KnightErrant
04-24-2016, 09:57
In the next month I'll be doing a lot of day and weekend hikes on the AT in southwest VA to prepare for my flip flop start in June. I've been training on the hills behind my house with my pack loaded with some hand weights wrapped in blankets, but when I'm out on the actual AT, I figure I might as well load up with stuff to give away to the thrus I meet. What kind of food/drinks/supplies would be most appreciated? I know hikers will eat anything, but I like the idea of providing something that people are craving but is impractical to actually carry on a thru hike because it isn't calorie-dense or light enough or whatever.
To be clear, I did do a search on this topic and saw some previous advice (mainly BEER) but I wanted to know if people had other specific ideas. I know for me when I was on the Camino last year, what I always wanted but could rarely find (even in the civilized towns you pass through each day) was a drink with ice in it. I was SO tired of lukewarm water and juice and marginally cool cans of soda. So for me, a day hiker offering me a drink of ice water or Coke with ice in it would have seemed like an angel sent straight to me from heaven!
I'm thinking fresh fruit/vegetables, ice cold soda/beer, maybe cheese? Also are there any non-food supplies people tend to run out of, like band-aids or sunscreen or hand sanitizer? And one of the threads I found in my search mentioned an offer to pack out trash, so I can do that too.
Again, my primary objective out there will be hiking, not charity, but I'd like to be helpful, and hopefully get some good advice for my own upcoming thru in return. Thanks for any input!
To be clear, I did do a search on this topic and saw some previous advice (mainly BEER) but I wanted to know if people had other specific ideas. I know for me when I was on the Camino last year, what I always wanted but could rarely find (even in the civilized towns you pass through each day) was a drink with ice in it. I was SO tired of lukewarm water and juice and marginally cool cans of soda. So for me, a day hiker offering me a drink of ice water or Coke with ice in it would have seemed like an angel sent straight to me from heaven!
I'm thinking fresh fruit/vegetables, ice cold soda/beer, maybe cheese? Also are there any non-food supplies people tend to run out of, like band-aids or sunscreen or hand sanitizer? And one of the threads I found in my search mentioned an offer to pack out trash, so I can do that too.
Again, my primary objective out there will be hiking, not charity, but I'd like to be helpful, and hopefully get some good advice for my own upcoming thru in return. Thanks for any input!