The reasons these places make the list vary from being difficult to access from the trail to having limited options, being expensive, or not being hiker friendly. I will tentatively plan a combination of pre-packaging myself resupply boxes and bouncing boxes ahead to myself for these towns. These places will either have a USPS office that can hold my box for me until I arrive, or a hiker-friendly business that can hold hiker packages.
The thru-hiker materials and method of choice is usually the USPS Priority Mail Large Flat Rate Box. The flat-rate fee is $21.90 for the large box. This is something to consider if your personal priority is cost. It may not always be cheaper to mail yourself a package versus resupplying in town. You can buy a lot of Top Ramen noodles and granola bars for $21.90. *Note that number seven, Shelter Cove, OR, is UPS-only.
If you feel inclined and have a Magic 8-ball, you could in theory package up a resupply box of food for every single resupply along the PCT. A few things could go wrong with this: 1) What if you decide you really hate some of your food choices that you selected months ahead of time? 2) What if you have some unforeseen delay, and your package is returned before you can pick it up? 3) What if you decide you don’t want to hike 2,650 miles? You purchased a lot of trail food that you will now be eating at home, thinking about how you quit your thru-hike. You also need a really generous person, or a really good bribe, to have someone agree to mail out all these packages of food to you for 4-6 months.
Seasoned thru-hikers may know what foods work for them, and the odds of quitting are much less likely, therefore spending all the preparation to package months of food could be worth their while. Perhaps you have a food dehydrator and are saving a lot of money by preparing your own secret blend of herbs and spices for hiker recipes? If you have dietary preferences or restrictions, this could also be a necessary investment of time and preparation.
For most attempting the PCT, this is their first major thru-hike. Like me, most will spend their time trying to figure out what cat hole trowel they need, the Deuce of Spades #1, #2, or #3. I am going to prepare two boxes for the desert section before departing: Warner Springs and Acton. For the rest of my list of challenging locations, I’ll prepare a box in a town a week before, then mail the resupply package ahead to myself. Maybe I’ll be tired of Double Stuff Oreos, and want regular, old, original Oreos by the time I reach Belden, CA? Or I could be super sick of Skippy chunky peanut butter, and I’ll want JIF creamy peanut butter when I’m in Shelter Cove, OR? There are just so many possibilities. The vast majority of my resupplies will happen when and where I reach the next town. For me, this is part of the experience and not as daunting as it may seem.
">
Comments 7
I can’t from fathom how anyone is surviving on processed carbs and tbhq like pop tarts and ramen. Of course you would be hungry, you might as well eat paper covered in chemicals, there is no nutritional value.. just empty calories that you burn right thru and dehydrating preservatives. Surely there must be some healthy vegan sources of protein for energy.
Did you even read the post or just skim it so you can try and shame him for his choices? Most of his other food he listed are pretty healthy, nutrient dense choices. There’s nothing wrong with mixing in some pop tarts. In fact, for packaging weight purposes it’s probably really effective way to get simple sugar into your diet. Simple sugar is replaces glycogen quickly. Not to mention the mental side of things of having a tasty treat to look forward to
Didn’t you look at his breakdown? He’s getting 170 grams of protein per day.
Thanks for sharing your food plan for the hike. I found it really informative. I also eat vegan and GF, and I’ve wondered about how I would do a thru hike of the PCT. That’s smart you’re planning ahead so much about the difficult resupply points. I may copy your blog post to my own document to use in planning in the next year when I want to hike. I think it will take me a better part of a year just to prepare all of the dehydrated food that I anticipate wanting to have. Wow, 5500 calories a day is a lot of food! Having a list like that really brings the concept into a solid form, and using a calculator to help makes sense. I could use that in my preparations.
Excited for your hike! I read your prior post that this will be your second major hiking experience. I’ll follow along for more posts.
Hi Jay,
That’s awesome – I hope this can help you get your food preparations ready. We were able to eat vegan on the JMT – but that was a bit easier since we purchased and shipped all our food ahead of time. There are some impressive vegan thru-hikers that prepared resupply boxes for their entire PCT hikes, like Dan Stenziano, Jupiter Hikes and Cotezi Hikes. They have vlogged many of their hikes. I think the most difficult item for me are the dehydrated beans. I may order some while on trail and ship them to myself. We’ll see. I think it’s just getting easier and easier imho to find vegan options. Make sure you check the Google Sheets link I included too – it may be easier to copy and paste that list for your own use. As I get feedback on these difficult resupply towns, I’ll update the list. Hit me up with any future questions and I’ll do my bet to share my own info and experience.
Cheers,
Dan
So glad to have found your blog and will be keeping tabs on your journey. I hope to do a 2022 PCT hike (likely just section it by state as I can only get my 2 months off as a teacher right now). Like you, I also eat plant based and have been wondering a bit about how that’s going to work out! Looking forward to learning lots from you and enjoying the adventures you describe!