Soup, Taters 'n Puddn'

A Trekker’s Rumination

“Soup, Taters ’n Puddn' ”

It was the end of the fourth day, around the fifty mile mark. Upon inspecting the small flattened space amongst a cluster of western juniper, my exhausted brother threw out his arm and pointed in a circle around the area, and muttered “This’ll do.”

He immediately threw down his pack into the dry Nevada dirt, and Paul and I followed suit. A few seconds of pack rummaging produced a tent, a stove, a pot, and some water. Paul and I took to setting up the small three man tent in the duff and my brother set up the stove and started some water boiling.

“What do you guy’s want for din-din” he said within a sigh, in a tired yet excited way.

Paul responded as he yawned “What do we have left?”

“Yeah, what we want and what we have aren’t exactly the same thing” I added.

“Well if you guys are going to be picky, then you don’t get to choose” my brother said as he pulled out some Bear Creek Navy Bean dehydrated soup mix, and a bag of dehydrated potato flakes.

“That crap better be good. It better be perfect.” I said jokingly. I knew it was good.

“Why? Are you not going to eat it if it’s not? Go for it man. I dare you. More for me.” He added with a sarcastic chuckle, as he consulted the hand-written directions of the Ziploc bag and poured something into the water. He also pulled out a box of pistachio pudding mix and threw it aside for desert.

What is the perfect dinner? For me, a big bleeding Elk steak with homemade chunky mashed potatoes, a slab of grilled fresh salmon and a bowl of New England clam chowder. Of course, Paul carried neither an Elk nor a salmon, and all of the clams that I had with me had unfortunately slipped out at the last water break. On a backpacking trek such as this, the logistical spectrum of available foods is a bit more than slightly limited. However, it is still quite possible to have a fantastic three course meal.

A trekking dinner is the final and only ‘prepared’ meal of notoriously long and grueling days. This meal is very important both physically and mentally, because it needs to supply your body with adequate sustenance while also being tasty and fulfilling enough to inspire further trekking. A bad meal can throw off a good day and bring disaster to a trip. It also needs to be small, light, and fairly cheap, because the average backpacker wants to maintain a light pack and a fat wallet. The perfect meal should also be relatively easy and quick to prepare. That is - the recipe should not call for measuring cups, whisks, beaters, or one-hour bake times; and it should require only small amounts of fuel to prepare. Satisfying all of these requirements is tough, but possible. That’s why, when considering dinner foods for a backpacking trip, choosing dehydrated navy bean soup mix from Bear Creek - with a side of mashed potatoes and pistachio pudding - is a perfect choice.

Choosing food for a backpacking trek is a delicate and complex process. Many important criteria are measured and weighed to select food that best fits the specific trip. In general, however, the most important aspect of any food is its energy content and composition.

Most food advertised for outdoor recreationists is high in carbohydrates. Carbohydrates, or carbs, are the easiest substances for the body to turn directly into energy, and are very important to trekkers as a main source of daily energy. However, according to sports nutritionists, carbs are processed quickly and leave less residual energy than do substances such as fat, protein, and fiber. Protein, fat, and fiber are important for trekkers because trips generally last more than a few days, and without extra intake of these substances, the body will turn to its already stressed stores of fats and may begin to break down unused muscles (Sports Nutrition, Faqs.org). This is bad news to trekkers. To avoid this, foods should be high in energy that is attained from all of these substances. Navy bean soup mix provides significant energy derived from carbs, fats, and proteins, respectively, while dehydrated mashed potatoes are mostly carbs and fats. Although the combined protein content in this meal provides less overall energy than the carbs and fats, it represents, according to label information, an impressive 25% of your daily recommended amount per serving. Considering that trekkers usually eat a double or triple serving, this meal provides a filling and well balanced meal. In addition, bean soup also has an above average content of fiber (Calorie-Count.com). The pistachio pudding, of course, is mostly carbs and provides a tasty and energy packed end to the meal.

