Round 2 of commonly asked questions..........
You have read the earlier post related to questions, so here are a few more for your reading pleasure...
Person: "So, you say you will generally carry between 4 and 6 days of food with you. What do you eat?"
Me: "Well, we eat whatever we want and can carry. I have head of people carrying just about anything to eat on the trail. People have carried racks of ribs, turkey breasts, beer, you name it it has probably been carried. Remember, most people start in the Georgia mountains in the late winter or early spring. Nature is our refrigerator at this time....haha.
Actually the common foods a hiker carries are things like pasta noodles, rice, freeze dried dinners, dehydrated foods such as veggies and fruits, single servings of spam, tuna, salmon, Parkay margarine, flat breads, hard salami and hard cheeses, nutella, peanut butter, crackers, nuts, crackers, oatmeal, powdered milk, coffee, hot chocolate, cider mix and of course mac and cheese, chocolate and pop tarts!!! Oh, and of course with this stellar diet, probably vitamins as well.
Basically we are looking for calories, protein, and carbs!!! We also look for foods that pack light, don't spoil, and are either precooked, do not need to be cooked, or are easily cooked by boiling in water. I also look for food in containers that after the contents have been used are easy to be packed out of the woods as well.
However, I will experiment in the beginning with possibly taking something like hot dogs to add some additional meat to my diet. It should be cold enough that if I carry the dogs in my pack the cold temperatures should keep them from spoiling.. It is also not uncommon when a town is nearby to stop and pick up a 12" sub and carry it on the trail for a quick lunch or dinner as well...Hikers improvise and will find ways to vary their diet when possible. There is also a saying "the trail will provide" and this is actually true when it comes to supplementing your diet. In season, depending on where you are hiking, there are fruit trees, berries, and wild veggies such as ramps that can add welcome variety and nutrition for a hungry hiker. Hikers have been know to drop a fishing line in the water as well. I don't recommend this unless you have a fishing license for the state you are in...who wants a huge ticket from DNR. However, who would argue with a starving hiker, short on food and funds if he or she baited a hook for dinner without a proper license."
Person: So, you said you select foods that can be cooked with boiling water. Why not cook over a campfire?"
Me: "You finally ask an good question! First, there are many nights you will not have a campfire. Rain, local laws, or you are just plain exhausted may keep you from a campfire. Also, that would require more kitchen gear and we hikers do not want any additional weight."
Person: "OK, I kind of understand that, but I am confused. If you need to boil water, you still would need a fire or a stove. Isn't a stove kind of heavy to carry? My Coleman stove I use for camping at the state forest campground must weight 7 or 8 pounds. "
Me: "Wow, two good questions in a row! What happened? Did you take a smart pill? Actually most thru hikers carry an ultralight stove that weighs very little and is fueled by alcohol or one of the canister fuels. The stove is able to hold a small cup or pot and most of these stoves can boil water in less than 5 minutes. My stove weighs less than 3 ounces and is fueled by one ounce of alcohol. I carry about 8-12 ounces of fuel with me and will resupply my fuel when I resupply food."
Person: " Aren't you scared of being eaten by a bear?"
Me: " Wow, back to the dumb questions again."
"The black bears that reside around the Appalachian Trail are generally skittish when approached while hiking and there are ways to diminish the likelihood of them mauling you. In fact, the bear is more scared of you than you are of them. While camping you can eat away from your tent and you will be hanging your food in a tree, again away from camp to keep the bears and other hungry critter from likely coming into your camp. There so few bear attacks that with common sense bear practices, you will not have to fear the bear.
I am more scared of the Golden Shiotisu Millipede (Subdictus Aureus Millipes) that was accidentally introduced to the East Coast years ago and now is a serious threat to hikers. Apparently this millipede was accidentally brought over here with shipments of ornamental dwarf maple trees years ago from Asia. They have since thrived in the hardwoods of the eastern forests and can and do cause death. These potent venomous millipedes are 500 times more toxic to humans than the bite of a rattlesnake.
