Guide
to the
Pinnell Mountain Trail
How much food will I need?
If you fast for two days before starting your hike and bring no food you will eliminate a major sanitation problem (see the section on sanitation) and as an added benefit you won't need to bring along a roll of toilet paper. However, you may experience major medical problems such as fainting, coma and death.
So bring food. Bring nice fattening junk food. Three days of it won't kill you while three days of celery sticks might induce a reverse bear attack. Bring candy bars, granola bars, energy bars, nuts, peanut butter, raisons, dried apricots, prunes. The higher the calorie count per pound the better.
Don't experiment, nothing is worse than the trots when you are trying to trot up a mountain. On a scale of one to ten, one being "loose as a goose" and ten being totally plugged, you want to be a four, five or six, especially at the peak of the mosquito season.
I carried two "Meals Ready to Eat" one for each night. They aren't bad and they don't require a fire, but they are bulky due to the packaging and there is a large amount of trash to carry out.
If you carry canned goods, bring one of the tiny government surplus can openers, the kind which came with C-rations. If what you bring requires cooking you'll need a backpacking stove unless you bring your own firewood.
Consider bringing something you don't like. If on the second night you go beserk and pig out, this item might survive for the next day. Also bring three extra candy bars and don't tell yourself about them. In case you don't make the trip in the planned three days they should carry you through another day.