Furthermore, vitamins and minerals are also important to trekkers and are more likely to be found in foods (such as navy bean soup) that are diverse in energy sources. Sports nutritionists maintain that sodium and vitamin C are among the many important substances for those involved in extreme and prolonged exercise. Although lots of sodium is usually dangerous to a diet, the body utilizes sodium to sweat efficiently and requires a significantly elevated supply of it when sweating is increased. Vitamin C is helpful in the healthy and expedient repair and maintenance of muscle tissue and the proper functioning of cells and is therefore obviously important (Vitamins: Water Soluble, Faqs.org). Bear Creek bean soup is high in both vitamin C and sodium.

The next most important aspect to consider for food is ‘pack impact’. The size, weight, and packaging of any particular food contribute to its overall ‘pack impact’. Experienced backpackers typically make every effort to reduce the size and weight of their packs and the amount of garbage they have to carry around.

Weight is key. The energy contained in each ounce of a given food provides a useful ratio with which a foods’ weight may be evaluated (Backpacking Food, AdventureAlan.com). Food that has a high energy/weight ratio is light but full of energy, while food that has a low energy/weight ratio may be full of energy, but it also weighs more than about a pound per meal. Choosing dehydrated foods is generally the best route to take. Dehydrated potato flakes (and the powdered milk required to make them) are packed with energy and are extremely light, giving them a high energy/weight ratio. Bean soup weighs about 1 oz per serving dry and supplies substantial energy, giving it, too, a moderately high energy/weight ratio. Pistachio pudding, on the other hand, is almost a quarter-pound pile of sugar and nuts (Calorie-Count.com). Its energy weight ratio isn’t too bad, but it isn’t as high as the other foods in this ‘perfect’ meal. Pudding, however, is essential in satisfying other criteria.

Size is another central aspect of ‘pack impact’ and essentially follows the simple rule of ‘smaller is better’. When compared to the most popular form of dehydrated backpacking food, which comes in large, two serving plastic packages; soup mix, potatoes, and pudding are much smaller and more energy packed. The large packages of these popular meals are required in the preparation of the meal to adding boiling water, and must then be carried around as garbage. They usually become covered in whatever they contained and may attract small and pesky food stealing animals such as chipmunks, marmots, mice, and grizzly bears. Slimy garbage is an annoying but avoidable byproduct of almost any food. Being able to repackage food into simple and small bags is a sure fire way to avoid this concern. Soup mix, potatoes, and pudding can all be measured precisely and transferred from their original packaging into small Ziplocs, which, when empty, become immediately useful for other things. Honestly, you can’t beat that.

Preparation is the next big factor to consider. Often, foods that are healthy, light, and have high energy/weight ratios tend to take a long time to prepare, or are complicated in their preparation. The popular grains wild rice, polenta, quinoa, and lentils, as well as dishes such as spaghetti are perfect examples of such resource intensive foods. Cook times above ten minutes are usually inefficient, requiring the trekker to either carry larger amounts of fuel, or run out of patience and eat it before it is fully prepared, and lose much of its nutritional value in the process. Mashed potatoes are instant and require only the addition of boiling water, without any additional cook time. Bear Creek, alternatively, recommends that you add their soup mixes to boiling water and simmer for at least ten minutes. This is not necessary, though. If the mix is soaked for ten to fifteen minutes prior to cooking, it needs only about five minutes of simmering. Instant pudding, of course, requires no cook time.

As mentioned, some foods require various additional ingredients and materials in their preparation. As a general trekking rule, the only thing that should need to be added to appropriately selected food in the field is water; and the entirety of the meal should require nothing more than one aluminum pot and a plastic spoon or fork as preparatory objects. No strainers, skillets, mixers or additional sauce pans should be required. The resulting food should be easily eaten from a bowl that can comfortably fit in the hand. Eaten separately in a two course meal, bean soup and mashed potatoes are easily prepared in the same pot, and pudding can be whipped up in a Nalgene bottle by vigorously shaking; and everything can be chronologically eaten from the same bowl. The only ingredients that are required for this meal are water and milk. Milk, however, can be added into the mix of the potatoes and pudding as powdered milk prior to the trip, and, thus, water is the only necessary field ingredient. When trekking, simplicity is a virtue.

