Menu for fall 6-day hike of the entire Coastal Trail at Lake Superior Provincial Park

Variety is the spice of life, right? When I’m camping in the backcountry, I don’t want to eat the same food every day, and I most definitely don’t want to eat bar after bar after bar! I want food that is (mostly) healthy, homemade, delicious, nutritious, filling, and different, while being as lightweight as possible!

Eating some delicious soup with tree bark, since someone forgot to pack spoons!

This fall, I will be hiking the full length of the Coastal Trail at Lake Superior Provincial Park. My friend Cheryl and I are planning to cover the 65+ km in 6 days, but will carry food for a 7th day if need be. The trail goes through the forest, across sandy beaches, rocky beaches, small boulders, big boulders, has endless ups and downs, and boasts some incredible scenery along the shore of Lake Superior. I have hiked parts of it, but never the full thing.

Our plan is to hike from north to south, starting at the Gargantua Harbour access point, hiking the northern end of the trail (to Devil’s Chair and Chalfant Cove), and then hiking south toward the Visitor Centre.

We have planned out our menu based on past trips, knowing how much food it takes to keep us energized and raring to go, and keeping in mind our food preferences! We like to use lots of fruit and vegetables, but have some treats too. It took some experimentation but after many backpacking trips, including an 8-day hike of the entire La Cloche Silhouette Trail at Killarney Provincial Park (trip report, menu, and menu review available at this link), we’ve figured out what works for us.

Some of my favourite books for backcountry meal prep are:

• A Fork in the Trail by Laurie Ann March (F)
• LipSmackin’ Backpackin’ by Christine and Tim Conners (L)
• The Trailside Cookbook by Don and Pam Philpott (T)

Where we’re planning to use a recipe, you’ll see a (F), (L) or (T) after the recipe name (and the corresponding page number).

Some meals are tried and true recipes, while others are new things we’re trying for the first time (such as “Thanksgiving on the Trail”). You might have noticed that we’re not really “cooking” very much. For the majority of our meals we’ll be boiling water to add to things (such as oatmeal) or to rehydrate things (such as chili). We will be baking cornbread and bannock, as well as eggs and bacon. Designing our menu as we have means faster meal prep, and less fuel required.

Between now and our trip departure, we’ll be slicing, chopping, cooking, baking and dehydrating our meals! Cheryl and I have split the food up so that we each prepare approximately half. We’ll keep everything in the freezer until departure day, when we drive more than 850 km north! The first night we’ll car camp at Agawa Bay, and then start our big hike the next morning after a shuttle to our starting point.

You can bet I’ll be blogging about our trip, including a full trip report, menu review, and packing list. Stay tuned!

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