Blend for the Pacific Crest Trail

I'm planning on doing the Pacific Crest Trail this year. As some of you may know, it's one of the longest trails in the country at nearly 2700 miles, going from the border with Mexico into Canada.

One of the greatest challenges of this hike is diet. It's necessary to consume 4000-6000 calories per day. More is better. Without getting into the nitty gritty of diet, I could use a little help on getting carbs and fats.

Oatmeal is a natural choice. Oat muscle sounds like it may be a better alternative. It's supposed to be more bioavailable. Does that mean I should be able to get by with consuming fewer oat muscle calories than oatmeal calories? Very importantly, what's the density of oat muscle like compared to oatmeal? Density is very important on some sections of the Sierras because all food is supposed to be carried in a bear resistant canister. If oat muscle is much more dense than oatmeal, then I'd be interested be interested in substituting it in bear country. What other carb supplements would be very helpful? Other than sugars, simply because buying supermarket sugars in mountain towns makes sense financially.

What about fats? I plan on using olive oil and peanut butter, but are there supplements here that would be better? Would they mix well in cold water? I'll have an abundance of cold water. I'm very ignorant when it comes to fats--feel free to treat me as such. All I know is that they're a dense for of calories. A lot of hikers say they crave fatty foods while they're doing the PCT.

I already have plenty of protein thanks to all the great deals here. I'll definitely be using lots of Protein Factory protein out on the trail.

the oatmuscle is not more bioavailable than regular oatmeal powder. they are both from oats. The oatmuscle is VERY dense. For example you can put about 12lbs of oatmuscle in the same bag you can only fit 5lbs of whey protein. But keep in mind this is the REGULAR oatmuscle. Not the INSTANT. The instant is has a similar density to wheyprotein. So get the regular OATMUSCLE. It does require a blender or a shaker up.

For the fats. I think a combo of 25% omega muscle , 25% sunflower oil, 25% Whole Egg, 15% EFA, and 10% MCT. This would be an awesome powder to use to get you your calories. Have you ever used MCT before? Its an awesome fat for energy. It gives you more energy than carbs technically. You can increase the MCT if you want. But sometimes MCT doesnt agree with people digestive system. Thus I would make a formula and use it 1 month before you go to see how your body handles it.

Also remember that fats have more calories per gram than carbs or protein, so if you need a lot of calories in not much weight, fat is it. That's one reason trail mix is used so much for hiking (nuts have lots of fat). Alex's mix sounds about right. Whatever you do, having MCT and Omegamuscle (inflamation control) are very good places to start. I'd also add one of the colored powders.

Originally Posted by leaftye

I'm planning on doing the Pacific Crest Trail this year. As some of you may know, it's one of the longest trails in the country at nearly 2700 miles, going from the border with Mexico into Canada.

One of the greatest challenges of this hike is diet. It's necessary to consume 4000-6000 calories per day. More is better. Without getting into the nitty gritty of diet, I could use a little help on getting carbs and fats.

Oatmeal is a natural choice. Oat muscle sounds like it may be a better alternative. It's supposed to be more bioavailable. Does that mean I should be able to get by with consuming fewer oat muscle calories than oatmeal calories? Very importantly, what's the density of oat muscle like compared to oatmeal? Density is very important on some sections of the Sierras because all food is supposed to be carried in a bear resistant canister. If oat muscle is much more dense than oatmeal, then I'd be interested be interested in substituting it in bear country. What other carb supplements would be very helpful? Other than sugars, simply because buying supermarket sugars in mountain towns makes sense financially.

What about fats? I plan on using olive oil and peanut butter, but are there supplements here that would be better? Would they mix well in cold water? I'll have an abundance of cold water. I'm very ignorant when it comes to fats--feel free to treat me as such. All I know is that they're a dense for of calories. A lot of hikers say they crave fatty foods while they're doing the PCT.

I already have plenty of protein thanks to all the great deals here. I'll definitely be using lots of Protein Factory protein out on the trail.

how long will this take to complete? Also, as far as being in bear country, ask Alex for the 30 odd special with the 10 lbs whey deal!

Might think about bringing a pic a nic basket and pray its Yogi you run into!

The last thing we need to read about

"Jim, in todays headlines, a man was seen being chased by a bear thru the mountians screaming and yelling as he fled through the forest. Authorities believe the bear wanted the mans oat muscle and whey protein. At this time we have no comment from the man and we believe the bear is still in pursuit of the mans protein- back to you Jim"

Wow, a bunch of products I'm not familiar with! It's okay though, I totally expected that. Please keep it coming. I'll be researching to find out what it all mean. I won't be leaving until the first half of April, so I have time....although it feels like hardly enough time at all.

It's really good to know that the regular oat muscle is the one to get.

Vaporeized, the record is 65 days. I'm hoping to finish in three months. I fully accept that I've never done anything remotely like this, so I'm prepared to keep going at a much slower pace...until either weather makes continuing impossible, or until the end of the year. My tentative start date is April 10th, so if things go very poorly, I could be on the trail for nearly 9 months. Oh, and one of the guidebooks I'll be buying is written by a gal that calls herself Yogi.

Great idea Alex.

You will need to restock obviously as time goes on. I would bring a lot of liquid canola/olive oil. Olive being my favorite.

You can caveman it, but the flavor/complexity of your food will stave off boredom/going nuts. If you are going during the warmer months, learn how to make one of those coke can stoves that use only tiny amounts of denatured alcohol. I used to know how to make them, they are all the rage in Vermont. They will not work in the cold.

good luck with the race. are you going alone or will you be with a group of friends? for me, I would need someone with me just to take laugh at if they fall down or cant find a place for the bathroom.

I finally got my bear canister, and spent more time training, so I'm back at this.

Right now I'm leaning towards oat muscle and EFA, combined with protein that I bought previously from Alex. I should be able to premix this and put it in a small bottle that I've been using for the past year. It's basically a day supply with about 3000 calories and 150 grams of protein.

I bought the biggest bear canister available, but even it's not nearly big enough to rely on supermarket bought foods for a two week outing at 6000+ calories a day, at least not for food that I'll readily consume in large quantities. I've also been learning that I tend to avoid meals, opting to hike further instead, but drinking shakes from my premixed powder bottle is something that I will do. The descriptions also indicate that this combination will be tasty, which should increase my tendency to take time for nutrition.

I had a question about the line in the oat muscle description where it says "OatMuscle should be used with an instant protein powder like CFM whey isolate and/or IPI whey isolate." What happens if I mix it with regular whey concentrate like the Mega Whey and EFA?

If this combination works, I'll order a few pounds to test on training hike during the next two months.

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Oh, and Vaporeizied, it's not a race.