How To Plan Your Food for the John Muir Trail
Re-supply and food planning are some of the most stressful and time-consuming parts of planning a thru-hike! I generally try to avoid planning food (hence my PCT 2018 resupply strategy), but on the John Muir Trail, you can’t really resupply at grocery stores. Unless you do the JMT like a PCT thru-hiker (aka, fast), you will have to resupply in very remote locations that you probably are sending a box or bucket to. And on top of that, all of your food and smellables must fit into a bear canister, which adds another layer of complication to food planning. Read on to find out how I planned for the JMT, how it actually went in practice, and my suggestions for improvement (aka, don’t make the same mistakes I did).
step one:
Figure out your hiking Style & Pace
What does that mean? You might be thinking. But it’s honestly one of the most important factors when it comes to figuring out how to pack food for a hiking trip. Do you like to wake up super early and eat a bar while you get morning miles in? Or, do you like to slowly wake-up with breakfast and coffee in camp? Do you like to snack throughout the day, or do you like to have a long, leisurely lunch by a nice lake or creek? Do you like to set up camp early and then eat dinner, or do you like to eat dinner on the trail and then hike a few more miles into the evening before setting up camp?
With my examples above, you might think you either have to be a go-go-go person, or a leisurely backpacker, but most people are some sort of mixture of the above. And, you might be at odds with hikers in your group about what kind of eaters you are. How do you figure this out? Usually, people only figure these things out by going on lots of backpacking trips. And sometimes your preferences will change depending on the type of objectives you have for a trip. There is no right or wrong way to consume calories on the trail. The most important thing is that you actually eat food to fuel you. But, knowing your hiking style will inform you of what types of food you should be packing (more meals, or more on-the-go foods, like bars?). For example, I generally like to eat breakfast on the go, and have a more leisurely lunch and dinner.
If you have never been backpacking before, do not freak out. You can experiment with your hunger and foods to eat on day hikes while you are training for your thru-hike. Just be very attuned to how you feel and try to simulate a trail day as much as possible. I.e. if you don’t plan on bringing coffee on your thru, don’t stop at Starbucks on the way to the trailhead, and try to hike similar miles and elevation gains as you would on the JMT.
In addition to knowing your hiking style and when you prefer to consume your heartier meals, you will need to plan how many days your trip will be. Normally, you don’t need to worry about these kinds of things for a more traditional thru-hike with plenty of re-supply opportunities. However, the John Muir Trail does not have a grocery store every 50-100 miles, so it is difficult to do the trail and resupply on a whim. You are most likely mailing resupplies to Red’s or VVR or MTR, so you need to know how many days it will take you to get to those locations & therefore, how much food to pack.
Where did I mess up here?
I was too stuck in how I ate when I hiked the PCT, which was a time where I had a drastically different metabolism than I do now, due to hiking 20-30 miles a day. I was also convinced that we would try a new routine of hiking on this trip: splitting a bar first thing, and then eating a “real” breakfast 1-3 miles in. So I packed a real breakfast each day. While I love this routine in theory, it didn’t work for me and my mom. Basically, I majorly over-packed food because of overestimating my hunger levels and trying to change my hiking style.
If we knew ahead of time that we would share all of our meals and not eat breakfast, we would not have had to send FULL buckets to VVR & MTR!
step two:
How much prep do you really want to do?
You probably have some idea of how much effort you want to put into cooking already. There is no right answer, but be aware that thru-hiking is a little different than a one or two night trip. You might really like to be a backcountry chef, but when you start thru-hiking, you find that you just want something super easy to eat when you get to camp.
This rule also applies before the trip. Do you want to spend hours concocting unique recipes for the trail, or do you want to walk down the aisles at the grocery store and grab as many rice, couscous, and ramen packets as possible? Maybe you’re somewhere in between.
Step Three:
Research & Experiment!
You know your hiking style and how much work you want to put into cooking and prepping. Now it’s time to do some food research. I’ll give you some basic pointers, but it’s hard to give specific food advice since everyone is so different! Some things you will want to consider when looking into food to pack:
Calories/ oz of the food. Generally, food that is >100 cal/oz has a decent caloric density. The greater calories/oz, the better! That means you can get more energy at a lesser weight. I made a spreadsheet of common bars & some meals if you care to browse.
Volume & packability of the food. This is particularly important for the JMT since you have to make all of your food fit into a bear canister, which can be difficult. Lower volume while maintaining a high caloric density is ideal!
Amount of water necessary to cook food. This point isn’t the most important for the JMT since there is a lot of water on the trail. But, if you are cold soaking, being able to carry less water in your jar is something to consider.
Ease of eating. I simply don’t bring items that would require anything more than a spoon or my fingers to eat.
