have added olive or grapeseed oil to some evening meals to keep the fat content up but this can cause... other problems.
Grandma L	05/17/2017 03:41PM First off - Welcome to the boards. I do the food for my son's month long solos. I use mostly grocery store foods and dehydrate my own meats and veg. The Hamburger Helpers are basically pasta and a sauce mix packet and are a good start. I divide a Hamburger Helper powder in half - add needed powdered milk and then add a couple of extra ounces of pasta, dried vegs and a packet of dehydrated burger. For a change - tuna and foil packed chicken are great. He eats a lot of pasta meals, home made protein bars and oatmeal. Check out the food forums - there are good idease there.
BeaV	05/17/2017 03:25PM A month's supply of food is doable but with that much you will be double portaging until you eat it down. So portages could become a drag for you. I would plan the trip to start in an area with few portages- say like International Falls and head east along the border. You can travel roughly 110 miles with only 3 portages. Or like nctry suggests, a resupply along the way would ease the pack burden. Depends on if you want to be self sufficient. I find that dehydrated foods and fish caught along the way tend to be lacking in fat content. You will want some fatty foods to eat but these will add weight to your food pack(s).
nctry	05/17/2017 02:53PM Most I carried is 18 days on my forty day trip for food. I could do better now. 30 days? I don't know. Boy, if you could get a resupply would that help. One thing, is as I neared the 20 day mark, I realized I needed to eat more. Both my dog and I were getting a little slim. I took care of that for me on the way out. The sportsman in Buyck has a very large burger.
PurpleHeartPaddle	05/17/2017 02:38PM That sounds perfect for my use then. Hopefully I don't drop it in the water on day 1...
Mocha	05/17/2017 02:35PM it will mark your location each time you press the button, so you could refer to those spots to refresh your memory. a small notebook, voice recorder or taking notes on the back of your maps will also help.
PurpleHeartPaddle	05/17/2017 02:16PM Thanks! That's really good to hear that it actually works. Is it reliable/accurate enough to use the "OK" function's locations to make a trip map afterwards?
Mocha	05/17/2017 02:05PM i have a SPOT Gen 3, just used it on my 7 day trip and it worked everytime i pressed the OK button. some words of advice: don't wait until the night before to set things up! if you need tech advice it's best to call and sit on hold than to send an email. i've used this on three trips and borrowed it to a friend who hiked the PCT. he used the function to show movement every so often and then it ate through batteries. i just use the OK function. if you have any hesitation of emergency issues, then purchase the extraction option, too. good thing is the subscription is good for a year so if you do lots of trips it should give you and your family peace of mind.
PurpleHeartPaddle	05/17/2017 01:48PM I'm planning to do a ~1 Month solo trip this summer, likely for the month of July. The plan is to start in the BWCA and head into Quetico for the majority of the trip. I'm looking for any advice from others who have done a trip this long, especially food planning and storage. I have not put together meal plans for longer than 2 weeks at a time, although I have taken many solo trips. A month of food is a lot to plan/pack, and towards the end it can get a little hairy if not correctly planned. I'm also planning to use the SPOT3 GPS tracker so family/friends don't think I'm dead immediately. Does anyone have experience using this device or something similar? It doesn't seem like it would be very reliable. Any advice or tips are welcome, especially food planning recommendations!