Elisha
What do you eat on a 1000 km long walk and how do you make sure you’re consuming enough energy to keep you going? Thru-hiking is a unique endurance adventure. It’s not just days, but weeks and months of intense physical activity in the outdoors, where you must be self-sufficient and carry everything you need on your own back.
Planning food for the trail was one of the most important aspects of preparation for my long distance walk on the Bibbulmun Track in Western Australia. It’s all about ensuring you have enough of the good stuff; energy, protein, and essential nutrients, to get through each day of walking and recover quickly overnight. While, it’s also crucial to keep overall pack weight down too.
After completing the Bibbulmun Track over seven weeks, I’m going to share an insight into how I fuelled my adventure in partnership with Roam Energy.
Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. I received free product and financial compensation for my partnership with Roam Energy on the Bibbulmun Track, but all information provided in this post is true and based on my own personal experience.
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What is the Bibbulmun Track?
The Bibbulmun Track is one of Australia’s premier hiking trails. It’s the most popular long distance hike in the country, stretching for 1000 km from Kalamunda near Perth to Albany on the south coast of Western Australia. The trail can be completed in either direction, north to south or south to north, depending on the season. On average, it takes about 6-8 weeks to complete end to end in one go, also known as a thru-hike. It’s also possible to complete in sections over a longer time period for those not ready for a major commitment.
Along the way, there are free campsites with huts/shelters for hikers, along with water tanks and drop toilets. Plus, the trail passes through several towns along the way for a chance to resupply with food, have a shower, and sleep in a real bed for a change.
The Bibbulmun offers a chance to explore some of the incredible forests and coastline of the southwest of WA. The trail takes you through the undulating Perth Hills, towering karri forests, boggy Pingerup Plains, and wild south coast of Western Australia.
Read more: Complete Guide to Thru-Hiking the Bibbulmun Track
My Experience Thru-Hiking the Bibbulmun Track in Spring 2024
After solo hiking the 1200 km Heysen Trail in South Australia in 2022, I’d been waiting for the right time to do another long walk. The Heysen, along with the Bibbulmun Track in Western Australia, are the two longest walking trails in the country, and it was a dream of mine to complete both of them at some point in my life.
I’d never been to Western Australia before and 2024 seemed to be the perfect year to make the long drive over west. While I had no set plan for it, I figured that if I was going to be in WA for a few months then completing the Bibbulmun Track would make a lot of sense.
I arrived in WA in June and considered doing the Bibbulmun Track in Spring, as this is considered the best season to walk the trail with beautiful wildflowers in the forests and whales on the coast. However, August turned out to be one of the wettest months in years and the trail was actually closed in sections due to flooding. I postponed my thru hike, but when the weather started to clear at the end of August I decided to set off and hope for the best.
I began on 27th of August from Kalamunda near Perth. It drizzled in the morning as I drove to the trailhead, but cleared later that day. From then on, I had incredible luck with the weather for the rest of the trail. I only ever walked in bad rain once and avoided two other rain storms by taking well-timed rest days. Otherwise, it turned out perfectly for me, with the flood water receding enough to safely complete the trail as I headed south. I finished the trail on the 13th of October, taking 48 days all up to walk 1000 km, including 5 rest days.
What to Eat on a Thru-Hike
While it’d be great to be able to eat whatever you like after a long day of hiking, you have to consider many practicalities when it comes to food for a thru-hike. There’s only so much food you can possibly carry on your back, but it’s important to consume enough energy to replace what you are expending, while also enjoying what you eat at the same time.
The main factors to consider when planning your food for a thru-hike are:
- Energy to weight ratio: What foods are going to give you the most energy per gram
- Food weight: Focus on the most lightweight options
- Energy and nutrition: Ensure you have enough calories, energy, protein, and vitamins for an endurance activity
- Waste: Reduce packaging and rubbish as much as possible
- Cooking: Consider cooking time and water usage
While everyone’s needs are different, you will need to carry at least 2000-4000 calories per day per person. Most hikers tend to try and keep this to about 700g to 1kg per person per day in terms of total weight of food items. However, on a thru hike when you’ll be walking up to a week in between towns, you really need to keep this as light as possible, with 700g per day being my limit.
Taking all of this into account, there are some great food items that tick a lot of these boxes. Let’s take a look below.
