Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting when all of your hard training pays off

thanks guys!

have a little MSR pocket rocket (deluxe) w/ a small titanium pot and a single, small fuel canister- I've futzed with lighter stoves- alcohol, Esbit, wood twig, etc, but the stove is still pretty light, lights w/ a click and it boils water very fast

breakfast is Starbucks instant mocha (150 calories) and a Erin Baker's breakfast cookie (350 calories)

snacks are Clif nut butter bars (220 calories), these are kept in belt pocket and ate on the move- try to eat a 1/2 bar every hour (forces me to be drinking regularly too)- typically will eat 4-5 bars/day

lunch on day one was a giant burrito from a local restaurant- it was actually big enough I got two meals out of it, then P&J sandwich or butthole sandwiches (peanut butter/bacon/honey on a bagel) (400-500 calories) w/ a Snickers bar- (280)

suppers I tried out Peak Refuel meals- they say two servings, but it's really just one bigger one- about 800 calories; we try and eat supper around 6-7 PM (we typically hike into the dark)- it's a much needed break from hiking and gives us a chance to air our feet out a little, a good calorie dump and keeps us from cooking near our camp

nothing worse than setting up camp at 11, having to fix supper, eat and then go right to bed

so ballpark 3000-ish calories/day; that does a pretty good job fueling me throughout the day- definitely at a deficit, but this has worked well for me and keeps my food right at 1.5 lbs/day

Very impressive. I see your workout routine was well worth it. I've never heard of this challenge though. Is it a sanctioned/sponsored event, or just some just a bunch of bada$$es showing the mountains who's boss?

BTW - is that picture of the grizz track actually 2 going opposite ways? It's a neat picture either way.

Thanks for posting and the pics.....hiking at its finest💪

thanks guys!

^ nope- very unofficial; the organizer is guy who did a couple of Alaska Wilderness Classics and wanted to bring something similar to the lower 48, but with the worry/liability/time/etc of a sanctioned race; his first words are "this is not race", he sets the starting and finishing points a couple of months in advance each year; so yeah pretty much just of bunch of bada$$'s

yeah there is another front track going in the opposite direction; definitely still a big bear

What a ball buster of a trek.

Lot of respect here for your training and accomplishments. And your mates also.

Good details on your meals Ward, thanks for the info and the laugh.

What'd you have for lunch?? A butthole sandwich of course.

congrats you dam well did a hell of a trek . my FLA flat ass can not make to the trail head

thanks guys!

probably could come up with a better name for the sandwich

That looks awesome!

Outstanding.

Thanks Gents- much appreciated!

This was my 6th straight year doing it, had two years where I didn't finish- 2018 was a record stream flow year and we couldn't ford the Middle Fork of the Flathead, we had to bail out east to the Teton River- traveled 100 miles, but couldn't get to the finish; but only two folks finished that year (out of about 20). 2016 we couldn't get across at the headwaters of the South Fork of the Flathead, took a long detour to the Big Prairie pack bridge only to find out we couldn't ford Gordon Ck (more like Gordon River!!!!!). We were forced to exit at Upper Holland Lake and tried to link forest service roads to the finish (Lake Inez that year), but there was a couple of chunks of private land we didn't want to cross- so another roughly 100 mile outing w/o a finish. But now four finishes under my belt

I won't lie, I'm a little long in the tooth, so not sure how many I have left, but hopefully a couple!

What's your age?

I could have started collecting social security last December

So 62. Not what I’d call “long in the tooth”, but I’m only a couple years behind you so perhaps my bias is showing.

yeah definitely not over the hill to be sure, but definitely not a young buck anymore either

"Old" is a relative term. Sixty-two isn't ready for the retirement home, but it does seem a little long in the tooth to rip off back-to-back-to back 30-mile days in that terrain with snow no less.

Ward, you need to start acting your age

that's exactly what my wife says!

What does Elvis say?

The last couple of years my wife has camped with me at the start on Friday; last year when we took off as a group Elvis fell right in line- my wife had to run and grab him and she said he made the most pitiful noises as I was heading down the trail without him, ditto this year. If it was up to him, he'd be going

Impressive stuff. Tip of the hat to you and your compadres.