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10 Hiking Experts Reveal Their Favorite Backpacking Food
favourite foods on the hiking trail?
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Category Archives: food
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Jetboil MiniMo – my fave stove
In recent years I’ve been using the JetBoil MiniMo.
I cook and drink out of the one pot.
I love the convenience of the piezoelectric igniter. The auto-igniters on early JetBoils FAILED quickly, but they seem to have solved that problem now.
You can fit an 8oz canister in the wider pot of the MiniMo. You can also fit a 4 oz canister along with the MiniMo’s burner in its pot sideways. That’s handy.
I don’t need simmer so that’s not a selling point for me.
The MiniMo replaced my much used MSR Reactor.
The best thing about the Reactor is that it is NOT locked on to the stove. I find it safer.
MSR Reactor
Both those stoves might be nearing end-of-life. … Or they may keep working for another decade. Both are bashed up.
So in advance of my recent, remote Patagonia trip I bought a new stove …
I hadn’t realized it had a colour changing boil indicator. Cute. I did watch.
But I found myself more often boiling over my dinner in the Flash. For me the larger capacity MiniMo is just right. And the MiniMo is easier to clean.
Adventure Alan likes the MiniMo best, as well.
Read about other, lighter options here
related – Outdoor Gear Labs review – JetBoil MiniMo
my favourite hiking meal
Most nights tenting in the backcountry I cook up the same basic dinner:
Instant mashed potatoes with instant soup (often Knorr brand).
Instant mashed potatoes are available in small grocery shops the world over as is instant soup.
United Kingdom
To keep gear as light as possible I cook, eat and drink out of one pot.
I carry only one metal spoon. No knife, fork or spork.
To enhance the fairly bland base meal I add chilli powder or lemon pepper. Then something like peanuts, raisins or tuna.
I never seem to tire of this grub. Cook up is fast using very little fuel. Clean-up quick and easy.
Huemul Route, Fitz Roy, Argentina – day 4
trip report by BestHike editor Rick McCharles
Huemul Route – day 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | info
Day 4 was my walkout back to El Chaltén. Everyone hikes counter-clockwise.
Here’s the whole circuit visiting the Southern Patagonian Ice Field.
Circuit map via Travel 2 Walk
Very atypical for me, I didn’t sleep well.
And it rained on and off through the night.
Happily the sun came out about the time I got out of the tent.
Despite my efforts of the previous day, I’d only saved about an hour by hiking past the designated campground. I could still see the glacier. And there was again a rainbow. 🙂
The trail continued in parallel to the Lake Videma shoreline thorough dry grasslands.
Though still beautiful, this was the least impressive day, I’d say. Not much variety.
The highlight was rabbits more rabbits. And one non-rabbit. He may have been a Patagonian mara.
When I caught a glimpse I assumed it was a plains viscacha, but it was more likely a mara.
I was looking forward to the second Tyrolean Traverse.
Arriving alone, I found the pulley was at this, the far side of the river. 😕 There SHOULD have been a slim rope attached to pull it over to the start on the other side.
What to do?
I knew I could walk to the lake and (probably) wade the river mouth. But figuring a way across was more fun.
My alternatives:
1. Attach my pulley carabiner directly to the cable (rather than the pulley)
2. Use ONLY my steel carabiner (normally a redundant safety system). This is what the guide did once on our first Traverse.
I went with #1 thinking it was the safer option. That worked. But I had to pull myself every inch with friction from the carabiner resisting. It was exhausting.
Here are some guys wading.
Walk Patagonia
From there it was easy to find my way down to the Bahía Del Túnel dock.
This boat takes tourists to the Videma glacier.
I saw no people. No vehicles. So stayed on the ‘trail’ headed towards a ranch.
Actually, my hiking map showed the trail ending at the dock. Some probably walk the (much longer) road to town.
I could find no trail. Instead I worked my way through more grasslands in the direction of El Chaltén.
