GDT: Why?

Mt. Assiniboine

This blog post may also be found on thetrek.co

 Why am I hiking?

That is a great question. Does there have to be a reason? Can it not be said that I am doing it for the joy of the experience? Or perhaps there is a deeper reason for challenging myself to two months of hiking, in addition to the four months of preparation prior to setting that first step on the trail. 

I first learned of thru-hiking in 9th grade, a freshman in high school, unwisely using class time to fumble and stumble across the internet. “The PCT? What’s that?” I clicked. Shortly thereafter, I learned that one could WALK from Mexico to Canada on a trail. In fact a local portion of the PCT encompassed all of a trail I had hiked…whoa. It was so close to home, yet incomprehensible that such a hike could be done. What about food and water? Bears? Strangers? I left it at that. Still amazed that such a trail existed, I never fully excused the thought of hiking it, adding it to my life-time bucket list. 

Flipping several chapters ahead in my life, I haven’t altogether ditched the thought of hiking the PCT, but have replaced it (perhaps?) with another thru-hike. Now that I am a resident of Canada, similarities of now and my 9th grade self shine through. I am still living on the Columbia River, mountains, trees and wildlife are ever present. Not too far from my backdoor, another thru-hike resides, the Great Divide Trail. Is it an opportunity to seize what I had not in the past?

Hiking this trail, the GDT, has several layers of meaning for me. On the surface, it is purely for the enjoyment of such an undertaking, to live the boyhood dream of tramping through the woods, crossing swollen rivers, exploring glaciated valleys, and cresting mountain passes in weather less-than-fare. In other ways, it is a challenge, a challenge of both body and mind. To be able to reinforce and build confidence, push on when quitting seems all too easy and to feed a desire for adventure. It is also an opportunity for me to develop an intimate relationship with the natural world that encompasses my home, to be able to interact, and live within, the seasonality of the Canadian Rockies, to see flowers bloom and to see them fade, to live by the sun and sleep by the stars. 

In another sense this hike is a metaphor on my life journey, the GDT starts at the US border, from where I am a citizen, and travels north, just as I have done with my life. I want this to be an opportunity to connect with my new home, a rugged unforgiving landscape that rivals all natural beauty. I want it to be the most challenging and rewarding undertaking to date. I want it to help me connect with myself and help point me in a direction. I hope that completing the GDT may feel like the final transition from South to North, that it may also open doors that I never knew existed, never dreamed of…but I won’t know that until mid-August when my hungered, stinking self steps foot on the pavement, sticks up a thumb and hitches home. 

Training for the GDT

The first time we wore shorts and a T-shirt for our training!

The Great Divide Trail is approximately 1,123 kilometers in length (697 miles) and has a total elevation gain of nearly 38,000 meters (Mt. Everest is 8,848 meters). I say approximately 1,123 kilometers because the trail is very much a “choose your own adventure” type of trail, some areas lacking a formal trail all together. Along the GDT there are plenty of alternative routes that one can take that may lead to easier travel, access to civilization or more epic views. The choice is yours! 

In order to walk this far in 54 days we have been following a loose training schedule, curated by yours truly. Once a week, we walk.

That’s it. Simple. 

We started on 10k walks with 9kg bags in early March and now we are walking 15k with 14kg bags, which are in excess of the weight we will actually be carrying on the trail. On our current training walks we use our bags as if packed for the trail with all of our gear, minus food, and supplemented with 7 liters (7kgs) of water. Obviously we will not be carrying 7 liters of water on our day to day walking, somewhere between 2 or 3 liters depending on water availability. That leaves us with 4 kgs of excess weight, and figuring food will be around 3kgs (a guesstimate?) after resupplying, we are training with approximately our maximum expected pack weight on trail. 

Looking back to 8 weeks ago when we started training it was an activity that would eventually lead to us being able to hike the GDT. At the current moment it feels like we are rapidly approaching our start date with a decent fitness foundation. The time from when we started training to now is the same amount of time from now to when we start the trail. 8 weeks. 

Our training won’t vary too much from what it is currently, we do live an active lifestyle which supplements much of our singular hiking activity. We plan on doing our fair share of mountain biking prior to beginning which will be great to strengthen our legs and boost cardio while being low impact. We will also be trail running for cardio fitness and to strengthen our lower limbs and joints to prevent injury while on the trail. I also enjoy wearing a weighted backpack around with me everywhere I walk. By wearing a weighted pack daily it becomes normalized and I will be familiar with all the associated aches and pains when I need to wear a pack for 2 months straight. 