The next characteristic of backpacking food herein deemed important is often overlooked. Many trekkers will repeatedly cook up a universally known and appreciated food-mixture that is lovingly dubbed ‘hash’, which completely satisfies the aforementioned criteria. This hash, however, has no unique or distinguishable taste and generally resembles various shades of Gerber baby food, both before and after it passes through the baby (see photo). While this hash is nourishing, light, and simple, it severely lacks the aesthetic qualities of average day-to-day food and is not inspiring enough to make the trekker look forward to dinner. These concerns may seem silly, but much of the drive and motivation to complete and enjoy a backpacking trek stem from the food that is consumed (Why Hike Light?, Adventurealan.com).

Unlike most people, trekkers know exactly what they will be eating for the entire duration of their trip and know exactly when they will eat it. There are no surprises. Thus, if this food is consistently tasteless and mushy, a trekker may be motivated to end the trip early or, even worse, proceed without enjoyment. If a trip is not enjoyed to its fullest, it is practically worthless. While every trek will ultimately contain a significant amount of ‘hash nights’, bean soup with mashed potatoes and pudding is the perfectly balanced meal to keep spirits high (especially the pudding). This meal will likely come after a few long days of extraordinarily grueling travel and/or near the midpoint or end of a trip. Nothing cheers up a trekker like pudding. (Photo: Kurt enjoying the Mt Moriah Wilderness, made possible by pudding.)

Lastly, the average trekker is tight when it comes to money. Whether this is because they are broke college students paying for college, broke unemployed college grads looking for a job, or extremely frugal individuals supporting gear-head vices; they consider spending too much on trekking food worse than not eating at all. If the total price of the meal for the whole group is more than twice what that group might expect to pay for an at-home hand prepared meal, it’s too much. Tasty and wholesome state-of-the-art dehydrated backpacking meals are available, but they are very expensive and are only consumed regularly by yuppies. These yuppie-space-meals are usually about $9.00 a piece and at least two of them are required for three people. You can then forget about deserts, which are also available, but for another $6-8. A meal of soup, ’taters and pudding, on the other hand, is both filling to the body and easy on the wallet. An eight-serving bag of Bear Creek soup mix (enough for three trekkers) usually runs about $6, while potato flakes and pudding might add at most an additional $2. The money saved on food may filter into other departments of the pack, such as first-aid supplies and a good compass.

There you have it, the perfect meal.

If a time arises when you should find an urge to trek, and you find yourself mulling over the possible food options, I hope the choice is clear for at least one meal. You need a meal that is healthily energized. You need a meal that has a low pack impact and is quick and easy to prepare. You need a meal that is beautiful and cheap. You need Bear Creek Navy Bean soup, mashed potatoes, and pistachio pudding. Frankly, it doesn’t even matter what kind of pudding it is. Any flavor will do, except lemon. Only a fool tries lemon.

I believe it goes without saying, but the meal on that cool Nevada summer evening can only be described as glorious. It is beyond belief to non-trekkers how delicious and fulfilling such a meal can taste. Our energy supplies were replenished, and our taste buds were passed out drunk. Our packs were light with other such ‘smart foots’ and we were not hauling around Betty Crocker’s cabinet. We had no stinky garbage, no more than one dish to clean, and no grim images of hash. We were completely and utterly satisfied, even after we pulled out the maps and looked at what we needed to do the next day. Faced with a daunting twenty mile walk across an uninhabited dry desert valley, we were mentally prepared to enjoy every second of it thanks to soup taters ’n puddn.

Works Cited:

Dixon, Alan. Why Hike Ultra-light? and Backpacking Food. 2006. AdventureAlan.com. 24 Oct. 2006. <http://www.adventurealan.com/>

Nutrition at FAQ’s.org. Sports Nutrition and Vitamins, Water Soluble. 2005. Thompson Corporation. 24 Oct. 2006. <http://www.faqs.org/nutrition/index.html>

For label information of products:

Calorie-Count by About.com. Bear Creek, Navy Bean Soup;, Potatoes, mashed dehydrated flakes; and Pudding, dry mix instant. 2006. New York Times Company. 24 Oct. 2006. <http://www.calorie-count.com/>

Meadow Valley Wilderness

Southern Nevada is good for more than just nuclear waste. Things live there too!

