I typically go in to town every 3-5 days and buy food at a grocery store. Usually I do bars and breakfast protein shake mixes for breakfast, wraps with tuna and cheese for lunch, and ramen or couscous or Mac and cheese for dinner. I always have chips and some kind of desert, usually peanut M&Ms or sour gummy candy, and a snack item like trail mix.

If it’s an area without a store, I’ll send a mail drop with the items mentioned above with some backpacker meals mixed in.

I collect water along the trail from streams, ponds, cow tanks, etc. and filter it from a dirty water bladder into clean bottles using a Sawyer squeeze. I also will carry back up purification in the form of tablets like Aquatabs.

Most hikes so far, I bring 5.5L capacity and have carried that much on a part of the AZT and PCT. Usually I don’t need to carry more than 2L at a time.

It can be when my sleeping pad has a hole, but usually it’s not too bad. I carry an inflatable mattress, quilt, and sleeping bag liner. I usually use my puffy as a pillow unless I need to wear it to bed for warmth. My set up is pretty comfortable for sleeping on the ground, though hotel nights in a real bed are always nice.

Not really, but I also haven’t hiked in grizzly territory.

I do lots of research ahead of time on how to interact with different animals and what to do if I get bitten or stung. Ticks actually frighten me the most. They carry a ton of pretty nasty diseases that aren’t always noticeable until they’re a major issue. I pretreat my clothes with permethrin and it seems to help.

I am when I get to towns where the people are. In the backcountry, most people are just out there to hike and enjoy nature as well. There can definitely be some bad people out there, but generally there are more in cities and towns where victims are more plentiful and they don’t need to hike 10 miles to find their targets.