Day 22. Which would you rather?

Mile 383 – Stealth To Mile 404 Stealth

After eating a stale tortilla and a few slices of pepperoni for lunch, I contemplated the differences between a hiker diet and a home diet. We can only eat what we carry, which means high calorie, small, non refrigerated items only. Most days between resupplies as rye very similar in terms of food, so that we can buy in bulk without repackaging single servings. That means no fruit.

Occasionally, a small town general store or a gas station is all we have for food for five days. That means breakfast of maple brown sugar oatmeal, lunch of stale tortilla and tuna, and dinner of ramen cups. On days after we’ve been in town, sometimes we pack chips or leftover pizza for that day.

In comparison, an ideal home day has fruit for a snack and vegetables for breakfast. Instead of a honeybun, cookie, m&ms, and Oreos I have a square of chocolate or something small. At home candy is a treat and an apple is a snack. On the trail, the apple is the treat and the candy is lunch.

I should probably also talk about what happened today. It was sunny with a cool breeze, and not a cloud in the sky. Uphill in the morning, down hill in the afternoon. We crossed through a tunnel under the highway to Payson and Phoenix, and camped a little ways away on the other side. We got to camp early so we took our time looking for a spot. We found a nice soft, sandy area to sleep, and settled in for the evening.