Where are mail drops better for resupply than stores?

[EAM]

My DH has asked my help in planning a section hike of the southern third of the AT. He would prefer to resupply at grocery stores, but we wondered where a mail drop would be better than buying food at store because of factors such as proximity to the trail, limited supply of foodstuffs available at stores, etc. So where do you consider mail drops the preferable way to resupply and why?

[Rain Man]

Sorry... I messed up this post somehow... see my corrected one above (or below if you view your messages that way).
:jump

[MedicineMan]

Jack Tarlin that is....on this site you will find his resupply list...invaluable for thru-hiker and section hiker alike....and it seems like he is constantly reappraising it.

[Rain Man]

My DH has asked my help in planning a section hike of the southern third of the AT.

Hmmmmm... is that Dear Husband, or some other acronym?!
:D

One place I'm almost sure you'll be told to send a drop box to is Fontana Dam. Not much close by in the way of grocery stores.

If you'll go to the "Information" drop-down menu near the top right of this screen, one of the selections is mailbox/dropbox schedule, or some such, another is resupply advice. That will likely answer your questions, in part or in full.
:sun
Rain Man

.

[EAM]

DH does indeed stand for "Dear Husband." I read Jack Tarlin's advice and found it one of the most useful articles I have read thus far. However, it has not yet been updated for 2004. I know that at least some things have changed, such as the Troutville/Daleville Best Western becoming a Howard Johnson's.

Are there places where the Post Office or other mail drop is significantly closer to the trail than the nearest supermarket? My husband does not want to hitchhike, but he also wants to minimize time spent off the trail getting supplies.

[weary]

My DH has asked my help in planning a section hike of the southern third of the AT. He would prefer to resupply at grocery stores, but we wondered where a mail drop would be better than buying food at store because of factors such as proximity to the trail, limited supply of foodstuffs available at stores, etc. So where do you consider mail drops the preferable way to resupply and why?

Wherever the post office is closer to the trail than the store. This occurred quite often. Almost every small town had a post office. Quite a few didn't have a good resupply store. I went through the data book and The Thru Hiker's Handbook (The Companion hadn't been born then) to figure out which was where.

I pretty much always resupplied when a decent store or a post office was within a mile of the trail. I avoided resupplying when both were more than two miles away, unless it meant carrying more than six days of food.

Some mail drops are useful regardless. I sent maps, replacement reading, medicines by mail at intervals where a resupply was needed and usually added some special foods to the package.

It's all pretty much common sense. I liked to zip into town to do my chores and be out again as soon as possible, unless the town had some special attractions.

I have a list of my stops, but it is 11 years old now and therefore of little current value.

Weary '93

[Footslogger]

From my experience, maildrops are more convenient than shopping in the following 3 places along the trail:

Harpers Ferry, WV
Bear Mountain, NY
Glencliff, NH

Remember ...I said more CONVENIENT. You can get groceries in all of those places but it's not very convenient in my opinion.

'Slogger
AT 2003

[Jack Tarlin]

In addition to the places Slogger mentioned, I think it's probably a good idea to send a food drop to Fontana Dam, NC. There's a little store there at the "resort" village, but it has irregular hours, high prices, lousy selection, and if you're unlucky enough to get there at the height of thru-hiker season or late in the day, they might be pretty well picked clean of what you need....mac 'n cheese, Kool-Aid, whatever. When putting your drop together, be aware that you can leave the Smokies and go into Gatlinburg to re-supply; otherwise, when you leave Fontana, you'll need 6-7 days worth of stuff. After Fontana, you can stop at Standing Bear Farm just after you leave the National Park, and get what you need for the short stretch to Hot Springs.

If you're planning to stay with Jeff and Nancy at the Hike Inn, which is a great place, they'll shuttle you to nearby Robbinsville where there is real re-supply; otherwise, a food drop at Fontana is probably a good idea.

Likewise, the market in Caratunk, ME is also gone, so a small drop there couldn't hurt, or, you could go up to Rivers and Trails, which is .9 up the road, and shop at Steve Longley's camp store, which has everything you'll need to get you to Monson.

Also, consider a small drop in Port Clinton, PA, unless you want to hitch to a market; the closest market to the Trail just closed a few weeks ago, and the next nearest one is several miles further away. This is a fairly easy place to catch a ride as there are lots of friendly locals, but if you want to avoid this, a small maildrop here couldn't hurt.

[TakeABreak]

EAM,

I did my thru hike in 2000, and lived near Franklin, N.C. from 1999 to 2002, these were my mail drops on my NOBO from sotuh to north.

Neels Gap (Outfitter Walsi-Yi Center)
Hiawassee (Hostel Bo Peats)
Fontana Dam (P.O. *the hostel there now accepts packages)
Davenport Gap (Hostel, next I would to go the new hostel just a little further north at waterville road)
Hot Springs (P.O., you may consider use UPS to the outfitter or hostel, you can get there 7 days a week)
Erwin (P.O. but would Nolichucky next time, above reason)
Dennis Cove (the Kincora Bob & Pat are great people, I understand Laurel is good to)
Damascus (P.O., but would use Outfitter next time)
Atkins (Village Motel)
Bastian (P.O. note Bland is closer but a very steep walk, Bastian is easier to get ride to) there is also a methodist minister that sometimes take in hiker here.
Pearisburg (P.O., but church now holds UPS packages)
Note there is now a hotstel at VA 624, .4 m off trail.
Daleville (BestWest)
Montebello (would be my next choice the P.O. at Tye river I used is now closed)
Waynesboro (no other choice, really)
Shenandoahs offer limited short term resupply and some hot meals depending on time of year.
At swift he can get off and got 2.5 mile to the hotel, they will hold packages for guest ONLY.
Front royal or Linden, Linden is closer. I use Luray, big mistake cost me an arm and leg for a shuttle ride.
Bears Den
Haprer Ferry (ATC)

Hope this helps, if you need more suffestions email me at TakeABreak78 hotmail, be sure to give a subject,I delete all email I can not identify.

