vegan thruhike with limited mail drops?

[bonnie]

has anyone thru'd, vegan, and NOT used mail drops? or only a few drops at the least? i am planning my '09 attempt, and from what i am reading, frequent mail drops seem to be more of a hinderance than a help.

any advice/experience greatly appreciated!

bonnie

[RedneckRye]

Trying to resupply on trail with any type of food restrictions would be a challenge. Mail drops can be a pain, both the pre-trip planning / organizing and scheduling your hike around the PO hours, but at least you know that the foods you want will be there in town when you arrive.
I'd think mail drops would be far less frustrating and easier to deal with than potentially having the very limited food options that you are likely to encounter in many of the smaller stores that you will find in many trail towns

[fiddlehead]

I agree with redneck rye.
Some of the small stores in the south are gonna be tough unless maybe you can live on grits and mac & cheese or cook beans.

Mail drops are not so bad. Especially if you are not in a big hurry. Usually noon on Sat. is a deadline, or wait till Monday morning.

[Jason of the Woods]

I'd say that would be impossible, unless you are rooting with the wild boars.

[burger]

The people who say that mail drops are a hindrance are the people who don't mind eating mac 'n cheese, Lipton's sides, or ramen for dinner every night. I'm vegetarian, and I've done all my food on the trail via mail drop. It's a lot of work, but it's really nice not having to worry about being able to find food in small stores.

[rubyvermonter]

I'm a vegetarian and I've section-hiked from Caratunk, ME, to Front Royal, VA over the past several years, using mail drops. When I'm in town, I buy juice, fresh fruits and vegetables, and dairy products to eat as I'm passing through. Planning out the mail drops is simply part of the trip preparation. I have always been able to make it to the post office or hiker-friendly motel or hostel to where I've sent a mail drop.

RubyVermonter

[Doctari]

Also bear in mind that (IMHO) regardless of your dietary preff. when you get into town you seriously crave variety. For many that means lots of fresh fruits & veggies on top of the 2 "Megga Huge burgers". During my hike from Hughes gap to Atkins there were times at the smaller supply stores the produce section was so near empty that it really didn't matter. And I was in the dollar store in Damascus that had 3 jars of peanut butter, next shipment due PM the next day,, "Maybe". Plenty of dried meat products on the shelves, but if I was vegan, & that was my only soruce of supply, I'm thinkin I would have violated my diet. Maybe I could have found enough at the other stores in town, I didn't look cause it didn't matter to me, I'll eat anything.

Just a guess, but I'm betting that if the guide book lists it as "good for Short Term supply only" THEY ain't going to have what YOU need. So plan accordingly.

[hobo dank]

The last 3,000mls i did on the AT in 05-06 i did without maildrops, and as a strict vegetarian. now i ate cheese, wheat, and such things that vegans dont, but i found it a fairly simple thing to do. i really never thought i'd be able to pull it off, but i was on trail for 10 months, thru winter, and it never really botherd me. The worst part of it was at the homeplace in catawba, they put some sort of meat in everything.

[bigcranky]

I think I could pull off a vegetarian hike without maildrops, but vegan would be tough. It would take more thought and planning. Resupply would be largely limited to the bigger grocery stores, so you'd be carrying a lot more food on the trail, especially in the South.

Burger is right -- people who have given up maildrops because of the inconvenience aren't trying to maintain a specific diet. Maildrops really aren't that bad if you have a reasonable plan, some support back home, and a flexible attitude.

If you still want to consider "winging it," go do three or four complete days of food shopping down at your local gas station convenience store. Seriously. That's the kind of store you can expect to find close to the trail in many places. If you can do that, you can do the hike w/o mail drops.

Good luck.

[Appalachian Tater]

Not a problem at all. In fact, with the exception of freeze-dried meals like Mountain House, all of the meals I eat when hiking that include meat have meat because I added it in there. You just won't buy pouches of tuna, chicken, or bacon.

And someone mentioned wheat, vegans eat wheat.