GDT: What About Food

“Fooooooodddd” 

The mumbled sound carried across the oddly calm lake. On the other side, a hiker suffering from deep hunger.

This is our fear, to be hungry from a cause that we could’ve thoroughly prevented. 

Good Food > Bad Food

If you’ve never had the privilege to enjoy a sit-down meal with Solange and me, you wouldn’t guess that we consume a lot of food. A lot. So much so, that much of our planning in life, and for the GDT, orbits the concept and materialization of food. Going out to a restaurant is usually displeasing when you receive the bill and think to yourself “I can definitely make that better…” 

Whats’ worse?

When I can make it better, I’m still hungry, and I am staggered that half a week’s money worth of groceries is gone. 

So, in our preparation for our 54-night outing, we are going the extra mile to ensure that not only our nutritional values are met, but that our palettes are delighted at the sensory exposure of finely prepared meals whilst in the wilderness. 

From a financial perspective, consuming freeze-dried meals, such as Mountain House or Backpacker’s Pantry, doesn’t provide the value we need. At a very conservative $12 per meal that would cost the 2 of us…well, let’s see ($12/meal * 2 people * 54 nights = $1,296) and that’s just for dinner! Yikes! 

Our approach to fine dining in the backcountry embodies the belief “if you want it done right, do it yourself.” So, that is exactly what we are doing! In order to save money, we had to spend some money to buy our own food dehydrator. Making our own meals will not only allow us to fine-tune the flavor, quantity, and nutrients, it also allows us to add variety and take creative control of our diet. Fresh veggies and even veggies in freeze-dried meals are not abundant, so we will be adding more veggies to our diet for a boost of fiber and nutrients. 

Solange skims the directions before the christening of the dehydrator.

The cost of our meals at home are right around $3.25/meal, or less than $20 per day for two people. Compared with two freeze-dried dinners for $24, we clearly have the monetary upper hand. Now, when we are making meals specifically for the GDT, we will increase our carbohydrate component of each meal, to provide the appropriate volume of food and “energy”. With that said, I believe our backpacking meals will come out to less than $3.25 per meal. 

Let’s see how much we will save…

(($3.25/meal * 2 people * 54 nights) + $200) = $551

1,296 - 551 = $745

The dehydrator investment was well worth it. We reduced our dinner cost by 57%! 

“Shout and Holler; For we saved a couple dollars!”

— Unknown

Dinner is the focus of our meal creation. Our thought behind it is that after a shitty, long, hard, wet, cold day (It’s bound to happen) we can at least have our creature comforts of a tasty warm meal while shivering in our sleeping bags under the protection of our trusty tent. 

Chili on top, Spaghetti on the bottom. The first attempt at dehydrating our meals.

Ahhh, why yes, the other two meals, breakfast and lunch. Our thoughts on these two meals are that we will be on the move so something quick, portable, and nutrient-dense will do us best, especially for breakfast. 

Breakfast. As much as I would like to boil some water, sip warm coffee and stir together a batch of creamy oatmeal, I don’t think it’s realistic to perform that ritual every morning. Hearing from others that they shared similar aspirations for a nice breakfast, only to find themselves a few days later ditching the sit-down meal for a granola bar and a stroll. “It just adds more steps to the morning breakdown routine” is a commonly cited reason for abandoning the sit-down meal. 

Lunch. Now, this is a good time to take a little break, sit down and mix up some water with a creation dried several months earlier while snow still covered the ground. Dehydrated hummus. Boy, does that ever sound good?! Perched on a ridge somewhere in the Rockies enjoying hummus, crackers, cheese, and cured meat. That won’t be every day, but it will provide a substantial portion of our lunchtime meals. 

A total cost breakdown of our meals at this point would be anything but exact, a well pointed-assumption is perhaps a better term. If we assume that dinner will be our most expensive meal of the day, to provide an upper limit value, we can assume that all three meals will cost $10/day/person. So….($10 * 2 * 54 = $1080) $1080?! That sounds a bit low, but maybe it isn’t? I would expect that all said and done, we will have budgeted for $1500 of food for the entire trip. 

$1500 / 2 people / 54 night = $13.88/person/day

$13.88 if you recall, is roughly the same price as a single mountain house. 

Solange showing off our first dehydrated meals! 250g each of dehydrated chili and Spaghetti.