January 2007

My brother and I ventured relatively unprepared into the Meadow Valley Wilderness (and it's surrounding quasi-wilderness) on the second day of the new year for a four day adventure in the harsh but magnificent landscape of south-eastern Nevada. It's an experience I highly recommend. Enjoy these pictures and be sure to check out the links to learn more about the area and its geology.


Meadow Valley Wilderness description: Click here.

the rugged hills are a lesson in geology

yucca fibers

shell of a consumed Desert Tortoise

positive reflections of industry

Teddy Bear Cholla - Makes you want to hug it

looking east across Meadow Valley Wash at the Mormon Mountains

barrel cactus defense shield

super gnarly canyon we dubbed "Agave Canyon" due to its many Agave plants

Desert National Wildlife Refuge - New backyard of the new biped infection

In this shot, only the lonely highway 93 exists between the foreground hill and background mountains, the Sheep Range in the Desert National Wildlife Refuge. However, some nice folks decided that there needed to be more there, so soon the third largest Nevada city will spring up with zit-like speed. As many as 160,000 homes will be built with several golf courses, stores, restaurants, schools and recreational centers. It shall be named Coyote Springs. Don't believe me? Check out the propaganda right here.
And here is a site that seems to understand things better, with good pictures of the confusing contruction: http://www.roamingphotos.com/us/nv/coyotesprings/

The things rich people can get away with in the desert.....

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Another view of Coyote Springs location. Notice the small patch of land in the valley already being developed. It's actually a golf course. You have to build the golf course before you can build the course-front property, right? They have already built artificial lakes to evaporate in the sun; and green grass that they water for no one. Rooted firmly in one spot, these yuccas get to watch the destruction - front seat!

a beautiful power plant west of Moapa grimly reminds the wilderness traveler of his own society's dirty vices

"One of the penalties of having an ecological education is living alone in a world of wounds."
-Aldo Leopold 1947

Arc Dome Wilderness

Arc Dome Wilderness
July 2005
Central Nevada

The summer of 2005 was a good one for the family. We bagged two beautiful peaks of central Nevada, Arc Dome and Jefferson, on our continuing quest to summit the top 20 Nevada peaks as a fam-dam.

We camped at the trailhead on the west side of the Toiyabe Range and made a nice day hike of the peak. It's beautiful, you should go if you enjoy things.

Please click here if you want to learn about the Arc Dome Wilderness.

Arc Dome from the Toiyabe Crest Trail

Lupine on one of the ranges many flat table-like ridges.

On our trip in July, the alpine wildflowers were incredible.

Aspen illuminated by an evening fire.

All images copyright eco-o unless otherwise noted

Backlog - 2005

Pictures taken in 2005

Please excuse these unordered pictures while I throw up a few meaningful shots from '05.
Click on any image to see a high quality version, and steal it for your background if you feel so inclined.

Gleason Creek actually flowing - February 2005

Heading for a moonlight ski in the Egan Range - March 2005
Old mine in Sawmill Canyon in the Egan Range - May 2005
Sawmill Canyon - May 2005
The Ruby Marsh - June 2005




All images copyright eco-o unless otherwise noted

Backlog - 2004

Pictures taken in 2004.

Please excuse these unordered pictureswhile I update the photo album.
Click on any image to see a high quality version.

Wheeler Peak, Great Basin National Park - August 2004


Steptoe Valley from the Egan Range - September 2004


Limber Pine above Steptoe Valley - September 2004

Turning Aspen in the Duck Creek Range - September 2004

North Fork Berry Creek Trailhead - November 2004

Long Valley Sand Dunes - November 2004

Schell Creek Range behind Steptoe Valley - November 2004

Ferocious winds in the South Fork of Timber Creek - December 2004

All pictures copyright eco-o unless otherwise noted.

