I’ve read the recommendation for using a 5-gallon “bounce bucket” on the PCT (thanks, Suge). I was just wondering, if you send that to yourself via Priority mail and open it up and take something out of it at the post office and send it to the next town, will you have to pay postage again? Or can you continue to forward it for free?
RickD
The post office allows you to forward priority IF you do not open it. So you’ll have to pay postage again to send it ahead if you open it.
Greg
If you accept delivery, it’s new postage every time. If you want to forward it, do so without accepting the package. You can do it by phone, too, or at least I did once a few years ago. That may depend on the post office.
So yes, it gets expensive, which is why I simplified a little more and don’t use a bounce box any more.
Garlic
Hm… then I think that using a bounce bucket no longer makes sense financially. I’m guessing it’s $10 to mail that thing each time, just for the option of being able to pull a fresh pair of socks or sneakers out at precisely the moment you need them. With some planning and sending instructions to your home support team :)) you should be able to get the things you need more or less on time, and at less cost. Any other opinions?
RickD
I used a bounce bucket, but i didn’t really have any home support team. If you have support, and if you plan a few mail drops in advance, say every 400-500 miles or so, you can probably do fine without a bounce bucket. You may find you have a couple of very small items like a camera battery charger or some prescriptions that you can bounce cheaper in a padded manilla envelope. The “bounce envelope” is what i would do if i did the trail again.
markv
Campmor.com is a good way to get replacement socks, clothing, water purification, etc shipped ahead for a reasonable price. Call a week or two in advance of your town stop, place the order, the stuff will be there.
Garlic
I did not use one on the AT but was swayed by probably the same people in the Yogi book for one on the PCT.
I shared it with a friend of mine and we had a lot of stuff in it. I was so relieved to send that puppy back to NY never to have to deal with it again.
To me it didn’t make sense at all to have one financially. It was a pain in the rear to deal with especially when we didn’t need the PO for anything else.
Need new batteries? Buy em. Need Aquamira? Have it sent to the next town VIA campmor. There are ways to improvise and you can find supplies a lot easier than they make you think out west. Just leave big places like Tahoe, Ashland and Cascade Locks with what you need.
A-Train
The one thing it is very good for is your maps and guidebook. If you have folks back home to mail them to you, fine, but if you’re being self-sufficient, you need a way to get the maps and guidebooks in sections. By putting them in a bounce box, you can get a new section every few hundred miles. It can also be a nice way to supplement some of the small stores - e.g. buy some of the harder to get items in a big store and put them in your bounce box so you can get them up the trail (i.e. salmon or tuna in packets, fancy dried fruit) in the small towns with more limited shops. I am also a reader and many of the small towns have no books to buy. I like having a few books in my bounce box so I can get a new book when I want one. (In the desert especially, it helps to have something to do while you’re waiting out the midday heat.)
Ginny
I’m going to forego the bounce box/bucket then. I have a support crew of sorts sending me my packages, and I’ll leave a cache of maps, reading materials, and random gear with them that I might ask for. Thanks for sharing your experiences.
RickD
I did this in Mammoth, bounced my box over the phone. They were very upset with me about it. The man at the phone said how did he know I wasn’t trying to steal somebody else’s mail? He said there were rules against it and he was mad that thru-hikers seem to think they are above the law and that everyone will just make up for their poor planning yadda yadda. He ended up bouncing it for me anyway. I would have accepted it if he’d said he wouldn’t do it, so it was his choice to break the rules.
At the end of my hike, since I never made it to Seiad Valley, I waited a month and my bucket never came home. I phoned them to tell them I wasn’t coming and they forwarded it with pleasantries.
You just never know with these post offices.
I could go without if I didn’t send my battery chargers and guide books in it and just carried them. After a while, the weight really makes no difference anymore.
Piper