U.S Post Offices

imported
#1

As i’m from overseas, it will be hard/impossible to plan maildrops. I’ll be doing it as i go along. How long do the U.S post offices hold parcels for? When i send my parcel from…say…Hiawasse to the NOC, do i have to tell the NOC to expect it?? If sending to a post office, do i send it to just “Hiker X” blah blah??? Sorry if i seem a little dumb when it comes to this.

When i sectioned Springer to Erwin 2001, I did’nt do any mail drops at all, relied on towns and anywhere that sold anything resembling food. I did send a resupply while on the JMT and that worked well. Like Dawg, i’d like to plan a little but most importantly, save carrying to much food.

Cheers for any feedback.

Ross

Ross

#2

do a nice job of explaining how to address items to be mailed to hikers at post offices. Basically you just mark them “Hold For AT Hiker” with the anticipated arrival date and address them to your real name at the post office with the city, state and zip code. You often need a picture I.D. to pick them up. Just remember post offices are closed on Sundays and holidays and close early on Saturdays. And, some of ones in remote small towns have limited hours during the week. Send as many as you can to hostels who will gladly hold them for you. I too wondered how long a post office would hold a package. Some of mine were sent several weeks in advance with no problems.

You should also list your maildrops here on Trailjournals which you can always edit if they change.

If I had to do it again I would send only to the places that did not have good food/supplies like Port Clinton and Fontana Dam and just buy the rest along the way.

Skeemer

#3

you list fontana and port clinton as poor supply stops. are these the only 2 or could you list as many as possible…i am planning mail drops myself and these locations could save me the trouble of trial and error.

burn

#4

Those two + White House Landing in ME are the only ones that I can think of. I would recommend sending as few maildrops as possible, food is rarely hard to get on the trail, and maildrops can be a real pain. It seems like you always need to get them on a Saturday and have to rush to town, or zero just to pick up your package (not that zeroing is a bad thing…) You can always put drops together from the trail if you want them ahead of where you are, it just takes a bit of planning.

                       -S-

Skittles

#5

Harpers Ferry cause there’s not much close and some go with Hikers Welcome Hostel in Glencliff just before the Whites although they will shuttle you to the store.

Skeemer

#6

Certainly hiking the AT can be done with a minimum of mail drops. It’s just a matter of how you plan your trip. Glencliff makes sense because it is the last place to pick up cold weather gear before the White Mountains. Alternatively, pick up your cold weather gear in Hanover 43 miles earlier.

Generally speaking, there is always an alternative to a maildrop. It’s just a matter of going further off the AT in order to get to a grocery store. For example, Bear Mountain is a popular place for a mail drop. The alternative is hitching into Fort Montgomery for groceries.

The alternative to White House Landing is to carry more food with you when you leave Monson. White House Landing is a recent addition. For years hikers did the 100 miles without resupply.

In Atkins, are you going to pick up a mail drop at the motel, or hitch into town?

Mail drop in Linden, or go into Front Royal?

Mail drop at the Delaware Water Gap, or hitch into the next town?

Mail Drop at Pinkham? or go into Gorham?

Peaks

#7

Burn. I only did 9 drops most being at the beginning for comfort assurance. I only had one up north at pinkham. Here are the places I’d recommend. A bunch have been mentioned:

NOC 2 or 3 days
Fontana 3 if ur going to Gatlinburg otherwise 5/6
I thought a small one at standing bear farm was helpful in getting to Hot springs. Maybe 2 days here at most.
Atkins, Va- 2/3 days to bland or 5/6 to pearisburg
Harpers Ferry- send to the ATC office. How many day supply depends on when you want to stop next. I went all the way to boiling springs from here. Terrain is very easy north of HF and you can make up some miles
Boiling Springs-small 2 day drop to get to duncannon. PO is on the Trail
Port Clinton-pretty necessary unless you wanna try hitching down the road.
Delware Water Gap-I’d send 3 or 4 days to get to Vernon NJ. There is a bakery and gas station buit not much else.
Some people say Bear Mtn is a needed drop. I was able to get by picking up things at the delis near there, eating at the bear mtn inn, etc.
Glencliff might be a good idea. Packrat will shuttle you to a grocery for a buck, but some people feel more secure knowing they have food sent.
I think Pinkham Notch is a good one. Right on the Trail. Just send 2 days to get to Gorham. You wanna go light over Carter/Moriahs-real tough stretch.
Andover-Not a must drop, but I thought the resupply was pretty shotty. Some people will tell you you can make it from Gorham to Rangley. I’d recommend atleast stopping at most of the towns around here. This is the toughest terrain on the trail and it’b be preferable to carry as least as possible.
You can carry enough food from Stratton to get to Monson, but i’d resupply in Caratunk to make life easier. Either send a 2 day drop to C to get you to Monson or I resupplied at the B and B which is a 5 minute walk from the trail. They have enough odds and ends to get you to monson. Monson might be a good drop too. Old Man Shaw does sometimes give rides to bigger towns but don’t expect. Also a couple small markets there where you could fill out your drop and add some last minute items. I didnt drop at White House so I can’t comment. hOWEVEer its 5 bucks to send a drop there, 15 if you dont stay. I just packed 5 days from Monson to Abol bridge.
Just options, everyone has done the trail a different million ways

A-Train

#8

Certainly there is rugged hiking in Maine.

I skipped Andover, and resupplied at Rangely, and skipped Stratton. Picked up a small maildrop at Caratunk (didn’t realize that the B&B had supplies), and resupplied in Monson. (and skipped White House Landing).

That was my choices. Andover, Rangely, and Stratton are all a long way off the AT. So, you need to hitch.

And, back at Duncannon PA, you also have a great grocery store about 1/2 mile off the AT so you don’t need to do a mail drop there.

I think that most people take about7 days to go through the 100 miles. A-train must have been the night train to go through in 5 days.

Peaks

#9

If you are hiking, you sort of know where you will be two to three days from now, but certainly not several months from now. So it makes sense to mail drop as you go. Also this makes sense as your desire/non desire for certain foods will change as you hike further along the trail.

So here’s the plan. If you need to mail drop to a certain town because of no resupply there----hit the resupply town a few days prior to this point—go to the post office first and pick up a large Priority Mail box (they are free), fill it up with what you want for the mail drop, address it to yourself several days down the trail, and ship it Priority Mail (2 to 3 days to get there for about six or so bucks depending on weight).

So that’s what I’d do. Too many mail drops are made months and months in advance and never picked up. Wasted food, wasted money, and wasted time and effort in putting it all together, mailing it, etc. So do the above and save yourself a lot of unnecessary hassle.

See you out there. :cheers

Maintain

#10

There is no need to waste food and time with mail drops. It just requires some communication and planning. Here’s what I did:

I lined up boxes on a table in the basement and filled them with what I thought I needed for a particular maildrop. The boxes were left open, but ready to close up. I also left a shipping schedule.

As I hiked along, I would call home, and adjust the mailing date, based upon my progress. I would also request that things be taken out of boxes, or added to boxes.

If you have certain “must have” items, this is probably the way to go. Must have items include slide film, which is hard to find elsewhere, maybe prescription medicines, maybe specialty foods, as well as maps and handbook sections.

Peaks

#11

Maintain has the right idea. A mail drop that looks great and necessary from home may be a waste of time and money once you become familiar with the routine of hiking every day. Fontana has always been a mail drop for me but its easy to send yourself what you need from Hiawassee or Franklin. Standing Bear Farm has plenty of food and will shuttle to a grocery store (or give you the keys to a vehicle and you can drive yourself). The B&B at Caratunk is a good place to restock. White House Landing had enough food for sale to get you to Abol Bridge (1 or 2 days). If you’re not too picky and don’t have special requirements resupplying food from sources near the Trail every two to four days will very seldom be a problem

Chief