If you guessed FOOD.....you are correct! There are lots of different resupply strategies for thru-hikers, usually involving some combination of mailing packages of food bought ahead of time and stocking up while in towns. We planned 30 resupplies for our trip: 20 will be mailed by our families (coming soon: a list of addresses and estimated arrival dates for all those people asking about mailing us surprises) and 10 will be town stops.
One of the pros of buying food ahead of time is saving money by buying in bulk. My $300 snack-buying spree at Sam's Club was one of the best days of my life. Nolan opened his bulk package of SPAM singles ordered on Amazon like a kid on Christmas morning.
We ordered 50 Priority Mail regional rate boxes from the USPS (who will deliver them to your door for free) and assembled them in our living room. Those 50 boxes weren't enough and we had to supplement them with some large flat rate boxes as well. After assembling them, we marked them all with bright green tape to make them recognizable at the post office. It was overwhelming to say the least.
Since Nolan and I split up the boxes (his family will be mailing April - June, mine will be mailing July - September), we prepared the food and supplies going to the other's house. We also split up our 500ish pages of maps and a data book giving details about landmarks, road crossings, water stops, and towns. We had to get rid of a couch to make room for all our boxes.
We'll be sending 2-4 boxes to each resupply spot (depending on the number of days that resupply will cover, ranging from 3 to 8 days).
Although all this preparation has been very time-consuming, organization is soothing to me and I look forward to showing up in a town and having all my food ready for me. The major negatives of this strategy are having to hit post offices during their open hours and getting sick of the food you bought in bulk months ago. We'll see how that goes!
DTPCT: 13!
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