Best Foods to Eat on a Thru-Hike
When it comes to energy dense foods that will keep you feeling full, satisfied and well-nourished while on trail, here are some of my top choices:
- Porridge/oats: One of the most filling breakfast foods on trail, oats pack in a lot of carbohydrates, fibre, and protein. You can also add extra nutrition such as protein powder and nut butter on top
- Nut butter: One of the most energy dense items to carry on a hike, nut butter provides a powerful nutritional and energy boost. It’s also extremely versatile and suitable for vegans, although carrying a jar of PB is obviously quite heavy, but there are alternatives like sachets from Roam Energy
- Dehydrated meals: Whether you dehydrate your own meals or purchase from brands like Campers Pantry or Strive, these are convenient dinners because they’re lightweight and only need simple rehydrating with water
- Energy bars or bliss balls: A great snack option that is easier to eat on the go compared to trail mix. There are a variety of energy bars available including high protein ones, or you can make your own bliss balls too with dates, coconut and nut butter
- Soup: While not necessarily a meal on its own, I enjoyed having a cup of soup before my dinner as a snack. Rather than the easier Continental soups available at the supermarkets, I chose to have healthier bone broth sachets from Offgrid Provisions and added rice noodles and dehydrated veggies for some extra vitamins
If you’re not vegan, then hard cheeses, salami and tuna are really popular choices amongst thru hikers to consume on trail as well, especially for lunch.
Read more: How to Plan Your Food for Hiking
Food Resupply Along the Bibbulmun Track
There are a couple of ways to resupply on the Bibbulmun Track. You can purchase food along the way at general stores and supermarkets in trail towns, or you can post your own food resupply boxes ahead of time.
I opted for a bit of both and had four resupply boxes that I organised before starting the trail. I had these boxes posted to Dwellingup, Balingup, Pemberton and Walpole, so they were waiting for me when I arrived on the trail. The Visitor Centres in each town are happy to store resupply boxes for hikers. You can either post them or drop them off before starting.
In each box, I made sure I had my staple, favourite items and things I couldn’t necessarily buy along the way, such as Roam’s Energy Nut Butter and specific dehydrated meals. However, I often still added a few things from the local general stores, as I liked supporting these small businesses along the way too.
If I had my time again, I’d probably do a couple more boxes. Most thru hikers prefer not to carry more than 5 days or so of food at a time, but on the Bibbulmun I often had to carry enough food for a week or more, which made my pack uncomfortably heavy coming out of towns.
I’d recommend adding a resupply box somewhere in the first section before Dwellingup, and one at Donnelly River Village. The longest section between food resupplies is the first section, between Kalamunda and Dwellingup. Most people do this in about 10 days or so, but I did it in 9 days, knowing this was the maximum amount of food I could carry at once. And it was a struggle. You can arrange for a food drop around the Brookton Highway crossing, which in hindsight I wish I’d done.
Read more: My Bibbulmun Track Itinerary and Resupply Plan
My Typical Daily Menu on the Bibbulmun Track
Here’s a look at what I ate for a typical day on trail. Most days were quite repetitive, as I had my food pretty well organised before beginning the hike. However, I never really got sick of things as long as I mixed up flavours as much as I could.
Breakfast: Porridge sachet with 1 tbsp Roam Energy Vegan Protein Powder added to boiling water, topped with Roam Energy Nut Butter
Mid-morning snack: Muesli bar or energy bar
Lunch: Bagel with Roam Energy Nut Butter and a cup of Sodii electrolytes
Afternoon snack: Energy bar or bliss ball
Afternoon snack #2: Gingernut biscuits with Roam Energy Nut Butter
Pre-dinner meal: Noodle soup (bone broth, rice noodles, and dehydrated vegetables)
Dinner: Dehydrated meal from Campers Pantry or Strive
Dessert: Dark chocolate 70% min.
Why Roam Energy Products are Perfect for Thru-Hiking
I used both the protein powders and nut butter sachets from Roam Energy. Adding them to my thru-hiking diet was honestly a game changer, as they helped increase my energy intake and additional protein for recovery.
Roam Energy Nut Butter was a key part of my diet on the trail—I used it for breakfast, lunch, and snacks, trying to get as creative with it as possible. The sachets are only 27g each, making them lightweight and easy to pack. Made with a blend of almonds and cashews, they provide long-lasting energy that is a healthier alternative to peanut butter. Plus, they come in three flavours: Chocolate, Coconut and Espresso, to add some variety.
I also used the Roam Vegan Protein Powder for breakfast. Each pack only weighs 90g and I got about 5 servings for porridge out of the packet. Getting enough protein on trail can be difficult, so adding the powder to my breakfast (instead of powdered milk) really helped keep me feeling fuller for longer. Plus, it comes in caramel, chocolate and vanilla flavours.
Final Thoughts
While it can be overwhelming to organise your food for a thru-hike, it really makes a difference to your adventure if you’re fuelled properly and enjoy what you’re eating. Remember, focusing on lightweight, energy dense, nutritional, and tasty foods is the most important thing!
There’s no shame in eating the same foods repeatedly, especially if they’re adding great value to your daily diet on trail. I would’ve eaten kilos of nut butter over the course of the Bibbulmun Track, but once you’ve found the items that work for you, it makes planning a hike so much easier. I hope this provides some helpful tips for planning your meals for your next thru-hike.
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