After what seems like weeks of buying bulk food, dehydrating fresh food, and accumulating pre-packaged food that can be readily eaten on the trail, I’ve finally finished boxing up all my supply drops. A large flat rate USPS Priority Mail box can hold about 10 lbs of food and costs about $20 to ship. I tried to plan for 5 solid meals of

breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks (about 2+ lbs per day). I accumulated enough to put together about 6 mail drops for myself with some leftovers in case I need another smaller package or some extra items for a leg.

There seems to be varied opinions on whether mail drops are useful. Many folks argue unless you have dietary restrictions, there are plenty of opportunities to resupply on the trail. Getting into town to retrieve your box, especially if it’s after hours or on a Sunday, could mean an unanticipated zero.

Other folks post pictures to the Facebook Thru-Hikers lists showing 40 or so boxes all neatly stacked and ready to ship.

I opted to ship myself some basics to key points where resupply could be difficult, expensive, or just limited variety. Typical things in my boxes (including the dehydrated foods I prepared) include oatmeal or granola,

powdered milk, dry fruit, tuna packets, salted nuts, couscous, rice, and pasta, coffee and cocoa, and granola bars.

For some reason I suspect future me is going to hate past me for attempting to predict what future me was going to want. I left the boxes unsealed so changes can be made as needed. If I’ve heard one piece of advice repeatedly, it’s that no matter how much planning you do, you must also plan to be flexible.