[Jack Tarlin]

If you look in the "Articles" section of this website, you'll find an extended article on food Re-Supply options that you might find useful. In particular, the article tells you where major full-service supermarkets are located, as well as naming smaller ones that have selections that you might find OK.

As other folks have pointed out, it will not be easy to shop just anywhere if you're a committed vegan, and pre-purchased (or pre made or pre-dehydratd) food-drops sent to selected locations might not be a bad idea, but then again, as more and more folks embrace healthier diets, healthier foods are becoming more widely available, even along the A.T., and there may be more places on the Trail than you think where suitable vegan foodstuffs are available.

[bigcranky]

You just won't buy pouches of tuna, chicken, or bacon.

Or Mac and Cheese or most Liptons or many of the other standard backpacker's food.

While you may choose to add meat to any of these things, that doesn't mean *not* adding meat makes them vegan, or even vegetarian.

[Farr Away]

Or Mac and Cheese or most Liptons or many of the other standard backpacker's food.

While you may choose to add meat to any of these things, that doesn't mean *not* adding meat makes them vegan, or even vegetarian.

Very true. You'd be surprised what's hiding in packaged/prepared food. Some form of dairy is often included (not vegan), or something like chicken broth is used as seasoning.

I was at a potluck one time that was supposed to be vegetarian, and someone brought pea soup that had ham in it. The woman's explanation was "that's just flavoring".

[Blissful]

Mail drops are not a hinderance as many hostels are now accepting them. It can be a little trying if you have a drop at a regular PO and you get there Sat night. But out of 30 drops we did, that never happened. We did get there on a Sunday twice and had to wait until Monday AM to get it, but that's it. We did adjust our mileage some, but it wasn't that trying. We did lose 2 drops in Maine - so always send them Priority, not surface. If you are using canister fuel though and have to mail it, it must go surface. So send that separately.

I have a mail drop schedule we used on my hiking blog. Look under food preparation.

[Gaiter]

another vote for: vegetarian easy; vegan hard
I don't eat ground up/overly processed meat (yes I'll eat a steak, no I won't eat a burger) So when I hike I eat mostly vegetarian, it doesn't allow for as much variety but it isn't hard to do w/o mail drops (but i'm also all about the occasional mail drop filled w/ my preplaned stuff, and whatever old easter candy my mom has found)

[bonnie]

thanks for all of your responses. it sounds like a combo of mail drops and trail town resupply will be for me. in terms of planning mail drops, where can i look (in addition to blissful's link) for info on planning these? i admit the idea is a bit overwhelming--

[RedneckRye]

Something that I find interesting in the anti-maildrop logic is the "A couple of times we got into town on saturday and had to wait till monday to get our mail" statement.
What is wrong with having to take a zero now and then? Even an extra, unplanned one.

[Blissful]

Something that I find interesting in the anti-maildrop logic is the "A couple of times we got into town on saturday and had to wait till monday to get our mail" statement.
What is wrong with having to take a zero now and then? Even an extra, unplanned one.

It doesn't happen that often, honestly. And there are plenty of places to mail drops now instead of POs. But now, with a variety of stores, you don't have to send as much (I did because of food preferences and because of medicine, etc). But next time I go, I will likely use less drops.

[Blissful]

thanks for all of your responses. it sounds like a combo of mail drops and trail town resupply will be for me. in terms of planning mail drops, where can i look (in addition to blissful's link) for info on planning these? i admit the idea is a bit overwhelming--

It would be helpful if you have a person on the homefront to help plan and send while you're out too.

[Jack Tarlin]

Bonnie: All of the major hiking guides have detailed information on Post Offices, addresses, and a full listing of other places that accept hiker mail, such as motels, outfitters, hiker hostels, B&B's, etc. You can examine one of these books On-Line by going to www.aldha.org and look for The On-Line Thru-Hiker's Companion. (The 2008 edition is available on-line right now; the 2009 edition will be out in early January). And for more information on where you can buy food en route, see the Articles section of this website.