Meal Plan For Yosemite

The only thing that I would suggest is to add some electrolyte beverage powder. If the day is warm enough, that can help performance.

Personally, I would add some caffeine beverage for breakfast. That may or may not carry many calories, but the caffeine tends to boost performance.

–B.G.–

Sounds reasonable. I'm close to you in body type (5'10 180 lbs and athletic) and I eat 1.7 pounds of food per day. I usually average somewhere around 100 cal/oz so that's roughly 2700 calories. Keep in mind that your appetite will probably be suppressed at altitude, I have to force myself to eat that amount of food each day. That level of calorie intake lets me perform at 100% even on longer trips.

And in case you do come back hungry, this is waiting for you at the Meadows Grill when you are finished:

"Keep in mind that your appetite will probably be suppressed at altitude, I have to force myself to eat that amount of food each day."

That happens occasionally with me, so that is why I always carry some beverage powder with calories. If I don't have the appetite to eat, I can always drink my calories.

–B.G.–

What "beverage powder with calories" do you use?

There are dozens of beverage powders. For the old school, there is Gatorade. Currently I prefer maltodextrin-based beverages like Cytomax and Vitalyte. I always go with a variety of these so that I can change flavors every day.

–B.G.–

I use Perpetuem, or old school non-zero-calorie Gatorade.

A stop has been added! That sausage sandwich likes like it hits the spot after a hard hike.

I had already planned to bring starbucks via for the morning, and completely agree with using a caffeine shot to get going. I didn't list it because it wasn't really "calories."

I hadn't thought about an electrolyte powder at all, although it makes perfect sense. I tend to shy away from them in regular life because I'm usually not active for long enough in the types of condition where they're warranted. Either of the brands mentioned make single serve packs that are readily available in stores?

First of all, remember that the Tuolumne Meadows grill shuts down early in the season, sometime during September.

Gatorade is often available in a package with foil packets for 20 ounces of water. I used to dump one of those into 32 ounces of water to keep it diluted.

Knowing how Gatorade operates, they probably offer a similar foil packet for 8 ounces or 16 ounces of water, and it probably costs more than the one above.

In general, I kind of got fed up with Gatorade (excess sucrose), so I have tried to use it up to get rid of it. Now I stick more to the maltodextrin powders.

–B.G.–

Are you carrying any fats? Olive oil (or any fat) is more than 200 calories/oz and it's a great way to carry extra calories, if you don't end up needing it the weight penalty isn't much. Add a lot to dinner if you're really hungry, not so much otherwise.

I'm a similar build, weight and metabolism. I eat 2 pounds per day in the winter and 1.7-1.8 in the summer, but I manage a 125 calories/oz average, so that's 3600 calories per day in the summer. I don't run any caloric deficit that I can tell – I eat whenever I'm hungry and this is how much I've found I need to carry.