I hope to thru-hike this year, starting in December or January.
I noticed in this year’s ALDHA handbook that many hostels/stores are closed in these early months. However, more than a few late/early season thru-hikers manage just fine.
How do they do it? Do you hitchhike further from the trail to the larger towns, or are there other tricks?
Thanks
Kineo Kid
Most of the resupply towns in the guidebook are going to be able to give you all you need to get by until “hiker/tourist” season flares up. The further north you get, you’ll see hostels starting to open up as the season begins. To give you an example, Blueberry Patch hostel was closed, so I stayed at Hiawassee inn which was a nice stay and pretty cheap, NOC was open, Fontana, Hike Inn is open early, stores at the resort are questionable, Mountain Mommas will be open most assuredly, Hot Springs will be in operation, Erwin, Damascus, no worries. Realize that the AT is never too far from civilization and that the locals in these communities need services too. You may have to pay the price of staying at motels as opposed to hostels in a couple towns like Pearisburg, you’ll miss out on the wayside spoils of the Shenandoahs, and you’ll miss getting served b-fast from some franciscan friars, but really, there are no real earlybird tricks required to survive IMO. Happy trails! PS, never hurts to call some of the places you’re most concerned about early on.
Sweeper
The AT is nowhere near a wilderness trail. Resupply and logistics aren’t a concern year round on the trail. You’re at a road almost daily. If you have the cash you’ll be taken care of.
Lone Wolf
CASH!!
I hiked this year without an ATM card, but with 1/3 of $ in CASH,
1/3 in traveler’s checks, and 1/3 on my credit card. I ALWAYS
ran out of CASH. The small towns and flop houses, that the books
steer you to, are hiker friendly, but few take credit cards.
Even traveler’s checks are a problem at times.Next time I’ll bring my ATM card and ‘grin and bear’ the ‘out-of-network’ fees. DO NOT carry alot of CASH.
Scamp
Lone Wolf, did Gypsy finish up her hike this year?
Scamp
my tenative start date is december 26th so we may well meet up 
My plan is 10 large boxes which I will break down in town and bounce ahead for myself along with limited town resupply.
lostsole
In Ft. Montgomery, NY they don’t know what travel checks are. I tried to use one in a deli in town and they had no idea what it was. They thought it was a personal check. And always carry change for the soda machines!
Bushwhack
Well, for what its worth, looks like I used all four. Predominately, I pay for things with cash. That’s my habit even off the trail, up to say around $100 or so. So, on the trail, I carried cash, and resupplied from an ATM as necessary. I’d need to look back, but as I recall, I used the ATM at Fontana Dam, Damascus, Pearisburg, Harpers Ferry, etc. For bigger purchases, such as white water at NOC, relacement footwear, etc, I used the credit card. The only time I used traveler’s checks was in Rangely after a severe thunderstorm knocked out both ATM’s in town. There’s more to that story, but not now.
Peaks
Don’t forget, that if you have someone paying your bills at home, use a credit card with bonus point for gear. REI has one. As we lived rather well on the trail we made several hundred in REI bucks toward some new bags. And nothing will get rid of the trial blues and olive drabs like a hotel with a hot tub and a steak.
Bushwhack
Sweeper said it well. I will add that Franklin, NC was an incredible town. Although it was 10 miles away the hitch was easy. Southern hospitality was incredible. The hitches are easy, if you are paitence.
Someone mentioned that they will be using 10 boxes. Most 2002 hikers mentioned that we were given advice to send about 15-20 boxes. In actuality we all agreed that you should start off with 20 boxes and go up from there. Small boxes mean less weight in you pack. Don’t worry about the towns not being receptive of your arrival… they are expecting you and welcoming you. Money: I had incredible luck using my debit/atm card, credit card and carrying 20-60 dollars of cash out of towns.
