Hiking to End 68 Hours of Hunger

Hi All-  Well right now I am suppose to be off on a motorcycle ride with a group of friends but instead I am sitting at my computer.  Why, you might ask, would I pass on such a fun adventure? Well, mainly because I am feeling overwhelmed preparing for this journey.  It didn't help that the forecast is for rain all weekend and the ride entailed 200 miles of dirt road.  Last thing I need to be worrying about is taking a highside fall on my bike 3 weeks before I leave for Colorado.  My son-in-law Frank is on the ride, so I will live vicariousy through his stories.  The biggest challenge in preparing for my trek is getting the food prepared and dehydrated.  My wife Brenda made a delicious pot of veggie chili that I have been dehydrating all weekend.  It will amount to 6 meals.  I have 23 meals dehydrated and vacuum packed as of today.  17 to go!  H has been back east visiting family and has agreed to haul my gear and supplies back to Colorado so I don't have to ship them.  Friend

Hi All-  Happy Father's Day!  What makes today so special for me is the two beautiful girls who have given true purpose to my life.  I love my little girls!  OK, they may be in their 30's but they are still my little ones. Thank you Han and Scoot for brnging me so much joy!  One month and counting...Yikes!  I'm starting to get a little nervous about the trip.  Do I have all the equipment I need?  Am I physically and emotionally ready for the challenges ahead?  Will my food preparation provide the caloric intake I need to sustain?  Only time will tell and all I can do is my best.  In today's post I want to share a little about my food preparation.  I have determined that I will need trail food for 40 days.  Most experts agree that the average person will burn approximately, 3,000-3,500 calories per day when backpacking.  That is a lot grub to plan and prep for!  In order to keep my backpack as light as possible, I am dehydrating as much of my food as I can.  On p

Hi All-  One of the things I love about adventuring is the wonderful people you meet along the way.  The picture above was taken at Rainbow Lake in the Wind River Range in Wyoming.  While on a week long backpacking trip we ran into this group of young people from all over the country who were attending a leadership training with the National Outdoor Leadership School, NOLS.  We were proud to stand among tomorrow's leaders.  We were also happy to give them a string of fish a some select chunks of cheese because they were a mighty hungry lot!  You'll notice Reanman and H standing to the left.  Just behind them are Fred and Mikey, two friends from Long Island.  The five of us along with a my brothers and a few other misfits make up a group of friends we refer to as the Boys of Summer or BOS.  The one woman who has braved travelling with the BOS is my lovely wife Brenda.  She has since given up wilderness tripping opting instead for warm hotel rooms when we travel.  For the pas

Want to learn more about the Colorado trail?  Check out this link: http://www.coloradotrail.org/ Food insecurity fact-  In the richest country in the world, 14 million children are food insecure. I hope you will consider contribuitng to my Hike to End 68 Hours of Hunger.  Here is the link: http://www.end68hoursofhunger.org/find-your-community/new-hampshire/exeter/

There are three of us attemptng to hike the CT: Rea Kreider (aka- Reanman). Rea is a retired middle school guidance director from Fort Collins, CO. Rea has hiked extensively throughout North America. He has climbed Denali in Alaska and many of the 14,000 footers in CO. For his retirement celebration in 2015, he rode his bicycle coast to coast. To the left is a picture of Rea and I in the Zirkel Wilderness near Steamboat, CO. Reaman is our Zen master! Jeff Harbour (aka- H). Jeff recently retired as a project manager for HP and lives in Fort Collins, CO. He has backpacked throughout North America, and since retiring, loves to travel in his "Vango" around the country with his wife Sue. This is a picture of Jeff in the Winds Wilderness, Wyoming. H is our master food dehydrator. Yum! And me, Jim Eaves (aka- Nightscreamer- Just look at the mug. It explains it all!) I retired in 2016 after 34 years of teaching and serving as a school princip