[eyahiker]

Great info!

[Peaks]

EAM,

I did my thru hike in 2000, and lived near Franklin, N.C. from 1999 to 2002, these were my mail drops on my NOBO from sotuh to north.

Neels Gap (Outfitter Walsi-Yi Center)
Hiawassee (Hostel Bo Peats)
Fontana Dam (P.O. *the hostel there now accepts packages)
Davenport Gap (Hostel, next I would to go the new hostel just a little further north at waterville road)
Hot Springs (P.O., you may consider use UPS to the outfitter or hostel, you can get there 7 days a week)
Erwin (P.O. but would Nolichucky next time, above reason)
Dennis Cove (the Kincora Bob & Pat are great people, I understand Laurel is good to)
Damascus (P.O., but would use Outfitter next time)
Atkins (Village Motel)
Bastian (P.O. note Bland is closer but a very steep walk, Bastian is easier to get ride to) there is also a methodist minister that sometimes take in hiker here.
Pearisburg (P.O., but church now holds UPS packages)
Note there is now a hotstel at VA 624, .4 m off trail.
Daleville (BestWest)
Montebello (would be my next choice the P.O. at Tye river I used is now closed)
Waynesboro (no other choice, really)
Shenandoahs offer limited short term resupply and some hot meals depending on time of year.
At swift he can get off and got 2.5 mile to the hotel, they will hold packages for guest ONLY.
Front royal or Linden, Linden is closer. I use Luray, big mistake cost me an arm and leg for a shuttle ride.
Bears Den
Haprer Ferry (ATC)

Hope this helps, if you need more suffestions email me at TakeABreak78 hotmail, be sure to give a subject,I delete all email I can not identify.


In many of these towns, there is a choice between store and mail drop. When there is a good choice, I would prefer to resupply at a store because I can get what I want at that time.

For example, if you resupply in Linden, then it's a mail drop. If you go into Front Royal, then resupply at a store.

In Pearisburg, the grocery store is closer to the trail than the hostle.

At Neels Gap, buy at Mountain Crossings. No need for a mail drop there.

I could go on an on. But, better yet, read Baltimore Jack's resupply suggestions.

[eyahiker]

When there's somewhere to buy, I like to do it, too. Seems to be satisfying in some way to shop and spend money, even if it's just a little for something unusual. Some weird sense of accomplishment, plus there's usually something fresh around - like a piece of fruit/donut - in even the most mundane of convenience stores.......

[TakeABreak]

I also, buy some supplies in town, like fresh fruit, cheese bagels and stuff.

But I make my own ham, beef and turkey jerky, dehydrate my own vegetables, make a spaghetti sauce or sloppy joe mix, dehydrate those also. Then on the trail I just simply rehydrate it toss in some noodles and have a town meal, threedays from town. Plus you save on weight and space here buy removing the packaging and air. Not to mention keeping everything fresh.

Simply figure out what it take to feed people at normal meal (non-hikers living at home) and use that for a meal, works everytime.

I also buy boxes of cand bars, cookies, power bars and vacuum seal them as an after meal snack or just a snack. I buy trail mix and nuts and stuff break them down to small 3 or 4 oz servings and wa lal I have a snack.

The trick is to buy indivdual items and try them first, then if you like them buy larger quantities like halloween candy the day after halloween and vacuum it in smaller quantities.

I bought several varieties of stuff and varied what I put in each food drop, this way i was not eating macaroni every night for 5 months.

[Jack Tarlin]

I intend to update that article for the 2005 season; I never got around to it for this year because there didn't seem to be that many significant changes.

Unless you go to the trouble of dehydrating and preparing all your food ahead of time (which isn't really that bad an idea if you have the time and means to do so), and unless you're on a special diet----kosher, vegan, no salt, etc.---there are realy very few places where a FOOD drop is a good idea. Obviously, you'll want other drops for such things as maps, medications, gear swap-outs, etc. But in terms of FOOD maildrops, there are really very few places where this is a necessary. There are so many shopping options or or very near to the Trail that it's simply unnecessary to send food to that many places. In 1995, I think I had something like 25 maildrops, nearly all of which
contained food. In 2003, I think perhaps four of my boxes contained food.

Places where it's not a bad idea to send food:

*Fontana Dam, NC
*Harper's Ferry, NC
*Port Clinton, PA
*Bear Mountain, NY
*Maybe Glencliff, NH

And that's it. For those of you who are new to Whiteblaze, there is quite a bit of informationon on this subject in the "Information" section of the website; I particularly recommend Weathercarrot's excellent article on re-supplying and hiking on a budget.

[SGT Rock]

*Fontana Dam, NC
*Harper's Ferry, NC
*Port Clinton, PA
*Bear Mountain, NY
*Maybe Glencliff, NH



I thought Harpers Ferry was in WV :confused:

[smokymtnsteve]

Depends on what you want to eat.

what kinda of coffee you want to drink..

Lot of variables,,, when I take a month or two to hike I like to have really good food, it is important to me...good nutrition is very important and the kind of food I like just isn't found much near the trail. you can buy some stuff in Hot Springs, NC

so it depends on what and how you want to eat.