AboutWounded Knee Expertise I can advise on anything having to do with hiking and backpacking skills and equipment, including map and compass and orienteering skills. I cannot advise on the use of GPS devices. I cannot advise on car camping or group camping (10 or more people). My primary geographic expertise is in the US Northeast, but I know how to find information on hiking and backpacking just about anywhere.
Experience I've been hiking and backpacking for about 40 years, including ongoing section hiking of the Appalachian Trail (almost 1300 miles so far). I have hiked extensively in the New York Metropolitan Area, as well as various other areas from Virginia north, including upstate New York, New England, and Eastern Canada.
Publications New York Walk Book, 7th Ed. New Jersey Walk Book, 2nd Ed.
Education/Credentials Not applicable to this area of expertise.
Question I'm new to hiking/camping and me and my friends want to go on a week camping trip on and island right off shore from where i live and i was wondering what foods are good foods to pack for a 7 day hiking trip? and how much? And we aren't gonna be going till middle of July.
Answer Your food requirements will depend on how active you plan on being during the trip. An average, moderately active male might use 2500+ calories per day. The same person, if hiking 10-15 miles/day over rugged terrain, might need an additional 1500-2000 calories. If you plan on setting up a base camp and doing short hikes to the surrounding area each day, your requirements would be on the lower end, but if the island is large and hilly, and you plan on moving camp 5-10 miles each day, you'd require more. Also, seven days worth of food is prohibitively heavy -- you'd each be carrying 70+ lb packs if you tried to carry all your food with you. You should consider establishing a food cache somewhere near your halfway point. Since you're heading to an island, you might consider dropping off half your food at some point along the shore (make sure it's protected from animals!)
You haven't told me the location of your hike, but if you're in North America, the weather is likely to be quite warm in July. This means no fresh foods that won't be consumed with the first 24 hours. You want to make sure that you carry energy-intensive foods -- things that are high in fat and carbs. You'll also want to make sure that you're getting enough fiber, otherwise your gut will get very unhappy with you after a few days. A mix of dried fruit and whole grain in your menu should prevent any problems. I usually carry energy bars (find a brand that you like the taste of), some nuts, dried fruit, and chocolate bars of some sort (take something will hold up to the heat). And I usually take a vitamin supplement of some sort while I'm hiking.
The backpacker's daily eating schedule works something like this:
Get up, eat a big breakfast (you'll need it to keep yourself going). Pack up your stuff and start hiking. Lunch begins the moment you start hiking, and ends when you stop to make camp for the night. This means that you want to have a lot of finger food on you -- stuff that you can carry in your pockets. Stop, make camp for the night, prepare dinner (another big meal), sleep.
Breakfast should be high in carbs and fat. Protein is good, but not as important. Dinner should be your protein-intensive meal. Protein can be from meat (jerky or hard salami will keep in even the hottest weather) or hard cheese (lots of folks eat mac and cheese while on the trail). Recently, tuna and other fish have become available in compressed foil packets. Peanut butter is a popular non-meat protein source. Of course, you can purchase specially made dehydrated food for backpackers, but that stuff is very expensive and not even as good as many of the similar things that you can get at your local supermarket.
What I've tried to give you is a way of thinking about food. I don't like to recommend specific foods because everybody's taste is different. There are many books out there on backpacker's cooking that you may want to look at, since I can only give you a summary. Stop by your local outfitter and take a look at they have in their book section.
