For those who aren’t familiar with thru hiking, one of the biggest challenges (once you get past taking/finding the time and saving the money) is resupplying while on the trail. For the PCT, most segments are about 2-5 days apart, making the amount of weight you have to carry quite manageable. Most simply, there are options to buy-as-you-go, or you can have someone at home mail things to you along the way. Or you could do a mashup of both. Buying as you go can leave you with limited options in certain towns, while shipping to yourself can lead to food boredom (or worse) when you get sick of the food choices you made several months previous. Buying in remote towns can be expensive, but shipping food adds cost as well.
So, I’ve decided to buy as I go. Using the Halfway Anywhere survey as a guide (www.halfwayanywhere.com) I’ll buy food in larger towns and ship ahead a week or so to the next towns/stops that don’t have a large selection. I don’t have dietary restrictions, I’m flexible when it comes to food, and I don’t feel like making loved ones continually ship stuff off to me. I want to have them enjoy my trip as much as me.
Another common resupply tactic is to have a bounce box. This is a package that you continually ship ahead to yourself and use the stuff as you go. Things in here could be a laptop/tablet, prescription meds, or a stock of supplies that you may not be able to find in remote locations. This has the same limitations of requiring you to get to the post office (when they’re open), but could save you having to travel further off of the trail to get the stuff you need. I’m still on the fence. Things I’m considering using it for include medications, olive oil, ghee, baby wipes, sunscreen, memory card, paper maps, etc.
So time is getting short for me. Is this really happening?