[at-l] ResSupply Questions.

[russ_a_drake@icpmech.navy.mil (Russ A Drake)]

Thanks Sugardaddy,

  I am just trying to iron out the details and the wealth of information
that you provide is great and is warmly received.

  My only concern is taking all day in town,  I have a limited time frame
and want to spend as much of it on the trail and less in town....  I know I
might change my mind but I have from the beginning of April to end of May
to get as far as I can...

Thanks a ton

  Sparky!








                    Topher Hughes
                    <topher_hughes@earthlink       To:     Adkhiker2003@wmconnect.com
                    .net>                          cc:     at-l@mailman.backcountry.net
                    Sent by:                       Subject:     Re: [at-l] ResSupply Questions.
                    at-l-admin@mailman.backc
                    ountry.net


                    11/25/02 08:38 PM






Ok - I am/was part of a group of thru-hikers that did the trail in 2001.
I'll preface my remarks with a comment to the effect that the walking
wounded were known for being exceedingly lazy. =-)

Adkhiker2003@wmconnect.com wrote:
> 1)  At what intervals, be days or miles, did most of you resupply at?

in general, we'd resupply every 3 or 4 days. Sometimes we went 5,
especially in the beginning when we were new and foolish. We also went 5
/ 5 in the 100 mile wilderness by having someone leave 3 huge hefty
leaf/dead-body bags hanging under a bridge filled with food.

> 2)  How did you resupply?  Mail drops or local pick up

Personally, I did 1 pre-planned mail drop ahead of time to fontana dam.
As a result of changing tastes, I averaged roughly 600 calories a day
between fontana and newfound gap, so, im not certain i'd recommend doing
a mail drop there. =-) Eggman did no pre-planned drops; I dont think
Maineiac did either. We didnt hike with anyone with a large number of
drops, but PeeWee, Ladyhawk, Wile E, and a few others had at least 4 or
5 maildrops each that I can think of.

Mostly, I'd buy food in town. We'd generally know from profile maps and
past experience which town we'd hit next, and whether or not we'd be
able to get food there at a store, if the post office would be open,
etc. We generally didnt have too much in bounce boxes in the way of food
- Eggman and I split a shoebox (well, boot box to be accurate) for most
of the trail as ours - not a ton of space (good for bandaids, etc.).

> 3)  Where were your mail drops and resupply points?

We'd stop every 3 or 4 days - basically, we wandered into almost every
town along the trail. =-)

> 4)  How far ( on average ) did you have to hump to town and if you did,
was
> it an all day affair?

Mostly we got hitches if the town and/or hostel/hotel/etc wasnt real
close. There were few towns where it was difficult to get a hitch - one
in virginia which i've completely blanked from my mind took about 4
hours, and some of the hitches in maine could be a little bit of a wait.
Also, take my word for this - dont bail near the hermitage. Ladyhawk and
I wandered down that logging road for MILES before we got to a real
road.

As I mentioned the walking wounded were known for laziness - we zeroed a
lot. when we were in small enough pack that everyone could be motivated,
we'd aim to get into a town mid to late afternoon (before post office
closed) and get out after breakfast the next morning. this frequently
didnt happen - we'd get in before lunch, zero the next day, and leave
mid-day the day after that. =-)

> 5)  Will "Wingfoots" book really help or should I look elsewhere... ( not
> trolling by asking that question... )

I carried a wingfoot and found it useful - I thought that it was more
useful in the beginning then later though. I dont know whether it was a
change in me, or if the book just had less useful information later.
Eggman carried small one with mostly mileage, and peewee had the big
spiral-bound one, so, uh, we pretty much had all the guides with us.

Its probably important to note here that there will be mistakes in these
books, as a result of things changing sinced they were published.
Invariably, these differences will be in something criticial to you.
Expect to curse at your guide, no matter which one you carry. =-)
(After the whole 19E relo fiasco in 2001, I stopped carrying even maps
for about 400 miles. Not only did nothing have the "right" information
(it was a new relo), we swear we couldnt even find out where we were on
the topo map! =-)   )

> 6)  What about this Appalachian Trail Planning work book that the AT
sells?

I have a copy someplace. I dont think I really used it much. At the time
I was planning though, wingfoot's mailing list was really active with
good advice from lots of people (hungry howie and baltimore jack both
spring to mind)

> As you can see I am a bit at a loss here...

Im willing to offer my potentially wrong advice at every opportunity; im
sure others on the list feel the same way. Please ask away; for me at
least, its a bit of a vicarious thrill - i get to think about my hike. i
like thinking about my hike. =-)

(Oh, and I still need to do newfound gap to erwin - im going to be
hitting that stretch in 2003 around the same time as people starting in
early april....so, if i give bad advice, you too could have the
opportunity to mock my mad skillz at bear bagging, etc.=-)  )

--sugardaddy
_______________________________________________
>From the AT-L mailing list         est. 1995
Need help?  http://www.at-l.org
Archives: http://www.backcountry.net/arch/at/
Change your options or unsubscribe:
http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/at-l

Stay on topic!