Towns - Appalachian Trail

imported
#1

Why are there towns on the trail?

Zip

#2

Is this like the question: which came first, the town or the trail? I think there are towns on the trail to feed hungry hikers. AYCE. By the way, how are the AYCEs on the trail?

Sweeper 2001

#3

You know? I never ate at many of those. They always seemed to descretely shut their doors or run me off after I told them my name and what I was doing…I knew I should have kept my first name.

Hungry Howie GA-ME 2000

Hungry Howie

#4

I would hate to think of doing a 2000+ hike w/o a nearby trail town. I’m not up to carrying food for the whole tril out with me on day one… The trail towns support us and we inturn help to support them.

–hamockhngr 2001 (163d)

hamockhngr

#5

Let me state (what I have stated elsewhere) what I feel about resupply:

I used 23 drops along the trail and would use none next time (Unless you have specialty foods or dietary suplements). It’s not that I didn’t like it, I just think it was a waste of effort. Buying your food in towns is relatively easy, and their slightly higher prices cancel out all that you would pay i postage. I reside in Alabama, and my postage for drops north of New York was $20+ per package! I ended up throwing away most of the food, as I was so tired of it be then, wasting at least $10 in postage alone. Plus, when you buy in towns, you help out the community, reenforce your people skills, and help give hikers a better name. All hikers do is waltz into town, pick up what they need, beg for rides and deals, then leave, contributing nothing. Stated differently, When you buy in towns, you help out those who help you out.

Helping out communities along the trail, is, in essence, helping out the trail.

Walking is Freedom -Hungry Howie GA-ME 2000

Hungry Howie

#6

Hungry, thanks for the input. I think you’re right on. I however am still planning to do 24 maildrops on my hike. Economically, my system may be pretty weak because each drop save for the first two are going to be played by ear, that is I’m going to contact ground control and let them know what all I want a week or two in advance, so there’ll be no third-class rate. At the same time however, I can scratch items that I don’t want to have. So maybe I can prevent myself from trashing $10 worth of postage cost when I get farther north away from NC.

I like the maildrop idea because it simplifies things a great deal. I believe you when you say that generally resupplying in towns is not a big deal, but just picking up a box in a motel or hostel is quick and easy. I’m also not a big fan of grocery shopping. I find that it takes me forever.

so I do hope/know I’ll contribute to the town’s economy and general perception of hikers in other ways like resturant runs and lodging. And also thru being polite and friendly. My maildrop system of course is subject to change in due time. -Sweeper GAME 2/10/01

Sweeper

#7

I personally prefer maildrops. I like to eat eaxactly what I want to eat. I do not want to eat whatever is on the shelf. I played that game and Lipton Chicken noodles just gets real boring. I also mail other items that I can get in bulk at a cheaper rate. As for postage I have no idea what HH mailed but I never spent more then $8. on postage and that is the high end of the scale. As for supporting the town: I still buy a certain amount at local stores, fresh items. Then there is laundry, restaurants, lodging, outfitters, etc… So, I feel I adequately support the town. For those that want to wing it all the way, that’s great. The trail in it’s self is my adventure and I plan to do it with a full stomach on good food. You want to put out a good front (PR) for the thru-hiker, be NICE to the people in the community. IMO

hamockhngr 2001 - (162 d)

Hamockhngr

#8

A standard 10lb Maildrop mailed priority from Montgomery, AL, anywhere north of NY cost me $20+ in postage.

