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Desiderata:

1. No sucrose or corn syrup
2. Low glycemic index
3. Ample protein to sustain vigorous activity over hours/ days
4. Tastes good!
5. Convenient format—probably a bar.
6. Will contain nuts, dried fruits.
7. Vitamins/ minerals / antioxidants will be limited to those that can survive the processing ordeal. There’s no point in putting delicate vitamins and antioxidants into a product and then baking it at a temperature that destroys the additive—but that’s what many (even most?) companies do. They should know better.

I took a trip to Seven Mile Ridge in the Black Mountains of North Carolina with the Mid-Appalachian Highlands Club and the Johnson City Hikers. This ridge has the greatest concentration of “South Beyond 6000” peaks. We climbed up the very steep Woody Ridge Trail, turned north on the Black Mountain Crest Trail and bagged the peak at Celo. It was a cool and windy 65 degrees F, quite a contrast to the muggy 90 degree weather in the lowlands. After a light lunch we headed south and picked up Gibbes Mountain and Winter Star Mountain, two more SB6000 peaks. Then we headed down the tortuous Colbert Ridge Trail, which joins the Crest trail at Deep Gap, at the foot of Winter Star. The best reckoning was that we had done only 11 to 12 miles, in nine hours! Rough hiking, but very much worth the effort.

...yet I’ve never figured out where it is. The trails have these skinny brown plastic markers, about four inches wide and four feet tall—very easy to miss if you’re driving by and trying to keep a random eye on the winding Forest Service road. The Flint Mill climbs the north face of Holston and descends to the Carter County side, which I think is much higher than the Sullivan County floor. It should be good for about 2000 feet climb on the Sullivan side and at least 1000 on the Carter.