camelpack
three snickers bars (took one left two)
Titanium pot
"Shut up and keep walking"
I cannot tell you folks how well I have scored because many of you fail to turn around and look at your campsite after packing or section hikers jumping back into the car. Leaving behind stoves, poles, cool stuff....
Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.
Woo
Worst thing I heard about someone finding - a USED container of Body Glide......ewwwww
"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."
Curse you Perry the Platypus!
Miss Janet's, 2002, fireworks!
geek
The best hiker boxes I've found are located at the large National Parks across the U.S. Many times I would have been able to do a full 5 day resupply from some of these boxes. The AT has some great hiker boxes at several hostels and PO's. TOO many new, great, useful, and expensive items I've seen to attempt to start a list.
I stayed at Vermilion Valley 7 years ago. Did you also notice that some of the hiker box food was obviously put out on the shelf for sale? Crushed and wrinkled packs of Ramen and Liptons dinners...I dunno. - Cheers
I've visted VVR several times. I have always had a good time there. You are right Cheers there is food from hikers on the shelves. BUT, before you jump to judgements, as some others have, consider this: as the owner of a business(VVR) you pay an employee(s) to drive many miles in a business owned vehicle to where resupply boxes are picked up to be handled and transported back to VVR to await pick-up by Sierra hikers, you store them in a locked storage facility awaiting pick-up, you charge a fee for doing this, as everyone is aware of up front, everyone is also aware from the website or by contacting VVR when you arrange for this service that if you don't pick up your resupply box it can be returned for another small fee(this requires reversing the same handling and transporting scenario), during and at the end of every season(VVR is open until about mid Oct when it closes because the long sometimes single lane rough road gets snowed under) you have dozens of unclaimed hiker boxes. Those resupply boxes get disposed of, sometimes to charities if they want it, and some of that food finds its way to store shelves.
Here is another way some of that hiker food winds up on store shelves. There is ordinarily at least 1 55 gal drum/hiker box of just hiker food. Sometimes I've seen as many as 2 almost completely filled drums with just food! I've witnessed many packages of some rather expensive and profitable to sell dehydrated meals in those barrels. There are also accompanying hiker boxes and/or drums with non-food items. I've seen similar high profit items in non-food barrels/hiker boxes that no employee took to place on the shelves. When hikers are not freely taking out as much as they are putting in there can become a rather high volume of food and supplies - what do you do with, say a 2nd or even 3rd 55 gal drum of free hiker food? When does the abundance of food start becoming a storage(VVR has limited storage capabilities), disposal(garbage is a costly expense because of VVR's remoteness), or safety(bears, mice, squrrels,etc.) concern?
I suspect something similar happens at a National Park after a while when something goes unclaimed because of similar storage, disposal, and safety concerns; someone somehow tries to profit from some of those unclaimed items. Some of those items are taken home by someone! Do you really believe pefectly good camping gear, dehydrated food, clothing, money, etc. is always thrown in the garbage?
Sounds like a lot of rationalization going on in that post. In 2008 many hikers were writing "HIKER BOX -- FREE" on things they put in the drums. I imagine that stuff didn't end up on the shelves.
At the Outfitter in Franklin a pair slightly torn of Columbia rain pants. I didn't think I would need any, but with the snow, I was glad to find them. I put ducktape on them and used them off and on all the way to Erwin.
Sorry, i didn't mean to go off topic there. VVR was great and run by nice people. I even had a package sent there, and i also traveled that famous "road to vermilion" so i know what a chore it is to get stuff in and out of that place. Still, i wish i hadn't sent a maildrop because you're right, the hiker box was brimming with food. I also remember cramming 14 days worth of food into my rented bear cannister. My buddy and i left there with 70lb packs! What were we thinking...Still, with that much food we had the rest of our zero days on trail. It was awesome.
I would like to move this post to the JMT forum but i don't know how, sorry.
Cheers
Actually Jester2000, I too was concerned with the same thing as Cheers so I bluntly asked the owners of VVR why/how SOME of the food left behind by hikers was obviously winding up on shelves. I tried to see it from the perspective of both hikers and the VVR owners. I may have paraphrased a bit but the answer I gave above is what was told to me by the owner. I have since personally witnessed the owners on several ocassions adhering to what they told me.
Like others I have found needed and pleasant food left in hiker boxes. It was great. If you take something are you supposed to leave something of equal or greater value? Is that the custom?
"Something hidden. Go and find it. Go, and look behind the Ranges. Something lost behind the Ranges. Lost and waiting for you . . . Go!" (Rudyard Kipling)
From SunnyWalker, SOBO CDT hiker starting June 2014.
Please visit: SunnyWalker.Net
You don't need to leave anything in return. The point is, someone didn't need it and didn't want to carry it. Now, it belongs to you. People want you to empty the hiker boxes.