Mississippi-Mud Forums

I'm fixing to do some backpacking with my boys out in the NF pretty soon. Does anyone else here do that sort of thing?

My father and I do every year when we are in the Mountains in NM. Love it. Actually run into bears a lot though. We use frame packs, there a little better for less fatigue.

That's what we have. We bought up old external frame packs here and there. Ebay, mostly. Mine and Scooter's are canvas.

We have been talking about it for years. We are finally just going to head out. Planning on next Friday afternoon. Come back Saturday morning or noon.

Thinking about lightweight food, now. Stuff that only requires water added.
Ramen noodles
Prepackaged side dishes in pouches
Pita bread
Tuna in pouches
cocoa
drink powders
maybe some jerky

Thoughts?

OZ add up to LBS fast. Remember that. Don't know what kind of packs you are using, but you don't have to fill up every nook and cranny of them. Take along a couple of pairs of dry socks. Say 2 pair per day. Your feet WILL sweat, and can form blisters, which SUCK!!! Got hiking boots, or just regular shoes? Ankle support from hiking boots is a must, IMO. Takes only one mis-step and you go from the woods to the ER. You will be off balance due to the extra weight of your pack. Not bad, but if you step wrong..... If you are using new boots, stop and rest often because your boots won't be broken in yet and see above for blisters. What are you going to do for water? You are gonna need at least 3-4 canteens (quarts) a day in the humidity around here to stay hydrated. Not to mention food prep. It might be feasible to buy a couple of those wanna be MRE's. You are only going out for the day, and you don't need water to prepare them, unless they have the heaters, then it only takes a oz or so. And you can "field-strip" them and spread out the contents in your pack.

I have MREs but find them to be heavy. Our first trip is only going to be a mile or so. We are only stying overnight so that we won't need much.
We will be by a creek, so there will be plenty of water. We will boil it in a pot over the fire. We will have enough drinking water in our hydration packs for the duration that we plan to be out there.

I know we will learn a lot on our first trip by making mistakes. I have first aid stuff in my pack and the knowledge to use it. My sons are also pretty well versed in first aid, considering their ages. We will not be far from the truck, which has most everything. I plan for us to be just far enough away to make it inconvenient to walk to the truck.

We will be carrying some of the snacks from the MREs, such as the crackers and spreads, etc. Any ideas of inexpensive store-bought foods that would be light and easy to fix?

You would be surprised to find out how much weight can be saved on an MRE by stripping it. Get rid of the bag, and all the little cardboard boxes. You only need one spoon, and you can ditch the gum and other things out of the accessory pack. I'm betting money you will have your own TP, so thats out. Do you really use the Tabasco? See what I'm getting at?

Any kind of hard candy is good. Used to suck on Jolly Ranchers when we went on humps. Takes your mind off of things and helps with thirst too.

Makes sense. Also, the less trash to deal with, the better.

I've done it before. Had a lot of fun. I was in better shape then.

Watch the ounces and the pounds will take care of themselves.

You seem to be on track for food.....

Pouches of instant grits?

We will have two small tents. Swapped out the steel stakes for aluminum.
I'll pass on the grits, but that is a good idea. I am kind of stumped for breakfast ideas other than pop-tarts and dry cereal. Maybe some powdered milk for the cereal? Still thinking.

we always tried to avoid using water for anything but drinking...very little for cooking. even after boiling noodles, drink the broth for hydration so as not to waste carrying the water. Granola bars (not chewy ones) are light and loaded with good stuff that sticks with you. You're headed in the right direction. Get one of those $10 staffs from wally world, too. They're really useful in balancing, and gives something to prod under logs for snakes with.