Advice needed for an overseas SOBO hiker!

[Safari]

hey folks,

I am planning a mid-July start on my long awaited thru hike, currently trying to sort out the logistics from my end of the planet (Australia)... getting my wife to post food drops from this end is a no-go due to quarantine restrictions on food importations into the US, so my question is how do you think about just winging it and getting resupplies from shops & towns on the way? By this I mean no food drops, parcels sent for future pick up. I have a few bits & pieces of gear like shoes, etc that can be posted from Australia. I hiked the 1000km Bibbulmun Track in Western Australia this way and although it was a bit of a lottery as to availiable foodstuffs, I was always fed! What's it really like on the trail? I am not fussy and not on a strict budget.

[warraghiyagey]

Resupply is not a problem. . . but you may want to PM Kaptain Kangaroo who thru'd the AT in '06. . . . He's a knowledgable and very decent dude. . . .

[Alaskanhkr23]

i only know some sections, but alot of people on here can help you,Good question

[warraghiyagey]

Resupply is not a problem. . . but you may want to PM Kaptain Kangaroo who thru'd the AT in '06. . . . He's a knowledgable and very decent dude. . . .

And also from Down Under. . . .

[World-Wide]

hey folks,

I am planning a mid-July start on my long awaited thru hike, currently trying to sort out the logistics from my end of the planet (Australia)... getting my wife to post food drops from this end is a no-go due to quarantine restrictions on food importations into the US, so my question is how do you think about just winging it and getting resupplies from shops & towns on the way? By this I mean no food drops, parcels sent for future pick up. I have a few bits & pieces of gear like shoes, etc that can be posted from Australia. I hiked the 1000km Bibbulmun Track in Western Australia this way and although it was a bit of a lottery as to availiable foodstuffs, I was always fed! What's it really like on the trail? I am not fussy and not on a strict budget.

Good question! I'm planning a NOBO hike in March of 2010 and was wondering if it would just be easier to restock on the trail vs. sending parcels out ahead on me. Looking forward to responses!

[warraghiyagey]

Good question! I'm planning a NOBO hike in March of 2010 and was wondering if it would just be easier to restock on the trail vs. sending parcels out ahead on me. Looking forward to responses!

It's gotta be way less expensive to re-supply in trail towns than ship packages internationally. . . . have a great hike. . .

[World-Wide]

It's gotta be way less expensive to re-supply in trail towns than ship packages internationally. . . . have a great hike. . .

Good point! I don't think I have any of those "forever stamps' laying around the house either!

[ARambler]

Hopefully you will have the Companion or Handbook to plan your resupply points. Obviously, you need a plan for your next resupply to know how much to buy.
I highly recommend going to the Whtieblaze home page and looking at the resupply article by Baltimore Jack. He is more willing to give you an opinion about the places that are not good to resupply. I think the resupply options have not changed that much.

You can buy in a bigger town and mail ahead to a with not so good resupply.

It is probably good to do this planning at home, but since more than half the hikers are nor mailing food, you can just ask the people you meet. I think if you decide to mail 1 to 3 packages you have probaby come up with a good plan.

Also, you can pack a bounce box and mail it up the trail. It will probably not have any/much food in it, but you could stock it with your favorite spices or tea. I put lots of little things in my bounce box like chargers, batteries, socks, extra ziploc bags, maps and guidebooks, etc.
Rambler

[Kaptain Kangaroo]

Hey, great to hear of another Aussie hitting the trail.

I thru-hiked in '06 & did not do any maildrops. I just bought food along the way. Most of the time it was very easy & I had a wide selection (full service supermarkets), ocassionally the choice was limited & once I hiked for 3 days on a re-supply from a gas station. I am not a fussy eater & it suited me perfectly. I would do exactly the same next time I hike the AT. I did have a bounce box that I used to mail ahead items that I did not need to carry eg. maps for futher up the trail, winter gear etc.
The re-supply article here on WB is excellent & will give you a very accurate idea of what to expect, look in the articles section.

