Forum Index > Trail Talk > Woman completes Colorado Trail unsupported/Unresupplied
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RumiDude
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RumiDude
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PostSun Sep 13, 2020 11:08 am 
"For the past three weeks, Sophia had been hiking the 485-mile trail from Denver to Durango alone and completely unsupported, meaning she carried everything she needed on her back. No help from other people, no restocking in stores, no mailing resupply packages to post offices along the way." The longest I have gone unresupplied has been two weeks. Even then it wasn't near as difficult as thru-hiking the Colorado Trail. Anyway, kudos to Sophia Tang for ths adventure completed. I would like to try the Colorado Trail, only I would resupply. Rumi

"This is my Indian summer ... I'm far more dangerous now, because I don't care at all."
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olderthanIusedtobe
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PostSun Sep 13, 2020 11:16 am 
eek.gif No resupplies?! Wow, that is amazing. PCT thru hikers probably resupply every 7-10 days on average don't they?

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RumiDude
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RumiDude
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PostSun Sep 13, 2020 11:36 am 
Most PCT thrus resupply every 4-6 days, depending on the section. The biggest challenge is the Sierra, where resupply is more difficult. Usually every 80-100 miles or so. I love this sentence from the story: "Walking 485 miles provides a lot of time to think." I found this time spent inside my own head was life-changing when I hiked the 435 miles of Oregon PCT. Rumi

"This is my Indian summer ... I'm far more dangerous now, because I don't care at all."
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neek
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PostSun Sep 13, 2020 11:54 am 
Some people get inside their heads...and don't like what they see. But usually it's a good thing. "For the final week, Sophia kept up the massive mileage on 800 calories or less per day. She’d decided that eating a small amount every day was better than eating it all at once and braving the final days without any sustenance" - Yikes! But yeah, I agree. Wonder how much she started with. My rule of thumb is 2 pounds of dry food per day (I don't bother figuring out the fat/carb/protein amounts), but I haven't been out nearly that long. Neat story.

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Nancyann
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PostSun Sep 13, 2020 12:46 pm 
That’s a pretty impressive accomplishment! This young lady has a lot of inner strength in addition to her physical strength and endurance. I read through the whole article and couldn’t find a mention of her initial backpack weight, but it looked pretty small. Last month on my eight day loop, I started with 25 lbs, which was five pounds more than I wanted, but at least I had enough food to keep my energy up. All I had left at the end though was a handful of pumpkin seeds and a package of ramen.

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Adohrn
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PostSun Sep 13, 2020 1:45 pm 
Did the Colorado trail in 2018. It took me 36 days and I did resupply. Pretty amazing to do it considering it was her first backpacking trip, and the lack of calories.

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RumiDude
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RumiDude
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PostSun Sep 13, 2020 3:19 pm 
Nancyann wrote:
Last month on my eight day loop, I started with 25 lbs, which was five pounds more than I wanted, but at least I had enough food to keep my energy up. All I had left at the end though was a handful of pumpkin seeds and a package of ramen.
Last month I did nine days and started with 34 lbs walking at the trailhead. I was with my wife so I carried extra stuff rather than my solo kit. That included a 1 liter pot and two 8 oz gass canisters, a bear canister, an MSR Hyperflow water filter, a tarp and stakes for sheltered cooking/eating area in case of rain (which we used three nights), and two liters of water. I carried home about 3 lbs of food uneaten.
Nancyann wrote:
That’s a pretty impressive accomplishment! This young lady has a lot of inner strength in addition to her physical strength and endurance.
Yes, Sophia Tang has accomplished something she rightly can be proud of. She also experienced some wonderful backcountry and gained valuable personal insight. I'd say she did good. Rumi

"This is my Indian summer ... I'm far more dangerous now, because I don't care at all."
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Randito
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PostSun Sep 13, 2020 10:32 pm 
21 days on 84 oatmeal chocolate chip ProBars -- amazing. I doubt anyone will pursue that particular record

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uww
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PostSun Sep 13, 2020 10:43 pm 
Randito wrote:
21 days on 84 oatmeal chocolate chip ProBars -- amazing.
1640 calories a day. 15.75 pounds of ProBars. Must have been one heck of a first trip. I'm impressed.

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Schenk
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PostMon Sep 14, 2020 7:51 am 
Dang, that is a lot of fiber. How much TP did ya' bring?

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Kim Brown
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PostMon Sep 14, 2020 2:00 pm 
Adohrn wrote:
Did the Colorado trail in 2018
Sweet photos! Did you do a trip report and I missed it?

"..living on the east side of the Sierra world be ideal - except for harsher winters and the chance of apocalyptic fires burning the whole area." Bosterson, NWHiker's marketing expert
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Adohrn
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PostMon Sep 14, 2020 2:41 pm 
Meant to but was just crazy busy when I got back and had tons of photos to go threw. I’m also horrible about posting trip reports. Then we had that spat where lots of people were criticizing non NW trip reports. So after that it pretty much fell by the wayside. tongue.gif It’s a beautiful trail. I have never before had my fill of high alpine. By the end I was really excited every time I got to walk through trees. Here are some more pics.

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Luc
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PostMon Sep 14, 2020 2:58 pm 
Did two weeks without a resupply with Dane doing the Burke traverse mostly off trail. I also go with the 2lb per day, but always manage to tack on a few more pounds on long trips. Gotta have some candy. I wonder what the science is around the speed/mileage trade-offs when comparing undernourished hikers with light loads to well-fed backpackers with heavier loads (and probably heavier footwear, too)

GNGSTR
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RumiDude
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RumiDude
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PostMon Sep 14, 2020 3:44 pm 
Luc wrote:
I wonder what the science is around the speed/mileage trade-offs when comparing undernourished hikers with light loads to well-fed backpackers with heavier loads (and probably heavier footwear, too)
I did the Oregon section of the PCT last year, approximately 435 miles. I did it in 23 days which included 3 zero days. I ate about 3500 Calories per day. The weight of that was averaged approximately 1.5 lbs of food per day. When I started I weighed exactly 142 lbs. When I finished I weighed exactly the same, 142 lbs. All my food was from mail drops, so I tightly controlled all my macros. Rumi

"This is my Indian summer ... I'm far more dangerous now, because I don't care at all."
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Randito
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PostMon Sep 14, 2020 4:26 pm 
Luc wrote:
I wonder what the science is around the speed/mileage trade-offs when comparing undernourished hikers with light loads to well-fed backpackers with heavier loads (and probably heavier footwear, too)
For long distance, sustained effort trips, it can be challenging to ingest enough calories. That for more nutso activities than this woman's hike. E.g. stuff like Paris-Brest-Paris, where people cover the 1200km (756 miles) cycling route in between 42 and 90 hours. Attempting to digest a full meal while pedaling at an aerobic pace is recipe for indigestion and vomiting. The method used by the crazy people that undertake such efforts is to consume small amounts of easily digested carbohydrates steadily. They don't consume enough to provide all the calories being burned, but they do consume enough to enhance the body's mechanism for converting fat into energy. Without small amounts of consumed carbohydrates, the body is much less efficient at converting body fat into fuel. This woman's experience on the Colorado trail is a remarkable first time effort, but it's not anything like the unsupported female FKT for the Colorado trail -- which is:
FKT wrote:
Self-supported Mikaela Osler 10d 12h 36m 2020-08-09
https://fastestknowntime.com/route/colorado-trail-co

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