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  1. #1
    PCT, Sheltowee, Pinhoti, LT , BMT, AT, SHT, CDT, TRT 10-K's Avatar
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    Default Resupply in the park....

    This is probably a silly question but I'm going to ask it anyway....


    Say the most food you wanted to carry was 4 days worth....

    If a person wanted to go on a 2 week backpacking trip in GSMNP would there be any other easy to get to resupply options other than going into Gatlinburg or Cherokee every few days to resupply?

  2. #2
    Trail miscreant Bearpaw's Avatar
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    A cache near a roadway would probably be your best option. Look for a 40mm ammo can from a surplus store. It will hold the equivalent of 1/5-2 bear cannisters worth of food. Tie it off to a tree and camoflage it near a road access point on your itinerary. Drive to your starting point and hike to your cache. Hike out and pick up the can on your way out.

    I like the 40mm cans because of their size, the fact that they're already green and water/moisture proof, have handles that allow tying them down, and I have a couple from my time in the Marine Corps. But you can find them fairly cheap at most surplus stores.
    If people spent less time being offended and more time actually living, we'd all be a whole lot happier!

  3. #3
    Registered User ChinMusic's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bearpaw View Post
    A cache near a roadway would probably be your best option. Look for a 40mm ammo can from a surplus store. It will hold the equivalent of 1/5-2 bear cannisters worth of food. Tie it off to a tree and camoflage it near a road access point on your itinerary. Drive to your starting point and hike to your cache. Hike out and pick up the can on your way out.

    I like the 40mm cans because of their size, the fact that they're already green and water/moisture proof, have handles that allow tying them down, and I have a couple from my time in the Marine Corps. But you can find them fairly cheap at most surplus stores.
    Great idea. Don't know why I hadn't thought of it. I've hung food before on a cache but I like the idea of the ammo cans. Gotta be more secure from both critters and momos.
    Fear ridges that are depicted as flat lines on a profile map.

  4. #4
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    You might be able to make friends with a Campground Host and see if they'll help you? There's one at each campground that lives there full time (seasonal though) in their RV and maybe ask them to hold the ammo can for you? Cable it off to a tree in their RV site?

  5. #5
    Stir Fry
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    Make your way to Newfound gag. Natahala outfitters does a shuttle service 2 times a day. Get the early one and resupply and second one back
    If it do'nt eat you or kill you it makes you stronger
    'The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.' G. K. Chesterton

  6. #6
    Registered User 30 Large's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Stir Fry View Post
    Make your way to Newfound gag. Natahala outfitters does a shuttle service 2 times a day. Get the early one and resupply and second one back
    This is the route that I have done. I definitely like the ammo can cache idea though!
    "I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move." ~Robert Louis Stevenson
    AT thru-hike in planning - Class of 2012

  7. #7
    Registered User Tennessee Viking's Avatar
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    Going for the Park Trail Challenge
    ''Tennessee Viking'
    Mountains to Sea Trail Hiker & Maintainer
    Former TEHCC (AT) Maintainer

  8. #8
    PCT, Sheltowee, Pinhoti, LT , BMT, AT, SHT, CDT, TRT 10-K's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tennessee Viking View Post
    Going for the Park Trail Challenge
    Yup.. It's close to home, a lot of trail mileage and won't cost a fortune in shuttling around. Between the AT, the BMT and the MST I've bagged about 200 miles of trail in the park so far.

  9. #9
    Registered User carpattack's Avatar
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    What is the park trail challenge?

  10. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by carpattack View Post
    What is the park trail challenge?
    I would like to know too.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by carpattack View Post
    What is the park trail challenge?
    The Smokey Mountains Hiking Club has a "900 miler club" and award where you hike all of the trails in the park. It's actually takes more than that to do them all, but what the hey.

    http://www.smhclub.org/
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  12. #12
    LT '79; AT '73-'14 in sections; Donating Member Kerosene's Avatar
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    If you want to avoid the drive-time to drop off a cache and pick-up the remains after the hike, you might consider having a shuttler meet you at your cache point at a designated time. I was considering springing for this when I go through the Smokies in a few years. Certainly it's more expensive, but it will save you a day, which can be important to us section hikers. I will likely need to get from Fontana Dam to Max Patch Road (87 miles) in 7 elapsed days, which would require 12.4 mpd. If I had to take most of a day to get down into town to re-supply then the average would jump to about 14 mpd, which would still probably be doable but reduces my buffer when I have to get off the trail to catch a flight at a certain time.
    GA←↕→ME: 1973 to 2014

  13. #13
    Registered User carpattack's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by WingedMonkey View Post
    The Smokey Mountains Hiking Club has a "900 miler club" and award where you hike all of the trails in the park. It's actually takes more than that to do them all, but what the hey.

    http://www.smhclub.org/
    i should have known that...even though i live in ky i have been slowly knocking out smokies trails trying to finish them all myself. usually get in about 25-30 a year. i have already done 15 this year and have a 4 day planned for august to do another 40. one of these days i will have hiked them all! its hard when there is no shuttle other than starting anywhere and ending up in deep creek, where i can get a ride from my mom, but luckily i have been using elizabeth etnier's day hiker's guide to all the trails in the smokies and it helps me group a couple of hikes together to knock out small sections at a time.

  14. #14
    PCT, Sheltowee, Pinhoti, LT , BMT, AT, SHT, CDT, TRT 10-K's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by carpattack View Post
    i should have known that...even though i live in ky i have been slowly knocking out smokies trails trying to finish them all myself. usually get in about 25-30 a year. i have already done 15 this year and have a 4 day planned for august to do another 40. one of these days i will have hiked them all! its hard when there is no shuttle other than starting anywhere and ending up in deep creek, where i can get a ride from my mom, but luckily i have been using elizabeth etnier's day hiker's guide to all the trails in the smokies and it helps me group a couple of hikes together to knock out small sections at a time.
    I've been trying to figure this out too... I'm thinking about pinning my Nat Geo park map to the wall and making a 6 square grid and working on 1 grid at a time. The AT looks like the main artery that'll put the pieces together.

    From the looks of it I"m guessing it'll take 1200-1300 trail miles to get all 900 miles of park trail.

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