Ready to be done, I stumbled on to this calf. It was the second dead cow I’d seen.
When I hit the first fence, being a polite Canadian, I tried to walk around the ranch.
That was a mistake. In the end I hopped about 5 fences and opened one gate. It wasted at least another hour. I should have hopped the first fence and headed directly to the highway.
It was with satisfaction and relief that my final fence hop delivered me to this roadside lookout.
From there was an easy 3km to town on pavement.
I dropped my registration form at the Parks information office. They seemed happy to see I had survived.
With a big smile on my face I returned my rental Tyrolean Traverse harness to ‘Camping Center’ in town. That was the only gear rental store I could find that doesn’t close for siesta.
It was back to the hostel for a long, hot, long shower. 🙂
YES my hostel had a 24 hour a day restaurant! It’s popular with the late night partying backpacker crowd.
All I’d consumed this day was coffee. At 6:30pm I splurged on a huge meal. Breaded chicken a lo pobre.
The Huemul Route out of Fitz Roy, Argentina is superb. Some of the best vistas of my life. One of the very best hikes in the world.
____
If you are worried at all about the Traverses … and navigation, consider signing on with a guided group. Chalten Mountain Guides, for example.
related:
For a MUCH BETTER trip report – Travel 2 Walk: El Chaltén – Fitz Roy and Huemul Circuit, March 2017. (They did it again January 2019!)
bookmundi – Argentina 2019 – Huemul Circuit Parque Nacional Los Glaciares of Argentine
If you prefer your trip reports in video format, here are a few to check out.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
unreal Tasmanian Winter Traverse
One of the toughest journeys on foot … ever.
Louis-Phillipe Loncke …. This was an epic journey that left him exhausted, pushed to his limits, and 15 kg (33 pounds) lighter than when he set off.
The video below is from a new report aired in Australia that caught up with the Belgian adventurer just as he was crossing the finish line, providing some insights into what this journey was like. …
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Morocco’s Toubkal Circuit – day 2
Trip report by BestHike editor Rick McCharles.
day 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | info | video
I woke at dawn. Shared a couple of cups of coffee with Aziz.
Then told him I might return if I couldn’t find the route.
I climbed back up to the paved road surprised to find this hotel.
If I was to do the circuit again I’d hire a cab in Imlil to deliver me here on the paved road. Begin the hike next morning.
I still had no idea where to start the climb up to Tizi Likemt (3550m), the first high pass.
Happily I saw a brightly coloured people walking down the highway in my direction. It was an Israeli couple who had just finished the circuit the opposite direction.
Waiting on them was the smartest thing I did all week. They told me the entire circuit is available on Maps.me. I had downloaded it in advance. My navigation problems were solved.
Maps.me saves the day again.
I’m sure they thought I looked too energetic. Over-confident.
I was raring to go.
On the other hand, this poor carnivore might have been a bad omen.
The climb was very long. And not all that thrilling.
Looking backward …
There’s a Japanese donated weather station at the pass, but you can’t see it from the side I climbed.
It was hot and sunny. No water.
My Darn Toughs did all 5 days of the hiking. I switched to camp socks / shoes each evening.
It was a long, hot descent as well.
In fact, a pass this high first day is stupid. That’s not smart acclimatization. On the way down I resolve to NOT recommend these first 2 days to future hikers.
Here’s the first water I’d seen in hours. All water sources should be treated in these mountains unless you see it coming out of the mountain with your own eyes.
I was happy to reach the river. A German group had already claimed the best spot.
Further along I enjoyed a couple of pots of coffee.
This is a summer grazing settlement. Animals and their keepers will head down soon when snow threatens.
The next section climbing through a gorge was very entertaining. One of my favourite bits.
I finally camped at an open area on another creek near yet another guided hiking group.
Dinner in the dark was coucous, soup, raisins and peanuts. For Morocco I switched from my usual instant mashed potatoes base to couscous.
