What is the best hiker box item that you ever acquired? Mine was a pair of exofficio shorts at the Doyle in Duncannon. I wore them until the end in GA, as a matter ‘O’ fact I have them on right now!
Farsang
Best Hiker Box Item
system
#2
I’ve acquired a bunch of great items from various hiker boxes, but I put an item in a hiker box that tops all the one’s i’ve ever received.
In 1996 I had blistered, tired feet when I got to Tilly Wood’s “Woodshole” hostel (near Pearisburg VA). I had been hiking in my “camp shoes” - a pair of Teva Sandalls for a few weeks already with my boots (brand new $200 Vasque Goretex) dangling from my pack. It was at this point that I decided to hike the rest of the trail in sandalls and I really didn’t want to hitch to the P.O. in Pearisburg to send my boots home… so I put them in the hiker box!
Well, about a week later a guy named “Dancing Bear” came along - he was just about ready to get off the trail. His boots had holes in them and he had to suffer through a late season snow-storm with snow freezing his toes! He decided that he would walk to Woodshole and maybe get a ride into Pearisburg to head home. When he showed up @ Tilly’s he happened to look in the hiker box. Unbelievably there was a nearly new pair of boots - and they fit perfectly to boot! 
About three weeks later I was sitting on the back porch of Rusty’s (stayed there 12 days that year…) when this hiker comes walking down the driveway. I noticed the boots right away and said “nice boots”! He was all smiles and said that they had saved his thru-hike. I then told them that i had put them in the hiker box at Woodshole - he was obviously really grateful!
In October, I received a katahdin summit shot postcard of Dancing Bear wearing the boots - they had gone all the way!
freebird
system
#4
I once discovered a ziploc bag containing oatmeal. Never seen ANYTHING like it in a hiker box ever since…
I forgot my trekking poles on the porch of Hiker Hostel after sectioning this year; didn’t realize it until weeks later as I was getting ready for a weekend backpack. Drat. They probably ended up in the hiker box there…likely on their way to Maine right now. My absentmindedness made someone lucky…
Backtrack
system
#5
When I got to Franklin my so-called rain pants had proven very un-waterproof. But there in the hiker box was a pair of columbia rainpants. Sure they had a little tear on the bottom, but duct tape fixed that. Wore them all through the snow and slush in the Great Smoky Mountains. Thanks to whoever put them there!
Red Hat
system
#6
A small Coleman pillow. I got it in a hiker box in Monson (I just started hiking SOBO) carried it all the way to Georgia. Post hike - used it for a couple years as a travel pillow. Gave it to my God-daughter when she was 2 years old (fit her perfectly, she was too small for a regular pillow). It was her favorite pillow for several years until it finally just gave out. I cut a piece of flannel off the top and patched my favorite shirt, burned the rest (with greatest admiration and respect…couldn’t stand to throw it away). Heaven knows where it had been before I got it. I think of it often and consider it one of my most valued possessions. Glad to have known it. What stories it could tell.
Double Stuff