Alert reader Jeremiah Kemper pointed me to Ben and Lauren’s 2007 Adventure. Their latest post is from Erwin, Tennessee (mile 338.7), so there’s lots more hiking — and, more importantly, blogging — to go as they travel north. I found this post about their dietary habits interesting:

It’s been our plan to include as many living foods as possible on our thru-hike. We believe that food which comes straight from the earth, eaten in its simplest form, gives the most nutrition, energy and life force to our bodies. So, what exactly fills our food bags?

Breakfast: Dried fruits and nuts, or meal bar that combines them – such as Larabar.
Lunch and Snacks: Energy-packed concentrated meal bars with whole grains, fruit, honey, nuts – Such as Bear Valley’s Pemmican or MealPack Bars – and then more figs!

Dinner: Sprouts, soaked overnight, mixed with instant dried hummus or other powdered carbohydrate. And don’t forget the Texas Pete.

Dessert: (Most Important!) Dark chocolate & countless spoonfulls of almond butter or PB.

At dinner we’ve been eating a combination of 4 different types of sprouts. I specifically chose ones that are complete proteins when eaten together, that sprout quickly (less than 2 days), and can be found easily in towns without health food stores.

We really feel satisfied so far and do not experience AYCE (all-you-can-eat) cravings for meat, bread, and just TONS of food, like many other hikers on a more standard backpacking diet. It’s been amazing, really.

They also have an excellent Flickr photo album of their hike.