Balanced foods. Trying to eat a healthy balance of complex carbohydrates, healthy fats, and protein will make you feel more energized while hiking.
Foods that I packed on the JMT this summer:
Breakfasts: some oatmeal meals (from Backcountry Foodie), mainly a Belvita bar that I shared w/ my mom.
Lunches: mostly meals from Backcountry Foodie. 90% of the time we cold soaked these. We split a meal between the two of us (mostly). I also had tuna a few times with a tortilla & mayo packets. Mom dehydrated bread & butter pickles so we brought those & kind of did a tuna salad wrap. :)
Dinners: mostly Backcountry Foodie meals. A few Idahoan Potato, Knorr Rice Sides, and Mountain House meals. We split and cooked every dinner.
Bars: ProBar Meal & Protein, Clif Bars, Macro Bars, Honey Stinger Cracker Nut Butter (my favorite!), Bobos, Larabar, and Kate’s Real Food - a new favorite of mine due to the different texture of bars!
For this trip, I packed two 200+ calorie bars per day (but I had a few contingency bars too).
Energy snacks: Gu & Clif Shot Bloks are my favorite. Also had some Gu Gels and Stroopwafels.
For this trip, I packed one shot blok package per day, and had a few gels/ waffles for contingency.
Sweet snacks: Dried fruit (Trader Joes Mango & Apple Rings), Candy (Skittles, M&Ms, Starburst, sour gummy worms, Jolly Ranchers, Oreos, a few candy bars)
Savory snacks: CHIPS!! One chip bag per resupply (Salt & Vinegar Lays, Fritos, Honey Mustard & Onion Pretzels), Meat sticks (One per day. Tanka & Chef’s Cut), Wasabi Peas, Cheese bites (Trader Joes)
Extras: Nuun electrolyte tablets (one per day)
My Challenges/ Errors:
Hiker Hunger. I over-packed food at the beginning of the trip and didn’t eat everything earlier on, so when it came to culling food later in the trip, I thought I was eating an OK amount, packed less food, and threw a lot in the hiker boxes/ trash. I was usually ravenous in the morning, quickly eating the Belvita, my bars and energy snacks, very hungry by lunch - where I ate chips & snacks before eating lunch, and again ravenous by dinner. I honestly can’t remember having this type of hunger on the PCT, but I always overpacked food on that trip, so never felt like I was “depriving” myself. This hunger appeared after Muir Trail Ranch, our final resupply stop (of course). While I was hungry, eating usually satiated me enough so that I didn’t have to hike or go to bed hungry.
This is a sort-of error. On one hand, I had literally no room in my bear canister to add any more food, so while I was hungry, there wasn’t anything I could do about it. And I was only carrying half of the meals we were sharing - my mom had the other half. Also, my mom had a loss of appetite and I was usually eating the whole lunch we were supposed to share. So basically, I was eating more than half of the shared food, and carrying half of the food… basically, IDK what I would have done if I was hiking at this pace by myself (I probably would have been hiking more miles per day though, so wouldn’t have to carry 12 days of food for myself).
Failed Attempt at Breakfast. I normally just eat a Belvita bar for breakfast, which is what we ended up doing. We tried to bring more nutritious and caloric breakfasts to eat after we hiked 1-3 miles in the morning, but it ended up just messing up our pace and rhythm. I think I could try this again on a trip where I get to move at my own pace a little more. Eating a more caloric breakfast could definitely reduce my need for more bars in the morning. Having to ditch these breakfasts wasn’t the worst thing in the world: we didn’t have any room in our bear canisters for them anyways.
My Big Wins:
Backcountry Foodie: I can honestly say I did not get tired of any of our planned meals for the trip. I used the service Backcountry Foodie to make recipes for this trip and I really enjoyed all of the ones we picked. Unfortunately, my mom had some huge aversions to certain foods that we ended up packing a lot of, like dehydrated beans & cheese, and had some difficulties even though we tested recipes at home and she liked them. This can be an unfortunate reality of thru-hiking for some people. I thought they all tasted great through, and I was always looking forward to my next meal. Backcountry Foodie focuses her recipes on the tenants I mentioned above, which makes them great for thru-hiking and packing in a bear canister.
Variety: Some foods I don’t need a ton of variety to be happy (i.e. candy, energy gels). But I 100% need variety in meals, otherwise it gets boring. We repeated some meals on this trip, but overall, had a different dinner almost every night. When planning, it is best to take 5-7 meals that you know you love and have a rotation of those for the trip. This will help on the pre-trip side of things: you won’t have to buy so many (possibly niche) ingredients and spend a ton of time preparing meals. If your trip is 2 weeks or less, I’d have less meals (4-5) on rotation. Maybe throw in 1-2 other “surprise” meals that you love so much that they feel like a special treat. We did this in each resupply: packing one Mountain House meal in the bucket for a nice treat that we were excited for. So figure out what foods you need variety in and make sure you prioritize those!
