What are all your thoughts on shipping your gear ahead of time to a Denver post office instead of bringing along with the plane ride? I cringe at the scenario that my backpack and contents get lost. Has anyone sent their gear this way before hiking the CT? Also, sending UPS vs. US postal? I am thinking of confirmation of delivery status and such for the one vs. another. I just do not want the hassle of gear getting delayed or lost for such a critical venture as this.
JSpringer
I’ve always put mine on the plane as checked baggage (saves hassles with TSA agents who might interpret their own rules differently).
As long as I have a direct flight, I’ll keep doing it. Never had a problem. If I (and my pack) had to change planes AND the ground time was less than an hour, I might re-think that. Fortunately for me I can get a direct Portland to Denver flight.
To which Denver post office would you ship your pack, bearing in mind the ease of recovery once you’re downtown?
Wandering Bob
If your pack is low-bulk you may be able to carry it on, which is obviously the safest bet of all. If not, then you could remove some its more easily replaceable and less expensive contents (stuff you s/b able to purchase in Denver or that you can’t legally carry on anyway) and either check those or mail them. (Don’t pack food!)
I tend to think mailing is always the safer bet, especially if you purchase postal service insurance and tracking, and ship via Priority Mail (or use UPS, assuming the receiving end can legally hold a UPS pkg). It’s arguably safer than checking as baggage, since baggage is routinely abused and/or lost by airport personnel, or caught on baggage carousels/equipment and destroyed that way (backpacks are especially vulnerable due to the dangling shoulder straps and hipbelt webbing).
blisterfree
When going back and forth between coasts I have always put gear in as checked baggage and it has not, thus far, ever been lost. Airlines get all exercised though, about packs with anything on the outside. So I have learned to get a duffle bag, put pack contents inside and check. (no fuel, of course)When I get to my destination I fold up the duffle and mail it to myself at my destination so I will have it for the trip home. (I am usually doing 400-500 miles.)Security may also not be happy with tent stakes or poles as well as long metal stays in pack like the Gossamer Gear Mariposa I carry so all that goes in the duffle. I might actually carry on the stripped pack. I have taken 4 airline trips a year to from both AT and PCT. Maybe I have just been lucky.
Medicare Pastor
I have looked into shipping my pack back home at the end of my thru hike and it is relatively inexpensive to send it UPS.There is a UPS store in Dahlonega,GA.I would check to see if they will hold the package there.
Also when I went to Alaska all 3 times,I put my pack in an old trunk,locked it and wrapped it in duct tape.The baggage gorillas never made a dent in it but they managed to crush an aluminum fuel bottle that was in another smaller pack I checked.
safn1949
I was with someone who tried General Delivery to a large city (Seattle), and it wasn’t very fun. Not at all like a trail town. It was quite a run-around. I don’t know if Denver would be any better, but probably not. If you plan on staying in a hotel in the area, maybe they’ll accept a package for you.
Given those uncertainties, I like to carry my stuff with me. I’m 50-50 on being able to carry mine on. It’s small enough and I don’t carry a stove or pocket knife, but some TSA agents allow the poles and stakes, some don’t. I get to the airport early enough to go to TSA and ask them first, leaving enough time to go back and check the bag if needed. I carry an old sleeping bag cloth storage bag to cover my pack if needed, then mail it home.
I’ve had better luck at the Denver airport, where they maybe deal with more outdoor gear, than at other cities.
Garlic
We’ve always just thrown our packs inside very large duffle bags and checked them. It’s never been a problem and we’ve never had anything damaged. We also put our hiking poles inside the same huge duffles and no damage so far, either.
We tape the poles together to give them a little extra support and snug down all the pack straps and hip belt buckles, just in case. We mail the duffles home or ahead once we get to our destination.
chipper and jeff
WARNING: if your trekking poles are carbon fiber (like Gossamer Gear), be sure to put them in a heavy mailing tube before you put them in the duffle. Metal poles can withstand baggage handlers tossing things about, but CF won’t take a hard blow at 90° to the fibers. They’ll break.
Shield the tips of your poles as well, both metal and CF.
Wandering Bob
In 2005, I took my pack on the plane with me and checked all of it in a duffle. The airline lost my duffle and I didn’t get until two days later delaying my hike. Then when returning from Maine I sent some stuff home by mail. My poles were to long, even taken apart, so I carried them on the flight from Portland, ME to Dulles with no problem. The TSA in Dulles went balistic when I tried to take the poles on the plane. After an hour of discussion they finally said take them on.
In 2009, I opted to ship all my gear to Atlanta. Worked fine with no hitches. I would ship again. NedtheFed
Ned
I checked my pack a couple of times last year getting back and forth to the AT. Trekking poles were inside, all outside pockets were empty. I got a small roll of duck tape and taped up everything so nothing was loose and there were no dangling straps. It made the journeys with no damage and was unopened. One time I was able to wrap the entire pack with plastic shipping wrap (leaving the lid accessible). Again, unscathed and unopened.
Dioko