Worst case is that if you start hiking & find you don't like the re-supply on the trail strategy, take a couple of zero days in a town with a big supermarket & make up a bunch of mail drops & send them off yourself. Most post offices will hold general delivery packages for a month. So you might need to do this a couple of times on your hike, but it would allow you to do mail drops without having to send them all the way from Oz.

I'm happy to help you out however I can with info about the trail. I hiked NOBO, but it's the same trail, so a lot of stuff will still be relevant. Send me a PM or email.

Gets a bit lonely down here.... not many other thru-hikers in Australia so I'll take any chance to chat about the trail !

Cheers,

Kaptain Kangaroo

[Kaptain Kangaroo]

Actually..... I'm down in Melbourne next week for work. If you live in the city & have some questions we could catch up for a beer & a chat about the trail.
Cheers,

Kaptain

[stranger]

Sydney based here, but American originally.

You don't need to arrange food drops too far ahead of time, I've been hiking along the AT since 1993, and have hiked over 4000 miles, I only remember using pre-arranged maildrops a few times.

You can buy as you go, and all you need to do is think ahead a couple weeks at a time. For example, when in Hiawassee you can send a maildrop to Fontana Dam, there is no reason why you need to organize this prior to starting out. I send a food drop to Neels Gap before leaving home, but that's it, I either buy as I go or send maildrops from trail towns, this way it's much more likely you will ship the correct amount of food, and food you want to eat!

Good luck with your trip mate

[Safari]

Thanks so much for all the replies and advice everyone! I have to decided to resupply as I go, after all this is supposed to be an adventure not a totally pre planned package trip, right?! If it has to be chocolate bars and potato chips for 3 days at one stage, so be it...I think there is so much emphasis on 'mail drops' as a subject that I was a bit concerned that maybe it was a pre-requisite to hiking the AT, but seeing as so many hikers have reported just winging it I'll take it on faith and do the same, plus I am really far too lazy to pre-package up 25+ food drops and figure out where I will most likely need them... sounds like work! One other thing, I am going to be using an alcohol cooker, rather than gas or white spirits, from what I can gather this fuel is readily availiable along the trail, right??!

[modiyooch]

You'll learn as you go including what you may want to open at a food drop. Therefore, as mentioned before, you could send yourself a food drop for the next town while resupplying in an existing town, especially if what you are buying isn't single servings.

[TJ aka Teej]

Welcome to WhiteBlaze, biscuitchonkers
Here are somethings you need to know to start your hike:
You're going to end up making a bus connection north out of Portland Maine up to Bangor, and then connect to Medway, a town about 12 miles away from Millinocket, which is an hour drive from the trailhead inside Baxter State Park. You need to get to Portland in time to connect with the noon bus to Bangor and then catch the ONLY bus to Medway which gets in about 7:45 at night. Talk with the folks at the AT Lodge in Millinocket, who will pick you up in Medway, put you up for the night, feed you at the AT Cafe, and shuttle you to Katahdin Stream Campground. You might want to take an extra day in Millinocket to shop at the markets for supplies. Then have the time of your life!
For more info, check out the ATC's ALDHA Companion for free at:
http://www.aldha.org/companyn.htm

[Kaptain Kangaroo]

Yeah, no problems with the metho stove... I used one on my thru & never had any problems getting fuel. Just remember to ask for denatured alcohol !

[stranger]

Good point, "meths" is denatured alcohol in the states, and it's not purple, it's clear

[Blissful]

Sure, you can get your food as you go, esp coming from oversees like that (check out Jack Tarlin's article on resupplying). I did a combination mail drop plus resupply at stores as it worked out for my nutritional needs. There are a few areas on the trail though that food options are meager and expensive.

The only thing is though, SOBO you may need some colder weather gear down south by late fall for Roan Mtn and the Smokies, etc so you may need someone to mail you colder gear down there, but SOBO hikers can tell you more than I can on that issue.