On May 16, 2011, at 9:45 PM, Jim Swayze wrote:

> I need your advice.  I am going on a ten day backpacking trip in the wilderness of New Mexico next summer and I'd like to stay paleo.   I'm not going to worry about low carb at this point, though that'd be cool too.  We will be in bear territory.
> 
> The first thing most of you are going to say is pemmican.  Great idea, but I don't believe any of the pemmican suppliers I've used actually make shelf-stable pemmican.  It goes bad after about a week without refrigeration.  Make my own?  Is is going to be so smelly that it attracts bears, even up in a bear bag?
> 
> Dried fruit, larabars, small pouches of almond butter.
> 
> What else?

I've brought Coconut Cream (Let's Do Organic) or Coconut Butter and coconut flakes (Bob's Red Mill makes big, unsweetened flakes that are almost chunks).

I can just eat coconut cream on it's own, and the BRM coconut flakes are large enough to just eat out of a ziploc.  They are also nice mixed with cashews or macadamias.

I've brought a dehydrated carrot salad thing with shredded carrots, pineapple and lemon zest.  Just add water and wait 10 minutes.  It's not a lot of calories, but it's light, tasty and adds variety.  I also bring cheese and summer sausage, but I'm not a pure paleo eater, and I don't hike in high summer.  Both of those hold up really well in the spring and fall in the Eastern Mountains.  

I have not cooked on my last 240 miles or so of Appalachian Trail backpacking.  I'm usually the only non-cooker at a campsite, shelter or water source, believe it or not.  On May 4 - 9, I hiked from the James River to Rockfish Gap (near Afton, VA).  

-Nicole