A day to learn all the things we did not know that we did not know.

Uyetsga and I were lucky enough to attend the ALDHA-West Colorado Rockies Winter Ruck last weekend. It was great to hear from all these experienced long distance hikers and get tips on fine tuning our gear and food before we head off.

I think the main thing Uyetsga and I got from the day was planning for our food. We really got sick of the dehydrated meals that we had on the Colorado Trail and so had planned to make some of our own invention. We purchased dehydrated vegetables from Harmony House and had started putting together various meals. For some of our resupply we need to send a box with all our meals for the next segment but for others we had the choice of sending nothing and buying in the town or sending some and supplementing with things from the town. We decided we would send some meals but also buy fresh things where we could. On the shorter sections between towns we will load up with as much real food as we think we can carry and that will not spoil before we eat it. On the longer stretches we will use more dehydrated foods to keep the weight down.

This is a strategy that we have used on our hikes in New Zealand and Tasmania and seemed to work well for us. Only time will tell.

The ALDHA-West did a fantastic job of organising the day and it was a lot of fun being immersed in the hiking community. I would strongly recommend attending one of these events if you can.