drop boxes

[Thumper 2006]

what should i put in my drop boxes and should i send one to every town in the guide book or are there just specific ones that i would really need to ship too.

[hungryhowie]

what should i put in my drop boxes and should i send one to every town in the guide book or are there just specific ones that i would really need to ship too.

This is a topic that has been discussed much already. You'd do well to use the search feature to find many answers.

That said, drop boxes are completely optional. I'm not sure if you're referring to maildrops (a resupply sent from home) or bounce boxes (resupply that you send to yourself while your still out on the trail) by your post, but I think it's bounce boxes.

Hikers often use bounce boxes to forward medications, film, batteries, special foods, extra gear, etc, etc, to a town up the trail. Bounce boxes are often sent two weeks up the trail to ensure they have enough transit time to make it to the next post office. Hikers often recommend using the USPS's Prioirty service as it allows for free forwarding if you decide not to use the package at that town.

The guides list all of the towns with easy access from the entire trail. You'll find that many of the towns are at the same road crossings, some just are located further off the trail, or in the other direction. You'll probably want to pick 20-30 points at which you'd like to resupply. For opinions on which points people prefer, you may want to check out Baltimore Jack's well-written article on resupply in the information area of this website.

-howie

[Youngblood]

There are also a couple of articles under the INFORMATION button on the top of the pages that you ought to look at... I linked a couple of them here:

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/articlesresupply.php

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/wcadvice.php

[Mouse]

I sent my bouncebox 2-3 weeks ahead of me at a time, sending it home at Gorham NH. That worked for heavy things, maps, refills etc. Food I bought every 3-5 days along the way.

[Jack Tarlin]

Mouse:

There is also an excellent article by Karen Sousa in the "Information" section called "Maildrop/Resupply Package Advice" that has all sorts of useful tips on how to send and receive mail efficiently while on the Trail.

Most folks don't have boxes waiting for them at every town or post office for several reasons: It's simply not necessary, and the postage costs would be enormous. As other folks have pointed out, if you are talking about a "bounce box", then you'll probably want to send this along every few weeks or so, to either post offices directlly on or very near the Trail, or better yet, to hiker hostels or motels that you plan on staying at. There are all sorts of places that hold hiker mail in addition to U.S. Post Offices.

Unless you are on some sort of specialized diet (vegan, kosher, salt-free, etc.) or unlesss you plan to prepare and dehydrate all your meals ahead of time, there are actually very few places on the Trail where a FOOD maildrop is necessary; you'll discover that it really is pretty easy to get most of your food while en-route, and this has several advantages: You'll save a lot on postage; you'll heve a lot fewer times when you must be at a Post Office by a certain date; you won't be stuck with food you're sick and tired of but feel compelled to eat anyway as you already paid for it, never mind the shipping costs; you'll be able to observe what other hikers are eating and may change or alter your diet plans. In any case, be aware that most thru-hikers get more than three-quarters of their food while en route, as opposed to getting pre-purchased stuff thru the mail.

Lastly, in adition to the "Information" section of Whiteblaze, you might want to do a search on the Forums on such topics as "Maildrops", "Re-Supply", "Bounce Boxes", etc. as there has been much lively discussion of these topics over the years. I'll be sending along an updated article on Re-Supply to the "Information" section in a few weeks that you may find useful.

Hope this helps.

[A-Train]

Realize that a drop-box is not a necessity on the AT. Maybe so for other trails like the PCT, but certainly you can do without one. I did not use one on my thru-hike and I'm hard pressed to think of other hikers who did. If you are dead set on using one, well then go and read the archives and check out the information section, as stated above.

As Jack stated, there is no need to bounce food on the AT, with all the supermarkers and resupplies, unless you have a special diet. Well that leaves supplies/maps/toiletries/anything extra you could possibly want or think of. Usually the bigger towns had small amounts of things I needed like toiletries or I could get them in motels or split a bottle of something (olive oil) with other hikers. There are outfitters every couple hundred miles (often closer than that) where you could pick up an extra shoe lace, rope cord, fuel,etc. Also hiker boxes are great for finding a little of this and a little of that. The one thing a drop box makes sense for is maps, but I usually just mailed my used ones home and got a new batch in a maildrop. But I sometimes had to carry 4-5 maps at a time, which isn't a huge deal unless you are an extreme ultralighter.
My point being that you can easily get creative and do without a bounce box. It seemed easier (for me) to find stuff when I needed it, rather than having to worry about picking up a box and continually mailing it up the trail, whether I wanted/needed it or not. Plus the shipping will mount. Just something to think about.

[gravityman]

*snip* I'll be sending along an updated article on Re-Supply to the "Information" section in a few weeks that you may find useful.

Hope this helps.

How's this update going?

Gravity

[Jack Tarlin]

Decided to wait til I received both the 2005 Thru-Hikers Companion and the 2005 Thru-Hikers Handbook as I want to have a look at both of them before updating my article, mainly to see if they've forgetten anything important, or failed to mention some of the brand-new service providers. While both books make a tremendous effort at being as accurate as possible AT THE TIME OF PUBLICATION, both works have a bad habit of re-printing previously published information, and while both make a very sincere attempt to be as up-to-date as possible, both works still print the occasional error, or they publsih out-of-date information, primarily due to sloppy editorial fact-checking on the part of one work, and physical absence from the Trail itself on the part of the other.

In any case, I hope to have the up-dated article finished and posted here by 15 February, which is before most people leave for Georgia.

[gravityman]

In any case, I hope to have the up-dated article finished and posted here by 15 February, which is before most people leave for Georgia.

Excellent! Thanks so much! It is a huge help! We plan on adding the info in condensed form to the Handbook's data pages.

If you need a copy of the Handbook, let me know. We have an extra one. I want it back though, 'cause my Mom wants to read along to know what we are seeing.

On a side note, when we hiked in 2001, we found the Handbook to give really good on-trail info for reading along. Most of that seems to have been striped out. The Handbook's data pages have MUCH more info than the Data Book itself though, so we won't be carrying the data book. The companion now appears to have more on-trail info than before (although I confess we didn't really use it that much the 1st attempt). It's really nice to know what kind of shelter is up the way to know if it is worth pushing an extra 5 miles for the mansion, or if it's better just to set up camp on the beautiful bald you are on... know what I mean?

We did find that the companion and handbook each list services in a town that the other misses, so it's nice to have both. For instance, Profile's Hiker Hostel isn't in the Handbook for some strange reason...

Gravity