Hiker's Delight

Podin has finished the PCT, which he's been blogging since the Mexican border in late April. His last set of posts contains many with an itemized day's worth of food, this from the first day of his last leg:

Near North Fork Lemah Creek
August 25, 2007
BREAKFAST: 2 pc french toast w/ blueberries, strawberries, bananas, whipped cream. (1200 cal est.)

3 c coffe w/ half and half (40 cal est)

1/3 bag plain ruffles (970 cal)

LUNCH: Cranberry Apple Cherry Clif Bar (230 cal)

9 squares Cadbury chocolate bar w/ caramel (300 cal)

DINNER: 1 box Annie’s shells and cheddar w/ 1 tbsp olive oil, dry pesto sauce (600 cal).

4 oz Jello instant pudding (400 cal)

SNACK: 4oz chili cheese Fritos (640 cal)

TOTAL CALORIES: 4,380

He kept at ~3200 calories for a week after that, but started getting incredibly hungry given a pace of nearly 30 mi./day, and so wrote the following:

Glacier Pass, Mile # 2,615
Saturday, September 1, 2007
BREAKFAST: PB&J granola mixed w/ carnation instant breakfast and instant coffee (895 cal)
LUNCH: Chocolate Chip Peanut Crunch Clif Bar (250 cal)
9 Squares Cadbury Caramel Bar (300 cal)
DINNER: Annie’s shells and cheddar w/ olive oil and pesto sauce (600 cal)
Jello Instant Pudding (400 cal), 1 bueberry bagel (100 cal)
Mint Tea
A few salted mixed nuts (50 cal)
SNACK: 6.6 oz regular goldfish (840 cal), 2 blueberry bagels (200 cal), Bear Naked High Sierra Trail Mix (1,120 cal), Granola bar (160 cal).
MIDNIGHT SNACK: 4 oz regular Fritos (640 cal)

TOTAL CALORIES: 5,555

NOTES: I awoke at midnight last night with sharp hunger pangs. Try as I could, I was not able to get back to sleep and knew that I would have to eat something in order to sleep. I walked over to my food canister and, rationalizing that Monday was going to be a short day, pirated my Monday snack. So there I was, sitting alone on a log in the middle of the dark, tearing into a $.99 bag of Fritos like a wild animal. I got to sleep. They tasted awesome. This morning the hunger had subsided and I was feeling much better. As I was leaving camp, I nearly ran right into Jen, who had come back onto the trail from Stehekin yesterday afternoon and ended up camping just 3/4 a mile behind me. Right away I told her about my food shortage and she readily offered up two Clif bars she had extra. Later that day, we ran into other hikers heading home from various trips who were more than happy to give me their extra food. Soon I had a bag full of trail mix, nutrition bars, and other stuff. It probably weighed three pounds before I started munching it down. So I’m all set with food.

Pretty intense. Oh, and - congrats to Podin for successfully completing the PCT. I've been reading since the beginning and the last bunch of entries read like the end of an especially enthralling book - you keep reading faster and faster, both wanting to reach the end and knowing that you're almost through with a great story.

7 August 2007 - Poutine - Columbia Icefields Center, AB (between Jasper and Banff)

I knew I’d have to get some of this stuff eventually, and this seemed as good a spot as any: a tourist-trap’s cafeteria. Poutine, for those who don’t know, is one of Canada’s national dishes - fries covered in cheese curds and gravy. Served in a styrofoam tray in this particular cafeteria, food just doesn’t get much dirtier than this. And - it was delicious. Gravy tasted, as my father put it, “right out of the can” (and yes, did almost certainly violate my no-beef guidelines, but this was in the name of tourism), cheese curds got gradually meltier as time went on, and the fries were, there’s no way around it, excellent. Eaten with a plastic fork, it left me feeling satisfied and vaguely disgusting, which I think was pretty much the point.

There’s a vegetarian restaurant in Banff, and I’m curious if they’ve got a veggie poutine - maybe mushroom gravy over extra-silky tofu and fries?

UPDATE: Photo below. No veggie poutine yet.