Jason Nark: Appalachian Trail hikers are always hungry: Here’s where they like to eat in Pennsylvania

PHILADELPHIA — One restless night in a tent far up into California’s Eastern Sierra mountains, I had intense dreams about pancakes, a whole stack in a sea of syrup with butter running down the sides like waterfalls.

My meal planning wasn’t the best on that short backpacking trip. I brought too much jerky and my brain, even when asleep, was craving carbohydrates. When I woke from that cruel flapjack fantasy, I negotiated a trade with a fellow hiker — jerky for pita bread and peanut butter — and soldiered on until I could get to the diner in town.

Hikers, particularly long-distance hikers on the Appalachian and Pacific Coast Trails, are almost always hungry, trying to catch up on calories and satiate intense cravings. Some resort to convenience store junk food for quick fuel but sooner or later, most head into the dozens of mountain towns that dot the trails for a meal.

“It’s a losing battle because the math never stops. You’re always burning more calories than you take in,” said Heather Anderson, a Pennsylvania resident who has hiked the Appalachian Trail three times. “And if you carry more food, it weighs you down, and then you need more food.”

Pennsylvania has its fair share of “must-eats” and traditions that hikers, for the most part, agree on, and they range from classic burgers to saké, to an ice cream “challenge” that might slow you down for a day or two. There are plenty of Wawa and Sheetz locations to choose from and one family in the Delaware Water Gap, the finish line in Pennsylvania, has a veritable monopoly on trail meals there.

Here’s an official list of what to order and where.

1) The Half-Gallon Challenge at Pine Grove Furnace State Park

Pennsylvania’s 229 miles of Appalachian Trail (known as the AT) begin in Franklin County, but few people on message...