First, there are NO "really good" substitutes.  There are those that you can choke down without gagging (a 3 on a scale of 1-10) and those that the Donner Party would have left untouched (.00000000000000001 on a scale of 1-10).

Moving on to fresh eggs, I have kept them for 5 days or so in some pretty warm temps with no problem.  Keep 'em cool as long as possible by surrounding them with any other refrigerated or frozen items when you pack the food pack.  As long as they stay unbroken you should not have problems. 

It IS possible for eggs to be contaminated with salmonella already when you buy them.  The possibility is extremely remote.  However, that's why eggs are kept refrigerated normally.  I take the eggs and I don't worry about it.  Your chances of getting giardia from swimming in the lake, falling on a portage and breaking an ankle, etc. are much, much greater than the chances that one of your eggs has salmonella inside.  Otherwise they do just fine unrefrigerated for a week or less.  That shell keeps decompositional bacteria out so the egg can't rot.

Good question Kingfisher
I also enjoy fresh eggs but have always been too "chicken" (sorry) to bring them along. My alternative, although a compromise has been to boil a dozen eggs and fry a pound of bacon to be eaten cold the first 2 days of the trip. Doing so the first morning out gives you a hot breakfast.  Doing it at home saves you the clean up.
-YB

Powdered eggs generally are not good.  I buy mine at my local food CoOp.  I don't remember the brand but it come in a quart, plastic jar.  That jar lasts me years.  Powdered eggs are great as a substitute for fresh eggs in baking or making a "regular" pancake mix into a "add water only" mix (adding powdered milk as well).

However, I have found one way that powdered eggs are good, and that is as a breakfast burrito.  Here is my recipe:

Breakfast Burrito
     
1/2 cup powdered eggs
Spices (1 teaspoon chili powder blend, 1/4 teaspoon oregano, etc.)
1/4 cup dried beef (or substitute hard salami)
4 teaspoons dried bell peppers
1 Tablespoon dried minced onions
2 teaspoons dried celery
Some hard cheese
2 or 3 Tortillas
     
At Home: Put powdered egg & spices in one bag.  Mix together peppers, onions, and celery in another bag. 

In Camp: Combine the vegetable mixture with 3/4 cups of water and set aside for 15 minutes.  Add powdered egg and meat. Let stand for another 5 minutes.  Fry adding cheese near the end so that it melts.  Roll equal portions in each of the tortillas and topped with salsa (poached from your local Taco Bell).

I do what Bannock does and feel that I can use them whenever in spring and fall if temps have been cool or by day three in summer. I try to make sure the eggs are kept sfae and suurround the container with cardboard as well as surround that with stiff things near the top of the pack. I also place the cardboard egg package in a big zip lock just in case an egg breaks. Having a broken egg all over the inside of a pack for 7 days in July gets pretty stinky-Trust me I know.

Years ago, I packed fresh eggs by using 2 styrofoam cartons per dozen, and double wrapping them. I taped the cartons shut, and put the whole thing in a 2-gal ziploc. I carried large eggs. Had a few minor cracks, used them first or tossed them according to the dictates of judgement.
Now, I carry powdered eggs from a restuarant supply. I like to watch the rookies search the foodbox when I ask them for a dozen eggs.

Most trips I carry in a dozen medium sized eggs in a plastic egg container and eat them the first morning.  Never had one break.

I have had fresh eggs last several days, even when it is very hot out.  Extra packing care and putting them on top of the cook kit or some other pack keeps them on your mind so you don't lean on them while portaging.  Salmonella is more rampant than you think...one book I read said it is endemic in the commercial chicken houses and they can't get rid of it.  That's why all the warnings about cooking eggs until they are not runny....as long as completely cooked, even if with Salmonella, they will not make you sick (no runny yolks allowed).  Putting them in their packing, in a cloth bag and dunking the bag routinely keeps them wet, and the evaporation lowers the temperature around them, especially when hung or set in the shade at camp.  IC

i put fresh eggs in the plastic egg holders and then put that within a one gallon ziplock - we had eggs break once, and as others have mentioned, that is not fun in july

as far as them keeping, i have used eggs as much as 5 days into a trip - i give them a flash boil (10 seconds) before we go - it doesn't cook them, but based on discussions with my uncles (a doc) he says that can help them keep longer, and potentially kill off diseases

one final reply on the eggs - i personally haven't tried this, but have been "assured" by a friend that it will preserve eggs (no promise on the diease issue, but i presume that if you are fully cooking your eggs it would be no problem)....

Rub the eggs with vaseline.

apparently the reason that eggs go bad is that they lose mosture through pourous holes in the shell.  by rubbing with vaseline these holes are plugged, and eggs stay good.  if using this method the eggs should be rotated once a week (to keep the yolks suspended) and can theoretically be kept for up to 6 months if they are in relatively cool surroundings.

Just got back from a week trip to Quetico & used fresh eggs almost every day.  Besides fried & scrambled, we used them in the hush puppies & cooking.  They are also really good (and easy) when hard boiled.  We've boiled them the night before we're going to break camp and then all you have to do is shell them & you've got a quick, protein rich breakfast to start you off.  We just pack them in the plastic egg carriers, tape them shut with duct tape, put them in zip-lock bags and make sure everyone knows which pack the eggs are in (for that little extra TLC).  First morning in we checked for any cracked ones and those are used that morning.  Out of 4 dozen, I think we only had 3 or 4 cracked ones!

We have taken fresh eggs for many years with no problems, except for occasional breakage.  We buy medium eggs in a styrofoam carton (the last thing we buy just before our departure), double wrap the carton in two brown paper grocery bags and duct tape it underneath the stern seat of the canoe.  It stays in place while portaging.

In camp we always are careful to set the egg bag in a shady spot, and we plan to use the eggs within 2-3 days if the temperatures are in the 80's or above during the day.  During cool weeks they last longer, planning two or three per day.  There are just two of us, so we only take one dozen and then use BackPackers Pantry Denver Omelette for our remaining breakfasts.

On the rare occasion when breakage occurs we have an omelette that evening!

My daughter in Chicago can get pasteurized eggs and I am sure they would be safer, but I haven't seen these in the grocery stores at Grand Marais or Ely.

To all the "Ely Regulars"....

Are there any farmers near Ely that sell farm fresh eggs?

WindLaker