What I ate one day in Andover: This is (just a little) embarrassing. Because Mathematics.

Nostalgia, and that’s okay

Annually, since that 2012 NOBO, I read my journal daily in the spring and summer to keep track of what day I was on then. I’m so glad I wrote that because a lot of parts are still evocative: certain parts still make me laugh; certain parts lead me to a particular smell or sight; and certain parts bring back memories of a chill or a clammy sweat. This year I’ll be doing something similar from the trail with this blog, hoping to capture stories, personalities, nuanced moments, shocking events, random thoughts, and memories of distended stomachs.

Since we’re in the post-holiday and post-Gorgefest period, where we’ll hopefully return to normal eating and drinking habits, I was thinking about what «normal eating» means and remembered that I had actually posted a list of the city’s day zero foods in my journal from 2012. I thought it would be interesting for people to see. Hikers passing by will see it and respond, «Yes. So?» Researchers, researchers, data collectors, and those about to embark on the 26 for the first time may respond: «Really? Disgusting.» That list is below, but first…

(Paddy Reilly “The Magic of a Wizard’s Spell”)

bad poetry

In many ways, the Appalachian Trail is a delicate balance between poetry and pragmatism. I’ve found that people generally lean one way or the other to some degree. Maybe I’m 60% pragmatic and like to interact with others on that wavelength: gear, logistics, mileage, weather, food, etc. because we understand each other. But the most interesting are the Poets, those who say, «The Way. She will teach me,» or «Everything will be well. The Way provides,» or (when it is windy) «Feel her breath,» or (when it rains) «She cries,» or «Water is nectar.» These are the children of the stars, the healers, the wise, the ones who embrace the moment. The romantics.

I remember sitting on the porch of my accommodation in Damascus after eating a delicious, hearty breakfast prepared by Miss Ginny from the Lazy Fox (now closed, I think?). I was contemplating where I had been and where I was going because I had to leave that day. Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee were sold out. I would go north. I was overcome with the desire to write a bad poem; so I did it. Here is this horror (secretly, I had fun writing it and I make no apologies):

M-theory

Tennessee and Cackalacky,
Your land is hard, your shelters tacky.
Limits, borders disconcert;
To know my place, I would pay a florin.
Spirits, shadows and dryad fairies,
Turn fear into joy and work into play.
Your hills evoke a common lyric;
what was once Form is now Empirical.
A verse composed of sight and sound, is sung internally and becomes profound.
And all who wander this path,
skip stones for joy; kick roots of anger.
So, bald heads and knobs, and beautiful meadows,
and holes and domes with increasingly scarce air,
From G-burg, Erwin, Boone and Roan;
It has been a pleasure. I want a bun.

calorie counting

Note the «bun» at the end. Here I was striving mightily to unfold my profound lyrical masterpiece into the world, and I end it with a longing for food. A solid carb bomb, too. Food is where pragmatic tendencies come in. You will love the food. It will confuse you. It will haunt you. It will also be the subject of many conversations at night around the shelter, and the fire if they build one, while everyone compares notes.

The pragmatist in me always comes out of the closet when it comes to food issues. Food is fuel. Bodies in motion need fuel. There are many ways to estimate calorie needs, but I won’t go into them. To keep it simple, just say that, on a daily basis, your body will burn your basal metabolic rate (BMR, the calories burned just to stay alive) plus the calories you burn from the effort of walking. There are a lot of variables as far as distance, pace and vertical, but for me, a 64 year old man, in good cardiovascular shape, weighing 25 pounds, walking 9 hours and covering 18 miles and 4000′ of climbing, I’m looking at a total energy expenditure of about 4700 cal/day. That’s a lot of work.

However, my typical food day is breakfast (600 calories, usually a huge pastry and a cup of coffee with cocoa), snacks (while hiking, 800 calories of sausage and cheese, a payday and Snickers), and dinner (1,100 calories of hot stew made with rice or pasta, tuna or chicken, peanut butter, and a handful of smoked almonds). So that’s 2500 cal/day of fuel. Pretty much my norm. Mileage may vary. Mainly carbohydrates during the walk to burn easily and proteins at night, to help recovery. That’s about 1.5 pounds of food per day on top of base weight, so about 6 pounds for 4 days on the trail.

This then is about a 2200 calorie deficit in a day (calculating it, I burn 4700 and eat 2500, right?) Now consider that a pound of fat is 3500 calories. This means that, in theory, you could lose 2/3 of a pound per day. Or 2 pounds every three days. Yes. The numbers will vary from person to person, but I have never met a hiker who wasn’t always in a calorie deficit. This is why people lose weight on the trail, why we appreciate the magic of the trail so much, why we become obsessed with talking about food, and why we are drawn to the AYCE Chinese buffet in town like hyenas surrounding a wounded wild boar.

A day in Maine

None of the above should be a surprise to anyone. It’s just math and biology. One of the things (there are several) that hikers do to control such rapid and potential weight loss is to go crazy with their meals when they are in town. I mentioned in a previous blog that my partner, Pa Bert, and I found ourselves taking an unplanned zero day to rest up for the final push. This was in Andover, ME, and as I remember, we stayed at Pine Ellis Hiker Lodging, which was just a short walk from Mills Market, where I gave them my ducats in exchange for food. Lots.

I was hungry the whole time, and just to give you an idea of ​​what hikers put down their necks when they’re in town, I found this entry from my journal on June 24, 2012:

“This is what I consumed today:

To eat:
3 x eggs over medium heat
2 x pieces of buttered rye toast
1 x order of corned beef hash
1 x order of home fries
1 x bowl of cinnamon toast crisps (with whole milk)
1 x cinnamon and sugar puff pastry
3 x pancakes with butter and syrup
2 hot dogs with sauce, onion, mustard
1 x order of fries
1 x ice cream sandwich
1 x order clam strips
1 x large chef salad
1 x Bacon Cheeseburger
1 x bag of potato chips
2 x Maple Walnut Ice Cream Scoops

To drink:
1 6-pack of Geary’s Beers
1 20-ounce Gatorade
2 x coffees with cream and sugar
20 x oz bottle of Moxie”

I did a quick calculation and this day it’s around 7000 calories. This is not something most normal people do. And so, we encountered another strange wonder of the trail. I should write a poem about it.

Thanks for reading.

YAWP

Nor’Easter