I am starting a northbound AT thru-hike on March 14. I would like to hike the whole trail without any maildrops. Is this easy to do? I recently purchased the 2008 Thru-Hiker’s Handbook and it looks like the trail crosses a road near a town every couple of days. Would it be hard to hitch-hike every few days into a new town to resupply at grocery stores? I really do not want to use maildrops if at all possible. What do you guys (and gals) think?
no trail name yet
I think you could do the whole trail without a maildrop. I did one on my hike and it was not needed. You will have to resupply at a gas station here and there, but I think it was the way to do the trail. I would do no mail drops again if I was to do it again.
youngndum
I’m also heading NOBO about the same time. This is my first AT hike, but I’m hiking with Pickle (GA-ME '02), and he tells me we won’t need any maildrops. Maybe we’ll see you out there next month.
Garlic
You don’t need maildrops for basics - oatmeal, ramen, Lipton sides, gatoraid, peanut butter, etc. They are useful for things you can’t get in convenience stores or even supermarkets, things like freeze dried meat, veggies, and fruits. These are great to augment the staples. You might also need them for meds, if you’re old like me.
Mango
check out the resupply list made by baltimore jack over on whiteblaze. it has suggestions of how much food to carry out of town, where to buy it, and where you will need a mail drop. there are only a couple of places where you could use a mail drop, and i would buy my groceries in the previous town and mail them ahead.
jerm
paw-ee and i always had LOTSA maildrops, but i’ve always wanted to try it the other way…the challenge is gonna be getting NUTRIENT rich foods that make your body strong and truly energetic (not just pumped up on temporary sugar ‘highs’)…we’ve tried both types of food out on the trail (homemade/healthy as well as convenience store/junky) and felt better on the homemade (noticed a BIG difference, in fact)…HOWEVER, i, too, think you could resupply with reasonably good food, if you want to sacrifice some of your ‘rest’ time in town for shopping…you’ll definitely have the advantage of usually getting whatever your hungry little hiker heart desires (intead of having to eat what you THOUGHT you’d desire because it’s paid for already!)…my only problem (as it refers to what mango said about us ancient and broken down ol’ GEEZERS…even more ancient and broken down than mango), is that i REALLY found glucosomine, flax oil and borage to work wonders for knees (and other aches and pains), and you don’t exactly find borage oil at the gas station!..i reckon you could bounce your vitamins up the trail, but that might still mean an occasional trip to the post office…we never had any real problems associated with post offices…i think the bigger problem is just preparing boxes at home and then lining up a responsible ‘manager’ who will send those…our daughter did this superbly!..still, i think i’d like to try a resupply sometime…i dunno…openin’ up that drop while sittin’ around the wood stove at the blueberry patch or kincora sure was convenient! (not to mention how much fun we had ‘dickerin’ with bruno in gorham over the price our drop brought in his garage sale!..JUUUUUUSST teasin’)
maw-ee
keep in mind where post offices are located.In town.What do towns have?Stores.Dollar General,WalMart,Supermarkets,Convenience Stores.I hiked one third of the trail in 06 and used no mail drops.Many times I heard other hikers complaining about having a mail drop in a town that they did not want to go to or it was Sat or Sun and the post office was closed.I got fed so many cookies by other hikers several times because they did not need or want what was in their mail drop.It is up to you but it does regiment your hike.Hike your own hike and GOOD LUCK
woodensticks
keep in mind where post offices are located.In town.What do towns have?Stores.Dollar General,WalMart,Supermarkets,Convenience Stores.I hiked one third of the trail in 06 and used no mail drops.Many times I heard other hikers complaining about having a mail drop in a town that they did not want to go to or it was Sat or Sun and the post office was closed.I got fed so many cookies by other hikers several times because they did not need or want what was in their mail drop.It is up to you but it does regiment your hike.Hike your own hike and GOOD LUCK
woodensticks
keep in mind where post offices are located.In town.What do towns have?Stores.Dollar General,WalMart,Supermarkets,Convenience Stores.I hiked one third of the trail in 06 and used no mail drops.Many times I heard other hikers complaining about having a mail drop in a town that they did not want to go to or it was Sat or Sun and the post office was closed.I got fed so many cookies by other hikers several times because they did not need or want what was in their mail drop.It is up to you but it does regiment your hike.Hike your own hike and GOOD LUCK
woodensticks
keep in mind where post offices are located.In town.What do towns have?Stores.Dollar General,WalMart,Supermarkets,Convenience Stores.I hiked one third of the trail in 06 and used no mail drops.Many times I heard other hikers complaining about having a mail drop in a town that they did not want to go to or it was Sat or Sun and the post office was closed.I got fed so many cookies by other hikers several times because they did not need or want what was in their mail drop.It is up to you but it does regiment your hike.Hike your own hike and GOOD LUCK
woodensticks
Mail drops are not essential but they will enable you to carry less weight at times by reducing time between resupply points; and increase food variety. The food available at many places is the pits and a mail drop can be heaven.
A mail drop can also be more efficient of your time. If you come to a town with a supermarket, then one can make up 2, 3 or even 4 mail drops in much time as a normal resupply and then one avoids the whole time-consuming resupply performance at each stop.
We used a small number of mail drops. I wish we had used a lot more.
Hitching into towns can be easy, can be impossible. Luck of the draw. We were always tempted to carry an extra days food and reduce the number of times we had to go into towns because of this problem.
Kea
Mail drops are not essential but they will enable you to carry less weight at times by reducing time between resupply points; and increase food variety. The food available at many places is the pits and a mail drop can be heaven.
A mail drop can also be more efficient of your time. If you come to a town with a supermarket, then one can make up 2, 3 or even 4 mail drops in much time as a normal resupply and then one avoids the whole time-consuming resupply performance at each stop.
We used a small number of mail drops. I wish we had used a lot more.
Hitching into towns can be easy, can be impossible. Luck of the draw. We were always tempted to carry an extra days food and reduce the number of times we had to go into towns because of this problem.
Kea
Completed my thru last year (3/19-9-17)- could have done it quite easily without maildrops. Had planned several, mailed the first few, but did not continue later. Friends and mother did send “care” pkgs and season changes along the way - what a welcome receipt - homemade cookies, cakes, special foods, liquor,replacement socks, etc. & plan those non critical care pkgs to places other than POs so no issue with open hours - I hiked past a couple of POs holding care pkgs due to weekend hours.
If I were to do another thru - I’d do so without planned maildrops. In a couple of spots - plan to make due with service station food (Atkins, VA comes to mind & skip the hotel there, perhaps my worst stay on the trail). Count on junk food for calories for a few days - then get back to “healthy” food at the next town.
Baltimore Jack’s list is very accurate and complete -tho did find Fontana Dam Village to be a fine resupply point if they’ve opened for the season when you are there.
Strong suggestion – keep supplied on electrolyte drink mix. Perhaps the most beneficial pre-trip advice I received - “ran out” on a couple of occasions for a few days and could really tell the drop in energy.
Bottom line - hike your own hike - figure out what works for you - but do not think you need to plan all the answers prior to starting. Figuring it out along the way was a big portion of the total trail experience.
Shout out to Mango & Youngndum - hope you’re both doing well.
Evil Eye