High Sierra Topix

So I have been reading the “can your best food beat this” thread and that got me thinking. What has been your “best” meal on the trail. I am talking about a specific meal that you remember for some reason. Now this could be a wonderful trout after a great day fishing or any other meal that is memorable.

One specific meal that comes to mind for me is dinner at kern hot kern hot springs. We had hiked all the way from big arroyo in very hot weather. We were absolutely beat. After setting up camp and getting cleaned up we made dinner. It consisted of fried trader joe’s summer sausage over stove stop stuffing. We poured the sausage grease and all over the stuffing. It was total heaven with all the fat and salt. This is certainly nothing you would get excited about in the “real” world, but it was great out there. The other hikers that shared the camp fire with us were so jealous of our “real food” as they rehydrated their freeze dried dinners!

Too bad trader joe's does not make that sausage any more. It was the perfect size at 4 ounces.

Back in the early 90's my Uncle Wayne and I would backpack in to Laurel lake.
Usually he would freeze a large Tri Tip Steak the night before and being an engineer he put his car keys in the freezer too so he would not forget the steak.
We would get up at 3:30 AM and make the drive from San Jose up to the O'Shaunessey dam at Hetch Hetchy.
By the time we had labored up the switchbacks and took the cross country route from snow pond to the outlet of Laurel Lake it would be time for late afternoon fishing.
As it got near dark we built a fire and began roasting the now thawed Tri Tip steak.
Cooking it slowly over the campfire and occasionally sprinkling it with salt we took turns cutting "snitches" of meat off as the steak cooked from the outside in.
Mmmmmmmmm Tri Tip. (Much salivating)

My favorite side dish was baked beans. In fact uncle Wayne loved to ask: "Wouldn't these beans go great with our steak?" "Yea uncle Wayne!" I would say. Then he'd say: "Good, you can carry them." and he would stuff them into my pack as we headed out the door.

My second best meal was a trout i cooked on my zip stove in jack main Canyon.
WARNING! TROUT WERE HARMED IN THE PROCESS OF KILLING AND EATING THEM.

I would have to say that my best backcountry meal was a result of an unforseen change in plans and resulting grueling hike. A buddy and I had planned an easy downhill hike into the golden trout wilderness but the road to the trail head was not yet open when we got up in the mountains. Because we were sure it would be an easy hike we had packed very heavy including, frozen T-bone steaks, canned chili, and snack-pack pears. Instead we had to drop down into the canyon and try to follow a pretty much non-existant use trail that added another 5-6 miles of miserable hiking. It was dark by the time we made it to camp at the river and the steak/chili tasted about as good as anything could, or at least I thought. The real treat was eating the pears and especially drinking the juice. I've eaten a lot of canned pears in my life but none of them ever came close to those that night.

Hetchy wrote:and being an engineer he put his car keys in the freezer too so he would not forget the steak.

Thanks Hetchy. I laughed out loud at that one

Sorry, I can't help this: here's the worst food I ever had in the Sierra:

It was the mid-1970s, and we hiked in to Ediza Lake. We made a regular dinner (don't remember what it was) and then the "treat:" Richmore no-bake brownies. They were absolutely indescribably awful, sort of like eating aluminum pie plates. We even, uh, well, did some things that generally enhance apetite <grin -- it was the 70s, after all>, and still nobody could eat the damn things. As the night wore on, I could hear small critters nosing about the plate full of brownies and I remember thinking, "thank God, at least something is eating these things." But no: in the morning they were still there. The critters were at least as smart as we were. We buried them and went home. Never again!

Oh my! If you can't even get the critters to eat it, you have done something seriously wrong. Don't take the negative dude! I can remember many meals that I was JUST able to get down. You brought it with you and carried it all the way. It's on the menu and it's the last thing in your pack, so it's your dinner, like it or not.

Very funny about these backcountry meals. I usually plan this menu with all kinds of variety. Once I hit the trail, it seem that all I want to eat is ramen!

I think the consistently best food I ever had in the BC was last summer when I got together with rlown, markskor, TehipiteTom, and a couple of other friends. We had ample liquor and while we did not plan any meals ahead of time we pooled our resources. First night Russ's abalone! Second night burritos with rice and lots of fresh stuff, third night mark's fried fish and toms pasta and ... "more ice Matt!" for the cocktails! The good thing about short trips is that you can eat really well!

Mike

Yes, That was indeed some fine grub last year's Quartz Mountain group trip...
everything worked and no real planning ahead of time... who would have thought it?
5 (later 6) solo hikers got together for 3 days and everybody knew what they were doing.
From the time immediately after I inadvertently fell through that log spanning the outlet - (lucky for me the water was only a few inches deeper than my testicles, so the "boys" also got a chance to experience the bridge too),
It was lots of laughs, good fishing, great meals, and almost enough ice...Matt!
Stuff of legends, glad I was invited along.
Pass the abalone please...more Putenesco? (two phrases I never thought I would hear in the backcountry)

The best meal I ever had was each year on my first trip, the first day eating fish. I would make a meal in a pot to put in my fish fillet. I always liked my bar b qued fish cooked open over wood so much that very little of the fillet made to the pot. I'd eat it while cooking. I'd be nearly full (of fish) before I ever got to the main course.

hmm. For some of us, fish are a given, and serve as a base to bigger creations. I think it's more about "above and beyond" what you do normally. I'd concur with Mark and Mike that last July's meals were some of the best I've had. The cheese and cracker plate, pre-cocktails was very nice as well.

On other trips like to Upper Mattie, we've hiked in deer sausage. Very tasty and goes well with fish, the onions, and the peppers; all fresh.