Enter

If you’ve been following our Adventurous Couple Version Tacos series, you know that Part 9a was messy. Really messy. That was the night we tried to do a full carnitas braise at 10,000 feet using a broken camp stove and a rainfly as a windbreak. We ended up eating pork scraps off a spatula while shivering in the dark.

We tested five iterations. We failed three times. Here is the definitive guide. You cannot use standard grocery store tortillas. They crack. They stick together. They turn into a doughy brick.

In Part 9a, we perfected the flavor bomb at basecamp. In 9b, we solved the logistics . How do you keep crunchy toppings crunchy? How do you transport salsa without turning your backpack into a bloody Mary? How do you assemble a perfect taco with numb fingers on a windy summit?

We learned a hard lesson:

| Category | Item | Quantity | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | Tortillas | Lard-based, 6-inch | 24 | | Protein | Machaca (dehydrated) | 1 cup dry | | Protein 2 | Oil-packed mackerel | 2 tins | | Salsa | Rope salsa (frozen) | 6 oz | | Crunch | Crushed chicharrones | 1 cup | | Acid | Pickled red onions | ½ cup | | Cheese | Cotija, crumbled | ½ cup | | Tool | Silicone squeeze bottle (3 oz) | 2 | | Tool | Beeswax wraps | 2 | | Tool | Clean bandanas | 4 | We started this "Part 9b" as a fix for a failure. We ended up creating a philosophy. Tacos aren't just for Tuesdays. Tacos aren't just for tables. Tacos are the perfect adventure food if you respect the physics of the trail.

A gust of wind knocks over the chicharrones bag. They scatter over granite. We eat them off the rocks. No 10-second rule on the trail.