Mail Drops and Bounce Boxes

imported
#1

Were planning on purchasing approx. 50% of our food while on the trail so how many mail drops will we need? Also does anyone use a bounce box for the entire 2000+ miles?
Any help will be appreciated.
Sincerly Neandertal & Mama Kin

Neandertal

#2

Why buy 50% of your food on the trail when you can buy 100% of your food on the trail (well at towns/stores)? Your taste for food will change within a few weeks of hiking but if you preship your food, you will be stuck with stuff you might not be interested in a few weeks. Like all the people who preship instant oatmeal only to grow to hate it by Neel’s Gap. Supply stops are close enough to where you can easily buy all the food you need w/o using mail drops for food. Waste of money to do this if you ask me.

A-Hole

#3

unless you have a need to be on a special diet for health reasons,like diabeties,buy food along the way. You help the local communities and exper. alot more than just hoping from P.O to P.O. Though occasionally you may want to send a bounce box with vitamin supplements and other items not readily available in some mountain communities. Also, the time it takes to shop trailside is worth it in the possible acts of “magic” that seem to happen along the AT. Sometimes the exper. will be as memorable as the food nourishment-they can be supplements to the Spirit. Have a great hike, 2 Spirits

mike

#4

I purchase freeze dried foods in bulk and them break them up into smaller portions. These as well as other items ie. Batteries(much cheaper in bulk at costco), ramens($.12)each as opposed to $.50 to $1.00 out there. Om MY AT hike I used drops and a bounce box the entire time. I still do. I never lost a box, and if I miss it because of timing it can be forwarded for free(as long as its priority)My bounce box holds many items to include maps and guidebook sections Im not using at the time. I still shop locally for perishible items like cheese, bagels and bread. On the AT almost all of the towns have a decent resupply.

Chef

#5

Hey Neandertal,

I’m doing something similar to your 50%. I figure whatever I plan for, I won’t like it. So, I’m trying to mix it up a bit and allow for some flexibility.

My main complaint is that I don’t like to eat from the “middle aisles” of the grocery store, where all the boxed stuff is. So I prepare meals at home and dehydrate and vacuum seal them. I even cook and dry pasta (it looks just like it did before I cooked it, but it now only requires soaking).

Overall, I try to get about 50% of my dinners and breakfasts from mail drops, 25% from grocery stores (boxed crap), and 25% good stuff from town - either I’m eating it in the town, or I’m hauling it out to eat within a day. I always try to get three meals out of any town stop, no matter how short a stop.

I think this will work for me, as it minimizes the food I don’t care for, and it mixes it up enough that I won’t groan too much when I open my mail drops.

One other thing I’m doing is mailing food to approx. every other resupply from Springer to Damascus, and then Damascus, Front Royal, Kent, and Gorham get big mail drops that I’ll redistribute northward at that time, to allow ajustments along the way.

As for a bounce box, I keep all kinds of stuff in there, from nail clippers and resupply bottles of liquid soap, etc. (anything I want very small quantities of, but can only buy in too-large containers), to certain smaller pieces of extra gear, like a shirt, or some netting, to extra journal booklets, pen, duct tape, etc. I plan to use it the whole way, seeing it about every 3 weeks.

See you out there!

moosie

#6

I bought all my food along the way. A few times when resupply options were limited I bought food and mailed it to myself, like at Port Clinton and Glencliff.

I used a bounce box up to Gorham NH, when there was so little of the Trail left that I took enough things to last me to the end and mailed the bounce box home. After all, what use is there in mailing trail supplies to the end of the trail? Of course, if the bounce box had “going home” supplies or clothing that would be different, but those it would be better to mail straight to the end since they are not needed along the trail.

Mouse