The hardest part of my planning for my thru hike this summer is the mail drops. Since we are going from Whitney to Yosemite, it is difficult to find convenient food drops. The first closest convenient mail drop is Muir Trail Ranch which is 110 miles away from our start! I don’t really want to carry food for that long of a stretch unless i have no other choice. Is there any semi-convenient mail drops before MTR?
Aaron Williamson
I only know of inconvienient mail drops. The first would be to hike out to Onion Valley and hitch hike to Independence. The other would be to hike down to Roads End from Vidette Meadows (Kings Canyon National Park) and hitch hike to their post office.
I know of one family that day hikes from Onion Valley to a point west of Kearsarge Pass and hides a bear canister before the hike. They pick up their food drop with only a small detour. You could either carry the extra canister north or day hike again when you are done to pick it up.
People used to cache food in the bear lockers at Kearsarge Lakes but it has been reported that the rangers will remove these.
Snowball
I remembered there are bear lockers at numerous locations between Whitney Portal and the Kearsarge Pass junction (Crabtree Meadows, Wallace Creek, Tyndall Creek, Center Basin Juntion, and Vidette Meadows). Looking at the map posted in a previous thread:
http://www.sierrawildbear.com/foodstorage/map032107.pdf
Only the segments from Whitney Portal to Trail Crest and from Forester Pass north have a requirement for bear canisters.
What I have not been able to figure out is if you can pass through these areas without a canister if you camp at a spot with a bear locker. This way you could pick up a cached canister and not have an extra.
Any one else have an answer to this?
Snowball
I hiked south to north two years ago (see my journal on this site for 2005)and faced the same problem. As Snowball said, the only alternatives are to stash a food supply somewhere west of Kearsarge Pass, maybe around Bullfrog Lake or hike down to Independence. Depending on how much time you have, it may not be a bad idea to get a first hand look at the conditions of the higher elevations. I don’t see your journal posted on this site, so I don’t know when you are leaving the Whitney Portal, or maybe you’re leaving from another trailhead.
As for Muir Ranch, my resupply was there and waiting for me. The only small issue is the method that the Ranch wants the resupply to be packed. That is due to the mode of transportation that the Ranch uses. The Post Office may look at you kind of funny when you take the bucket to mail it.
TRIHIKER