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Subdictus Aureus
Millipes
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The millipede injects a neurotoxin which is rapidly absorbed by the skin and finds it's way into the bloodstream, travels up to the blood-brain barrier, attaches itself to glucose molecules, hitching a ride and getting past the blood-brain barrier where it starts to interfere with neurons. It especially is fond of attaching to neurons of the brain that affect motor skills and the portion of the brain that drives the respiratory system. This results in depression and paralysis of the respiratory system as well as paralysis of muscle tissue that may manifest either locally or systemically within the whole body and can occasionally affect other vital organs as well.
Although it can affect vital organs such as the heart, kidneys, and liver, the largest risk is the inevitable quick loss of the hikers respiratory drive. The neurotoxin interferes with transfer of electrical impulses at the synapse of the neuron and at the same time interferes with transmission of the impulses along the myelin sheath that covers the outside of the nerves. The effects of the neurotoxin manifest themselves withing 15 minutes of the bite and complete depression of the respiratory drive is usually present within 20-25 minutes. Paralysis of nerves leading to other muscle groups generally are seen within another 10 minutes.
Symptoms: The hiker will become confused and complain of shortness of breath and difficulty breathing, breathing will become shallow and cyanosis will begin to be noted as well. The skin will possibly become flushed and the hiker may most likely will present diaphoretic as well. As the breathing center shuts down, the patient may become combative due to lack of oxygen and the patient will become more and more cyanotic. You will notice the skin color change from flushed to ashen and blue.
You may also notice twitching and convulsions of the extremities as the transmission of signals down the nerves are interrupted to the extremities. The patient may urinate and evacuate their bowels unintentionally.
Treatment. THERE IS NO ANTI VENOM for this subdictus neurotoxin! The bite generally is not fatal as long as it does not attack the nerves to the heart, kidneys, or liver (Vital organ compromise other than the lungs happens in < 2% of known cases), the airway is managed quickly and the person is transported to a hospital, monitored and placed on a ventilator. The neurotoxin will generally degrade within 5-6 weeks and if there are no complications, the hiker can be weened from the ventilator as soon as they can maintain their own airway and should recover enough to be sent home within 2 months after being bitten.
However, this physiology presents major problems for a hiker of the Appalachian trail. Since aggressive airway management is critical to save the hikers life, there must first be several persons close by at the time of the envenomation to render medical help. The rescuers must be able send for help to transport the patient out of the woods, keep the patient warm and dry, and most of all, the rescuers must be willing to give mouth to mouth respiration at a rate of 12-20 breaths a minute till definitive help arrives. If this care cannot be maintained, the hiker will die due to lack of oxygen.
This type of rescue would of course generally not available while hiking. There are just to many things that would have to be in place to make the rescue work. Just the amount of persons involved to breath for the person while help arrived hours to a day later would be daunting.
The Gov't estimates that there are approximately 250-500,000 of these millipedes with most of them in the more temperate portions of the GA, NC,TN and Southern VA area. However there are known sighting recently in PA,MA, and NJ. They are found on the Appalachian Trail in these areas through the spring, summer and early fall. There are 20-30 deaths a year and over 200 hospital admittances attributed to this millipede. Unfortunately the majority of deaths are hikers and campers, again due to the fast acting nature of the neurotoxin and lack of adequate care in the back country.
So, what do you do when you see one of these millipedes. First off, do not be scared, they are not aggressive. They will only bite if they are agitated and most people are bit when they are setting up their tents or while sleeping under their tarps. So, be sure to inspect the area you will be setting up and sleeping on, be sure before sitting on the ground give a quick visual inspection of the forest duff. Be careful with exposed skin especially around thick forest duff and remember they cannot bite through clothing.
So you can see why I am a bit scared of this insect. But will it keep me from hiking? No way, I will just be careful. So, what should I be scared of, bears or millipedes? Hmmmm....."
Me: Thinking to myself. "Subdictus, Subdictus, Subdictus".....Chuckle! That should keep them wondering about bears and millipedes for a bit.
Person: "Wow, that sounds scary, is this true?"
Me: "So do you know Latin? No? Grab a Latin Dictionary and look up Subdictus and get back to me."
Me: Just shaking my head and smiling.
So, until Part 3 of Questions, Questions, Questions,
Hike Strong,
Thru Hiker.
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