After the noise of the past month – the moving, the shaking, the making, connecting + baking – a few days in the deafening silence of the Colorado backcountry was exactly what I needed.
I had no idea, of course, that it would be so necessary when we booked the hut back in May. Before life “turned on again,” the calendar filled up and things got wild. Back then, organizing the trip was just about getting four good friends into the wild, leaving showers, electronics and athletic expectations behind, and going for a walk in the woods. Each of us brought something to the table: one gal brought plenty of wine (which we proceeded to empty into platypus pouches for the 6 mile hike in) another brought the coffee, still another carried enough humor for the entire group and I, of course, brought the food. Which meant very few packages, certainly no dehydrated meals were invited, and that I had some homemaking to do before we left.
This Savory Kale + Walnut Granola Bar is an old favorite that I pulled out of my sleeve for our salty bunch. We munched on our bars at 10,800 ft in the middle of a meadow while swatting mosquitos, during a pause in the rainstorm that danced over us all day. The moment was kind of a grim one, honestly – the packs were very heavy (wine,) the rain was very wet (amazing,) and we were still quite a distance from our destination, but the bars were amazing and I promise will shed as much light on your ride, hike, picnic, or afternoon snack sesh as they did for us high in the mountains.
A few of you have asked about how to pack for travel and adventure this summer, and these granola bars are a pretty good opportunity to share a few favorite tips and tricks with you.
In this case, we enjoyed three days and two nights in the backcountry, and we packed only real food with us. We didn’t have any refrigeration, but we did have a propane stove and potable water. Some of the things we brought in our packs:
The specific foods I pack, how I package them and the amount of fresh ingredients I weave in depends entirely on how I’m traveling, where I’m going and how long. If I’m going on a car camping trip I may bring more fresh fruits, vegetables and ingredients, but I almost always carry ingredients that follow these guidelines:
We never had to eat these granola bars for dinner, but they would have been really lovely and more special than a packaged energy bar should that misfortune ever befall us. There’s nothing that makes me feel more cared for and at home wherever I am than something homemade, and when the rain was dumping and our spirits were low, these little bars lifted us up.
Salty, loaded with carbohydrate-rich, easy-digest oats that promised to stick with us through our hike instead of burning off with the next little 1000 ft kicker into the clouds, I opted for these bars over a packaged bar because:
they packed a pungent punch, so they were more interesting and perked up our palates a bit more than something less flavorful. In this case, flavor was for fun.
Without further ado, I’ll give you these Savory Kale + Walnut Granola Bars so you can take them on your own next adventures.
That's ok, just sign up or log in to see this recipe.