Step Four:
anticipate challenges
If you are new (or even old!) to thru-hiking, you could be surprised to find your hunger levels vary drastically when on trail. Unfortunately, on a trail like the John Muir Trail with limited on-the-fly resupply options, an unanticipated change in eating habits can spell disaster. Here are some common issues and how to plan for them:
Lack of hunger/ inability to eat:
This is a really tough issue to combat. You must eat to survive on the trail, otherwise you will not have energy to continue hiking. My advice is to try to mentally separate your feelings about food from the food as much as you can. While at home we try to be intentional about food and not mindlessly eat, do the opposite on trail as much as possible. Don’t think about eating so much, just eat. Eat while you’re hiking if you can. And try to eat with as much liquid as possible, especially if everything tastes dry. If you know chewing is a problem for you, think about drinking more calories. Backcountry Foodie has many highly caloric drink mixes you can make and mix with water on trail, if the thought of food makes you queasy. And make sure you eat as many calories as you can when you get to town. And be smart: If you absolutely can’t stomach food, you need to think about responsibly bailing on the trip.
Aversion to food that was yummy at home:
It happens to the best of us. Something tastes great at home, but it tastes horrible on the trail. This is why hiker boxes are amazing. When you reach a resupply point, ditch the food you hate, and pick up something that someone else has left behind. Or just trade on trail in camp! You can also think about adding a resupply on - maybe you need to go into Mammoth Lakes or Bishop to go to the grocery store and buy new food. A decision like this might set you back a day or so, but you’ll be happier when you’re satiated.
More hunger than anticipated:
Another tricky problem to endure on trail. My advice is when you FIRST notice you are starting to not be satisfied by your current food, you need to take inventory of all the food you have and do a little math: can I hike farther and get to my resupply point earlier? Can I actually afford to eat some more snacks (candy, chips) instead of dipping into “tomorrow’s bars/ meals”? Portion out your food and stick to it. And when you get to your resupply point, buy more food. Like the above bullet point, you might need to add an extra resupply onto your trip to purchase more food, or raid some hiker boxes. You can also plan for this in advance by adding an extra meal to your resupply box while you are packing it. In general, having an extra day of contingency food while backpacking is a good idea.
Unmet cravings:
I don’t think I’ve ever met another hiker that doesn’t talk about their food cravings when they’re in the middle of the wilderness on a long trail. We are always craving pizza. Or Thai food. Or an ice cold beer. Unfortunately, those items are not available on a whim when you’re thru-hiking, so my advice is: suck it up. Dream about that mouth-watering double cheeseburger, but use your mental strength to push through. The delayed gratification will be worth it, I promise.
Step Five:
Pack it up!
The worst part of resupply & the John Muir Trail: packing all of your food and toiletries into the dreaded bear canister. I personally use a BV500 canister, and I have only ever been able to get ~6-7 full days of food into it. I do bring some high-volume foods though, like chips! Here are some tips to getting everything to fit into your bear canister.
I’m a fan of packaging most of my food individually since this helps me with portion control out on the trail. The only things I don’t portion out per day are my chips, candy, dried fruit, etc. All meals go into ziplocks. Cooked meals go into a quart-sized freezer bag, cold-soaked meals go into a regular sandwich bag. So, I lay every day out on the floor/ table in rows of food. 1 breakfast, 2 bars, 1 lunch, 1 dinner, and my daily individually packaged snacks like energy gels and meat sticks.
Stack the days. All food for the last day goes at the bottom, next-to-last above that, etc. This takes a little experimentation, but the point is to eliminate as much dead space as possible within the bear canister. As you can see, having more pliable food is handy here. Continue stacking until all of your days of food is in the canister, except the food for your first day (as long as you eat all of this food, it doesn’t have to fit in the canister!).
Next, either re-package your snack food into their own ziplocks, or remove the extra air from their packaging. Put these items at the top, since you will probably snack on these items every day.
Tips For Making Space in the Canister:
Remove the extra air in all of your food right before you put it into the canister. You probably have a safety pin/ needle/knife in your first aid kit, so just puncture the tiniest hole and squeeze out the air. This helps pack more items. Don’t do this with your items you’ve packed into ziplocks - just try to squeeze as much air out of those as possible.
Break up some of your bulkier foods. If I’m making ramen meals, I break the noodle brick up before repackaging it into a ziplock. You can do this with other pastas, chips, and bean flakes. This makes the food more pliable and able to squeeze into small spaces, minimizing dead space in the canister.
Questions or comments about my resupply strategy? Drop them below!