Sweeper, I’m not trying to sway you either way; I want you to do what you want to, but in reguards to your whole base camp set up. That is EXACTLY what I did. My mom prepared my maildrops on a phone based system. Meaning that I would call and she would ask me what I wanted and when I wanted it. The only mistake I made here was buying too much Gorp mix ingrediants before leaving. The problem was that I could not deal with thinking three weeks into the future. She would ask “What do you want in your Killington Maildrop” while I was in CT/MA. I could not answer that. How do I know what Im going to need? I live on a day by day basis. Living in the woods is a VERY simple life. Although it may seem easy now, many tasks become nearly impossibe on the trail. The day after I finished, I was at a grocery in Millinocket, ME. Realizing that I needed to buy different items than I was used to, and now having access to real food all the time was too much. I sat down in the ilse and began to cry because of the stress. You cannot imagine the level of stress-free you can be until buying a jar of Ragu Spaghetti Sauce makes you cry because that, in itself, is a stressful change on your regularity. What is the point that I am trying to get across? You may be expecting too much out of yourself on the trail. Thinking two weeks (much less tomorrow) ahead is increddibly stressful. Not to say that buying all of your food in the grocery store is easy. You had to think “OK, where am I going to be in a week.” and you had to buy food made on that assumption. But at least when buying it, your dealing with that stress only at one point and it’s over for a complete week.

Another point of view -Howie GA-ME 2000

Hungry Howie

#9

I ended up using a combination of the two. I would tell my mom what kind of food I would want and ask for about 3 days worth. This made it less expensive to ship, I had my dinners and any snack or extra food I could find in town or get from a hiker box if I needed. I never really had any problems with this and I would don’t think my mom need much more then a weeks notice to get me my resupply (from Mass) She didn’t ever send it priority. If for some reason you don’t get your resupply you can always fill out a change of address for and get it sent up the trail and resupply in town.

Leif

#10

Hey guys,
This is the way I see my system shaping up in the future (I have a 1 1/2 yr to finalize it). I’ve tried mailing pita bread in drops before and it got moldy. Cheese, while it does last, doesn’t last much longer. Does this idea sound OK? Mail my spegetti, lipton, granola bars/gorp, ect in the mail and pick up bagels and cheese in stores. I’ve never seen a grocery store with out cheese and they most carry bagels. This would make for short, cheap grocery stops. Is this the best of both worlds or more complication then neccessary.
Thanks,
scott

Haven’t I seen all you before? :slight_smile:

Scott S.

#11

Sounds good to me. I have pretty much completed my maildrop boxes. The foods I want, batteries, film, wetwipes, etc. I will pick up my breads, crackers, fresh produce etc in town. This way I saved some money on buying bulk, get to have the items I want and support the local communities. As, well as the USPS. See, everyones happy.

hamockhngr 4/15

hamockhngr

#12

I highly recomend priority mail as an alternative to UPS and regular mail. I used this service by the post office extensively on my through hike. Especially for stuff mailed from my quartermaster’s depot. Mail to any address,delivery within 3-5 days, no high premium charges. I did’t miss a package.I was able to order to the moment and recieve shortly afterwards.

Michael

#13

I got all my priority mail boxes and labels from the PO for free. Priority starts at @ $3.40. To just about anywhere. Like Michael said 3-5 days delivery. They were very nice at the PO answered a number of questions, gave me helpful info and suggestions. *NOTE: Remember you can get cash back at the PO when you use your ATM card, no ATM fee. Buying $1.50 in stamps could save you $1.50 ATM charge and you have stamps. -hamockhngr

hamockhngr

#14

wow, this was the first pst on this foum… its done pretty good since then… although nobody will read this because its so far back haha:D

BUcky

#15

and less than 24 hours after you posted it, natch…

raru

#16

and then, a couple of years later, someone else became curious to see what the very first thread ever posted was.

pj

#17

and then, months later in the year, someone else became curious to see what the very first thread ever posted was.
BTW, town resupply rather than maildrop for me. My only mail drop on the AT was a bottle of scotch and homemade choc. chip cookies. Everyone was jealous (although I shared). Thanks to my brother Dave.

Ablejack

#18

Someone fairly recently put the web address for AT Mail Drop Boxes on the forum. I wrote it down, but have lost the information. Can someone please provide this information. Thanks.

Eager Beaver