If I’m going for a longer day trip I make sure I eat breakfast before I go out. On nonpaddling days I skip breakfast a lot.
My go to are the traditional hard granola bars. I’ll eat two packs on a long paddling day and sometimes a stick an apple behind a float bag. I keep a case of water in the car just in case I forget a refillable water bottle.
Extended overnights are a whole different deal. Food becomes motivation and snacking is a part of it. Nuts, dried fruit, apples, peanut butter crackers are frequent items. I used to make my own citadel spread minus the bacon grease.
Well I’d never heard of these so we bought some and yesterday I took one on a 4 hour paddle to supplement my normal menu. Those are definitely tasty little PB&J sliders and the convenience for a day paddler like me is great.
Tom, I’m big enough, esp the part that butter enlarges. My belly has never hung over my belt but it’s starting to.
And getting a bigger pair of pants ain’t happening.
I know a guy who I have paddled with, and has paddled multiple times in the Yukon River races. He orders a fresh pizza to carry from the start. Was it just a cooincidence that he had a heart attack while on the river and had to drop out of the 1000 mile race? He survived, but I’m glad I was not his partner on that one.
Here in PIttsburgh a few years ago, an enterprising food truck vendor launched a Taco Boat! The big three rivers that converge at downtown’s Point have a lot of recreational boater traffic as well as riverside parks and even bar-side piers that are heavily patronized in nice weather. It was actually possible to paddle your kayak up to the boat and buy a fresh hot taco! I don’t recall if the business went past one season but I wondered if they might have had trouble with the strict standards for food service that our county requires.
I recall talking to a guy who had kayaked rivers in southeast Asia for many years – he said he could travel great distances and never have to carry much food because every river in urban and village areas had food vendors who sold from their boats both to shore customers and others who worked or lived on their own boats.
There’s an ‘Ice Cream’ boat that ply’s the waters around New Smyrna beach (FL).
It get’s mighty hot on my paddles from Mosquito Lagoon to Ponce Inlet (& back via sea).
You guys are crackin’ me up - How many of us have gotten into paddling to the point where we wondered how we could make some kind of a living off of paddling? Guiding? Livery service? Boat building?
Heck no - set up a vending stand at the head of an island on a heavily traveled river! That’s the ticket! Maybe set up a smoker for pulled pork or barbecue - something that would waft delicious odors out across the water for miles upstream. What paddler after a long day could resist? Fish in a barrel. A bluegrass band or drum circle wouldn’t hurt either…
And maybe a keg or two of cold beer! We’d all bet rich in a couple good weekends! But Dangit - Even with biodegradable cups, paddling while drinking isn’t such a good idea; we’re all safety conscious, we all know better - doncha’ hate it when morality gets in the way of a good idea…
A little more seriously; Back when we were doing Wisconsin River Pnet trips, in mid August (to try and avoid high water, most thunderstorms, and any hypothermia worries) we set it up so there was an ice cream stop available (at the Blue River bridge and about 3/4 mi upstream from the Kickapoo confluence at Wazeka, for those who might want to duplicate it) in about the middle of each day’s paddling. It was a feature of the trips most approved of after being baked in the mid-summer sun for a while.
Now we’re talkin my language- real delicious food after paddling. Forget the on-river snacks, gorp recipes, and hudson bay bread.
At 218 lbs, It’s pretty obvious eating is something I still enjoy. Locally after a trip on the upper New River (WV) I’ll frequently hit up the Coldspot (Glen Jean WV). The agent orange wings washed down with a draft pbr is truly a delight. In Fayetteville WV the Pies and Pints with its grape pizza is a popular spot. Near the New River Dries- Gino’s in Ansted, the C& S in Richwood (cherry river) had wonderful banana Cream pies, while the ranchhouse in Craigsville (top gauley) featured bison burgers and hummingbird cake. Sadly both the C & S and Ranchhouse are now closed. We make fun of Stewarts Hotdogs with their poor service but go there anyway (a popular takeout on the Greenbrier). The all you can eat oysters are popular with some.
I got started on this tradition after paddling the East Branch of the Penobscot. The end of the trip (shuttling back to Matagamon) included a stop at Foggs (Patten ME) for icecream.
Probably my all time favorite is Horseshoe Bend ‘s (Idaho) Volcanic Produce Stand. We go back to Idaho for the pie and as well as the paddlin’ (Payette drainage). The Wapsi in Iowa impressed me- with a couple of stretches having a bar/eatery at a put in or take out and I’ve actually selected what river to run in Iowa given its proximity to a Pizza Barn, a great place when you’re after river famished for both fried chicken and pizza. Colorado is also good with a great mexican eatery located in strip mall in Carbondale (think Roaring Fork, Crystal). Salida CO (Arkansas River) edges out the Nantahala (NC) for a meal with a view of an entertaining play spot. Actually, the NOC is just a bit too busy for my taste buds. One of the things that makes these places so special is the comradery shared with friends.
Honorable mentions include the Chinese buffet in Silver Springs FL, the White Castle in Frankfort Ky, and a casino’s Thanksgiving buffet in Louisiana (yes, these were all after paddling destinations).
Places I need to hit up? the Edisto (I know there’s been an ongoing debate on this message board about who has the best barbecue). I’ll let you know how Taos NM, Pagosa Springs CO, and Smokey Joes (Washita River in OK) measure up after this summer’s paddlin’ trip. So many good rivers and so many great places to hit up afterwards. Now that’s how you properly refuel.
I used to do that hiking. Early days it was fruit and PB&J. After awhile, we got a little more prosperous and found places like you describe. After a 5,10, and sometimes 20 mile day hike calories never crossed our minds.
For 20 of my 24 90Milers the solid food during each day has been a fliptop 16 oz. container of Gearwomans recipe gorp. For liquid i use a 50/50 mix of Gatoraid and Green tea w/honey and Gensing. We drink at 5 minute intervals when possible and take a gorp helping every 15 minutes. as the course allows. the key to good paddling gorp is to keep the size of the ingredients small. I got a cashew half caught in my throat trying to call a hut and came really close to needing someone perform the Heimlich manuev er on me. now we even use the mini M&Ms. The stern paddler always seems to consume half as much gorp as the other 3 in the C4; not enough time to chew a big mouthfull before calling the next hut.
