Quote:

I like to be stealthy and not like a mule.

When you spend longer than say 2 weeks solo, you better have a little "mule" in you or your not going to fair very well.
 
  One thing about a food pack is that you can lighten it as you go and if you do like I do and plan some camp days after rough stretches it's not that hard to carry a fairly heavy food pack.

  I figure my pack for that 21-day trip was about 60lbs starting out and I could have easily cut 10lbs from that IF I didn't like my camp luxuries at night.

  Most people will 2X anyway and if you have the time you can 3x IF needed.

  I think the logistics involved trying to get someone to drop a food pack for you at the right time or plan a "loop" where you can pick-up food that YOU left early on just makes for a lot of extra things that can go wrong. I'd make a real effort to bring all my food with some careful planning.

Q-Dave likes to tell the story of one of his old clients who was a college professor and who would spend the summer traveling around to different parks canoeing/camping.

He came up one spring to Q having read a bunch of books about living off the land by fishing and eating wild edibles. Dave said he brought a food pack with just some coffee and few food items, about the size of a daypack. He said his days of carrying a heavy food pack were now over!  ;) ;D ;D

He stayed in for a month traveling most of the border region. When Q-D picked him up at BH, he said he looked like a concentration camp survivor :o

Turns out living off the land while trying to keep a traveling schedule isn't as easy as the books make it appear to be.

The guy was so starved for carbs, he made Dave drive him into Atikokan and proceeded to gorge himself while Q-D looked on in amazement on how much the skinny little guy could eat.

I'd rather carry a heavy food pack and NOT need the food than the other way around.  ;) ;D ;D