Date: 2015-08-04
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Someone asked a question about mail drops. I figure it might be helpful to put the information out there for everyone who might be interested.I sent the vast majority of my food by mail drop. Of course, I was always tempted by getting real food when I went into town, but I usually had enough food in my mail drops to get by without NEEDING to buy more. If you couldn't tell, I really like pizza. So I bought a lot of pizza.Overall, I think I would do mail drops again. I was able to have a lot of good-quality meals (especially dinners). It took a lot of work to prepare stuff, but I LOVE having dehydrated vegetables to eat to supplement all of my meals. I managed to get pretty creative and have a lot of variety. Most of my dinners are based around rice and pasta. Lots of delicious things are then added. The site minimus.biz let me buy some cool stuff (a little pricey but I didn't buy a lot... just for some "treat" meals). I was also really lucky that my dad gave me a lot of good foodstuffs for my birthday, and I was able to buy in bulk from BJs.I haven't gotten sick of any of my food. It is all delicious. That's not to say that I don't get sick of trail food in general... I really miss eating real food. But my trail food rocks. So much better than ramen (not that ramen isn't delicious, but it's not my favorite).I was able to assemble my mail drops fairly cheaply. I was a bargain-shopper extraordinaire. I cut coupons, went to the cheap stores, and stocked up on all the good deals that I could find. I still spent an outrageous amount of money. Overall, though, it was probably cheaper. It is definitely more convenient than having to resupply out of a gas station or wander around Walmart for an hour trying to decide what to buy, and how many days to buy for. I supplement my diet every time I go into town, with fresh foods and whatever else I crave. Mom sends them through the USPS online service, which saves a lot of money on postage. The website has an address book feature, so I typed in and saves all the addresses before I hit the trail to make it easy for her to mail them... she just weighs them, chooses the cheapest service, seals the box, prints out and tapes the label, and drops it off at the post office on her way to work. It is also setup so that I can pay by credit card. Super easy! Actually, I think mom and Dan were super confused when I first taught them how to do it (I was confused, too), but I left them instructions and they got the hang of it quickly.My mom is an awesome trail postmaster. Every time I need something extra added to a box, I just send her a message or tell her when I call and she plunks it in before sending it. I left a bunch of extra things (hand sanitizer, ear plugs, toilet paper, batteries... anything and everything I thought that I might want or need) in my mail drop storage area so that she could easily just add stuff as I went along.My mail drops were more than just food. Things they also contained include: paper and envelopes, vitamins and fish oil pills, Q-tips, toilet paper, ChapStick, hand sanitizer, wet wipes, and batteries. It was easier to ask mom to send some things than to go through the hassle of finding them near the trail (SteriPen batteries, for example).Sometimes it wasn't really EASY to get to my mail drops. Sometimes, I arrived on a day when the post office wasn't open. However, for the most part, I was able to plan ahead enough to get them without much trouble. A lot of times, it was easier to pick up boxes along the trail than having to worry about hitchhiking into town (such a pain). I would suggest sending boxes to hostels and hotels as much as possible, more than post offices, because their hours of operation are more convenient (except the Doyle, which opened at 11...). Of course it depends on what is closest to the trail, and which is easier to get to... the guidebook was extremely helpful in determining where to send mail drops. The hostel in Glencliff actually picks up all hiker boxes since the post office is only open two hours a day. I can send a list of my mail drops if anyone wants it.However, when sent priority mail, it's possible to bounce boxes forward (I had to do this with my second pair of boots), as long as the box is unopened. This is good if you over planned and have too much food, or decide to skip a box or something. For instance, you might get into town on a Saturday afternoon. Not wanting to wait until the post office opens on Monday, you can just resupply from the store and pick the box up later (or have it sent home).One thing I did was also put my guidebook pages in my mail drops, so I didn't have to carry the whole freaking book (a lot of people carry the whole book). I also had the PDF on my phone in case of emergencies, which worked well. I have lost pages twice... so investing in the PDF was a good idea. If you choose to bounce a box, though, you risk losing those pages. Lots of pros and cons.So I would do it again. I would, however, make better lunches. I have awesome dinners, but I didn't really have enough time to get better lunches... I eat a lot of protein bars for lunch still. I did overplan a lot of the time, and often have extra dinners which I turn into lunches (and lunches become snacks... you can never have too many snacks).I sent food based on an average of 15 miles a day. Sometimes I had way too much because I was able to hike faster. Sometimes I gave some away. I donated to hiker boxes, shared with Chris, and left things for Coco and Magnus. It is ALWAYS better to have too much food. One lesson I have learned on the trail is that you can NEVER have too many snacks. If you are Red Panda, at least.... I can't speak for everyone....I am probably forgetting some important things... but that's the general idea. If I think of anything else, I'll add it!