Wind Energy and Its Drawbacks

The Grim of Green

Last night, as I strolled down the hall of my residence hall at the University of Idaho, I saw a cork-board covered with facts. The title of the board was “Are you Eco-Friendly?” Striving to be an eco-conscious citizen, I stopped to examine the display. Among the several dozen tid-bits, one especially caught my eye. It said “Solar panels covering less than half the state of Nevada could supply our entire country with ample power.”

Despite the fact that this statement was relatively shallow, I found it particularly cutting. You see, I have lived my entire life in Nevada. I have ventured into its practically endless beauty countless times in countless ways and have experienced its land more than many Nevadans have had the chance to. I know that the state is one of the largest chunks of undeveloped public land in the country, and that its Great Basin ecosystems are unlike anything in the world. It is also ranked as the nations eleventh most biodiverse state and as the third most at risk. Perhaps now you can understand why using ‘less than half of the state’ for some logically useless statistic was perturbing to me.

Upon reading the statistic, I scurried back to my room and typed up and printed out a well reasoned reply and taped it beside the original. The next morning, my addition was gone, and I was left to wonder why. Although I did not save the file, I remember that its last sentence had read “Let’s solve the obvious problem of energy consumption before we run wild looking for better places to get more.” Ok, so it may have been a bit compassionate, but I feel it was just. Why should we go hog-wild to develop new “green energy” when all we have to do is turn off our lights, computers and televisions when we go to work or school? Why do we feel that wee need to feed this insatiable beast with clean power when the greenest thing we can do is to simply unplug a few things. Coincidentally, this isn’t the first time I’ve asked that question.

In 2004 and 2005, nearly all of the western states made renewable energy portfolio standards that required the development of renewable energy resources within their states. The standard in my home state of Nevada required that at least 20% of all electricity generated in the state must be from renewable resources by 2013. It must be ‘green energy’. That’s great! Unarguably, it’s a step in the right direction. Nevada is rich with such energy, and has almost no industry to collect it.

Possibly prompted by these new portfolio standards, a company named Nevada Wind and various others have decided to harness the power of the wind to create such energy. What better place to develop such an industry than in the eastern part of Nevada, with its dozens of high elevation and windy ridges, most of which are very accessible and uninhabited? In these respects, it’s a great idea. However, this issue is not that simple.

One area that these companies have set their sights on is known as Telegraph Mountain. About 50 miles north of Ely, Nevada, Telegraph Mountain has many large, high elevation tables and flat ridges, and is a popular spot for hunters, hikers and many other outdoorsmen. It has, according to the head game biologist of the Nevada Division of Wildlife (NDOW) Ely Field Office, “Some very important, high quality summer range for sage grouse and mule deer”. Sage grouse, a species of large native ptarmigan, have recently been the center of many recent concerns, due to their low population and the widespread destruction and fragmentation of their fragile habitat. Telegraph Mountain is a key piece of habitat for these birds.

The plans for development of this ‘green energy’ suggest as many as 150 turbines within about fifteen square miles, placing one tower about every 1,000ft. Telegraph, as of now, is only accessible by means of one scarcely used craggy, 4-wheel drive road. Upon development, a vast network of maintained roads and other structures will need to accompany the 150 units. This added infrastructure will fragment the sage grouse and mule deer habitat. Sage grouse, unfortunately, have a very low tolerance of man made structures, regularly used roads, and power lines. NDOW fears that “all of the sage grouse could abandon the habitat.” Even if all the birds don’t leave, the usage of the site will certainly decrease, which works against the Greater Sage Grouse Conservation Plan for Nevada and California - a state government work in progress that took nearly four years to draft. This massive plan is aimed to maintain and protect sage grouse habitat, so it seems strange for the state’s own renewable energy plan to work against it. Mule deer use will also decrease dramatically, which in turn decreases the value of the site as a healthy hunting area.

In addition to habitat fragmentation and destruction, ‘wind farms’ have a tendency to kill many bats, raptors, and other birds. A major raptor migration route leads birds right through this part of the state. When 150 towers - each about 200ft tall with 160ft diameter spinning blades - are put in their way, many of them may likely be killed. According to studies conducted by the American Bird Conservancy in their Wind Energy Policy, mortality rates can exceed 7 birds per turbine per year. This figure doesn’t even include birds eliminated through habitat loss and fragmentation.