TurkeyBacon
TurkeyBacon
that number is deceptive. There are 10 boxes to be mailed from home… I will bounce those boxes ahead. the total mail drops will probably be closer to 23.
lostsole
We did learn after, oh say, the second mail drop that it was far nicer to have it sent to where you were going to stay and as close to the trail as possible. The extra hours ate up IN a town got old after a few months. Town was great for food, shower and getting the hell out off. To loud, colorful and dirty. Woods quiet, woods goood. Donuts are goood.
B+B
I think I did something like 23 mail drops during my thru-hike and regretted all of them except for 2. Monson, ME and Glendale, NJ. I’m not sure what you’re putting in your boxes… but we mailed stuff like lipton dinners, mac and cheese, pop tarts, energy bars, gatorade powder, peanut butter, tuna… Funny thing about all of this stuff. You can buy it at grocery stores. You can even buy it on Sunday! Even worse, we’d go get our mail drop and then go to the grocery store to supplement with random cheese, fruit, bread, etc. The towns mentioned above were the only ones we stopped in without a good food store. Now if you have freeze dried gourmet dinners… by all means mail them, but don’t make the same mistake if you’re just sending normal stuff. Make sure to look at a guide book to determine if a town is a good place to resupply or not.
Grimace
Grimace
I guess I have a problem with my I’s and We’s eh? No, I did not hike solo. My wife, Pinball, and I hiked SOBO in 2001. We actually hiked more than halfway with two others as well, Motorcycle Mama and Wrong Way.
Grimace
Well, for what it’s worth, I used 15 mail drops. I selected these locations for where there was not a good resupply close to the trail, such as Glencliff and Port Clinton. I never regreted the mail drops. However, if I were to do it over, I would probably cut out a few because I now know of some alternate places to resupply.
The decision on mail drop depends in part on how much time you want off the trail. For example, I used a mail drop at Linden rather than go into Front Royal. Also at the Delaware Water Gap rather than go to the nearby town for groceries.
Didn’t use a bounce box.
Peaks
I agree with Grimace. Don’t pack too many maildrops. I had nineteen and would cut that in half if I were to do it again. Not only do you need to worry about the post office being open, it sends you into towns when you don’t need to and by the time you are half way through you are sick of the food you bought in bulk 3 months earlier.
Steamboat
Steamboat is right on about maildrops.
When you use a maildrop, you get what you thought you were going to want for food a long time ago, both in terms of menu as well as quantity. If you look at hiker boxes along the way, they are full of food that hikers thought they were going to want, but then discovered that they really didn’t want that after all. There is so much food in hiker boxes that some thru hikers think they can depend entirely on hiker boxes and never go into a store or post office for food.
Having said that, there are valid reasons for mail drops. I’ll address that in another post
Peaks
Mail drops are not what they are cracked up to be. When you prepair them you don’t know what your eating habits are going to be on the trail. What you think, uou will want to eat, is not what you will want. That’s what fills hiker boxes up. I alwas met people that were trying to get to a P.O. to beat a closing beat a closing deadline. It kind of puts a “crimp” in your hike. If you buy food along the trail, as you need it, it allowes you to change your menu. You will probably want to go to town anyway to visit a hostel or motel and get a few good meals. So why not resupply. Mail drops and using a bounce box can get expensive.
I did a thru last year. Only had 3 or 4 mail drops and that was because my family wanted to send me stuff. If I did it again I still wouldn’t rely on mail drops for resupplying.
I think that about 10% of my food came out of hiker boxes or from hikers who were giving stuff sent to them away.
Grampie-N->2001
Grampie
I plan on a thru hike in Apr. 2003. I’m leaning toward a clip flashlight cd. Some thoughts please. Also, I always carry a large trash bag in my pack, what type of bag is used to hang the food in the shelters?
thx.
joe
The Clip Bathtub? How about a Northface Canyonlands, a few pounds and vents well when it gets hot. Fits two hikers if you know each other and don’t mind spooning. Any food bag you come up with. The trip down south is to keep the mice out. Usually someone has already ung a “mouse can”. String with a tuna can on it to help keep them off. Line your pack with a trash bag? Then you don’t need a pack cover. One trash compactor bag will last a whole trip if careful.
Bushwhack w/Bramble