My family and I will be doing a 6-night backpacking trip on the island this August. We backpack frequently, but always at local trails over night or two nights at most ... which means we routinely over-pack our food and eat in luxury since we can afford the weight. Since this is obviously not the case for this trip, I wonder what the rule of thumb is (for those of you have got this down to a science) in terms of how many calories we should pack per person per day, based on body weight? E.g. I assume that I would need more calories at 220 pounds than my wife who only weights 105 pounds (yes, really, she's 4'8")! Once I figure out a good calorie count, I can go about planning my meals for the day. I prefer to be a little extra heavy and not be too hungry ... I get really shaky and cranky when I'm hungry, fast way to ruin a trip! On the other hand, I can always rest with a heavy pack
Beside, since my kids are still young (6 and 10) we're planning very short distances between sites (average 3.5 miles per day) and we'll stay multiple nights at some sites to allow the kids to play in nature (isn't that the point???).Thanks!
adam
