Mail Drops

All this was planned for my 2012 nobo thru-hike.  I have since finished the trail on several long sections, learning a thing or two along the way ...  I now pack a bounce box with dehydrated veggies from Harmony House, a little excess food from packing my bag, extra first aid supplies, a few extra tent stakes, baggies, a small deodorant, a spare water bag, and a callous stone for my feet ...  This has worked well for my last several sections, and is what I'd recommend to any long-distance AT hiker who wants to supplement their diet with stuff they aren't likely to find in grocery stores along the way.

When I resupply in town, minimum unit sizes invariably cause me to buy more than I need to pack.  Putting excess in my bounce box gives me a head start on the next resupply.

But if you want to do drop boxes, read on ...

This topic is always a controversial one on hiking forums. Many experienced thru-hikers were perfectly satisfied with the food they found along the way, and swear they wouldn't tie their itineraries to drop boxes if they did it over. I expected my hybrid approach to add some complexity to my hike, and it did.  It provided me with better nutrition along the way, but I found I could achieve the same thing with a bounce box.

Having said that, a northbound thru-hiker may do well to have a box packed with summer-weight gear to be mailed to Pearisburg.  Some loving person on the other end could launder that stinky sleeping bag and all the clothes, and have them boxed up to be mailed to Hanover, NH.

It's arguably better to mail to a hostel or business that's open 7 days a week instead of to a post office. On the other hand, if you ship priority mail, you can request anything mailed to a PO to be forwarded.  If you do mail to a hostel, you should plan to stay there, or offer them something for their assistance. Five bucks should do.  If you ship to an outfitter, plan to buy fuel or something from them ...

That's just being a good trail ambasadore


Here's the original posting:

	Miles Fm	Miles	Hiking
Town	Springer	Fm Last	Days	Notes
Fontana Dam, NC	166		12	Full Resupply (6 days thru GSMNP)
Kincora Hiking Hostel	412	246	19	Resupply staples
Pearisburg, VA	626	214	16	Swap winter gear for summer weight
Waynsboro, VA	853	227	17	Resupply staples
Harpers Ferry, WV	1013	160	12	Full Resupply
Delaware Water Gap, PA	1284	271	20	Full Resupply
Dalton, MA	1560	276	21	Resupply staples
Hanover, NH	1737	177	14	Swap gear for winter weight
Pinkham Notch, NH	1865	128	11	Resupply staples
Monson, ME	2064	199	18	Full Resupply (100 Mile Wilderness)
Katahdin, ME	2184	120	12	Trail's End!

I'm going to do the bulk of my resupply at grocery stores along the way. I'll supplement that with some staples I can buy in bulk, and that I may not be able to find in stores. Things like dehydrated vegetables and beans from Harmony House, Nido dried milk, instant hummus, quinoa, powdered cheese, tomato powder, Ova Easy powdered eggs ... I won a year's supply of various Clif Bar products in a contest, and I'll be splitting those up into each box. I'm sponsored by Emergen-C and will be getting enough vitamin packets to supply me, and to give away to fellow hikers So they'll be split up into all the boxes. I've got the unbound version of the AT guide, so relevant sections will be placed in each box.

Here's the list of addresses I used:

C/O Fontana Village Resort 300 Woods Dr. Fontana Dam, NC 28733	C/O Kincora Hiking Hostel 1278 Dennis Cove Rd Hampton, TN 37658-3908
C/O General Delivery Pearisburg, VA 24134	C/O Rockfish Gap Outfitters 1461 East Main St. Waynesboro, VA 22980
C/O Appalachian Trail Conservancy HQ PO Box 807 Harpers Ferry, WV 25425	C/O Mohican Outdoor Center 50 Camp RD Blairstown, NJ 07825
C/O General Delivery Dalton, MA 01226	C/O Mountain Goat 68 S Main ST Hanover, NH 03755
C/O AMC Visitor Center Front Desk 361 Rte 16 Gorham, NH 03581	C/O Shaws Lodging PO Box 72 Monson, ME 04464