In short, development of this industry at Telegraph Mountain will turn this high quality habitat into another “poor quality” piece of developed land; and another dead zone along migratory routes. “Among the sites they are considering, Telegraph is the worst place they could do this” concludes NDOW.

When suggested of other, better sites for their industry - sites that have less habitat value and would have less ecological impacts - the companies agreed, saying that ‘those could be additional sites’. The companies are reluctant to consider sites that are less cost efficient even though they may have less environmental impacts. It would be nice to think that the main driver behind the renewable energy industry is the preservation of the environment and our natural resources, but, sadly, like any other industry, maximizing profit seems to take front seat.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not against green energy. I want to see more of it. That’s why this issue continues to fester in my mind as some annoying mind puzzle. Along with using less power, I believe that green energy is the right solution for today’s energy and pollution problems. But, on the other hand, what good is green energy when we need to destroy green to get it? Is a bit of energy worth losing key pieces of habitat? Before you think about answering that question, allow me to add yet another angle to this particular issue, because it’s not that simple.

There is, in fact, another side to this Telegraph Mountain wind energy issue. Since 1992, there have been plans for a large power-line corridor to run north-south through Steptoe Valley - the valley immediately east of Telegraph - which would strongly connect some of the main power-grids in the western states. This corridor, known as the Southwest Intertie Project (SWIP), has never been built, due to a lack of sufficient reason. Another pending (near certain) plan would place one or two 1600kw coal-fire power plant a mere five miles north east of Telegraph. If the wind-power plans develop, then the coal-power plans are more likely to go through. With these, the SWIP line will finally have the prerogative it needs and will almost certainly be built. This massive transmission line would run from southern Idaho to Las Vegas, Nevada; some 390 miles. It would also have major impacts on sage grouse habitat, as well as the ecosystems and precious aesthetic beauty of the valleys it would run through. To add insult to injury, even though there is already a major highway along this exact route, the power line would make its own corridor, zigzagging through countless roadless areas in attempt to minimize its ‘visual impacts’ on residential and high traffic areas. Since the majority of eastern Nevada is virtually uninhabited, the only ‘high traffic’ areas are the highways, and are therefore avoided by the SWIP corridor. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather have a highway spider-webbed by power lines than a handful of wildernesses thinly strangled by them.

Each one of these components - the wind power, the coal power, and the SWIP line - facilitates the other; and as of now, the local public is relatively uninformed and unconcerned. I am concerned, and anyone who truly knows much about the area and its value is concerned as well.

In my mind, I can see skeptics saying “It’s green energy, why on earth would those concerned about the environment oppose it?” For many people, renewable energy symbolizes our generation’s movement to better the environment; and in many ways it does. However, to assume that all green energy is ‘eco-friendly’ is false. In fact, much of it isn’t. Hydroelectricity projects destroy river ecosystems while solar panels are extremely resource intensive. Green energy is really merely a moderate (and respectable) improvement over fossil fuels. None of them are perfect and none of them are simple.

It seems very critical of me to protest the location and finer points of this opportunity for new renewable energy, and I feel a sense of hypocrisy within me for doing so. Nonetheless, it seems illogical to let this happen. Of course, until the 450 shiny blades are chopping hawks and kestrels in half where the sage grouse and mule deer once lived, the people wont see what they gave up for some green juice.

Tonight I will tape my response to the eco-friendly board once again, because if there is only one thing that I have learned about being a conservationist, it is to never give up. This one will be a little nicer, but its message will not change. I will suggest that our society open its eyes and accept what really is. Green energy is the lesser of two evils, but no one can argue with using less power. Plus, everyone can participate.

So, what are you waiting for? Stop staring into this bum-fuzzled box of glowing glass and plastic and go for a walk, a run, or dig into a good book. May I suggest John McPhee’s Basin and Range?

For more information on the impact of wind turbines and birds, see the American Bird Conservancy Wind Energy Policy at http://www.abcbirds.org/policy/windpolicy.htm