Washington resupplies

Washington is quite a bit more remote than Oregon. When it comes to resupplies, you end up sending boxes mostly. But do remember the guidelines:

• Don't ship candy, cookies or other junk food. That stuff is everywhere.
• Any place that has people will have food of some sort available.

My plan for Washington was to do as the Yogi book said and shop in Cascade Locks for all of Washington, assembling boxes and shipping from Cascade Locks. I found the town names in Washington to be incredibly confusing. Here's what I planned:

1. Send box to White Pass to the Kracker Barrel
2. Send box to Snoqualmie Pass to the Post Office with a note to keep it behind the counter at the Chevron
3. Send a box to Skykomish Post Office
4. Send a box to Stehekin

Here's how it worked out.

1) Picked up box at the Kracker Barrel
The Kracker Barrel is a minimarket at a gas station. They actually had a decent supply of food. You could almost shop here. What you could do is consider the food you can't live without and send only that. For me that was hot dinners. Then buy junk food for all the rest. I learned in Washington that you really can live on junk food.

2) Picked up box at the Chevron in Snoqualmie Pass
The Chevron has a huge mini-market. The post office is inside the mini-market, that's why they'll put the packages behind the counter. Actually, they put them in one of the beer coolers.

You could resupply here easily. There was all kinds of stuff in the mini-market, even shoes, clothes and books. There was also a grocery store, but I never looked inside. You could definitely skip sending a box.

3) Picked up box at Skykomish Post Office
This is a stop I kind of have mixed feelings about. But you kind of have to stop here. If there is a closer post office than Skykomish and you don't feel you have the need for a zero day, I would suggest you send your box there instead of going through the rigamarole of Skykomish. Skykomish is to the west of Steven's Pass where the trail emerges. Some people go east instead to another town that I forget the name of.

If you go to Skykomish, the host family actually drives you to another town further west called Baring. There's a post office there. I'm not sure why you wouldn't just send your stuff to that post office instead. Anyway, with all the driving around and having to wait for rides between the two towns of Skykomish and Baring, it almost isn't worth it.

Both towns of Skykomish and Baring have very small stores. You could probably make do if you are not picky, but sending a box of good meals is probably a good idea.

4) Picked up box at Stehekin Post Office
Some people try to resupply with just stuff from the bakery. Baked goods are heavy and are not as good the day after they are made. Day old pastries taste day old even on the trail. They have a restaurant and store. The store had a small selection but probably not enough to adequately resupply. You could do it if you had to, though.

After that, it's only about 4 days to the Canadian border and you are finished.

About those remote, Oregon resupplies

When I went through Oregon, it wasn't quite as remote as most resources out there led me to believe, as far as resupplies go. Yogi's book suggested I buy all my food for Oregon in Ashland and ship to various suggested locations throughout the entire state. So that is close to what I planned. However, not all my plans worked out and I also had time to observe a few things.

My planned Oregon resupply:

1. Ship to Crater Lake
2. Ship to Shelter Cove Resort
3. Shop in Sisters
4. Shop in Government Camp

These were all viable things to do. What I ended up doing:

1) Stopped in Fish Lake Resort for a meal.
They had a small store with food I could have purchased for hiking. They had a great breakfast and according to the hiker register, great lunch, too. They also had a full hiker box as apparently many section hikers do the whole state of Oregon and Fish Lake is their first stop.

2) Picked up box in Crater Lake post office
Mazama store had enough food to shop. I could have skipped sending the package. I was glad I sent my bounce box, though, because I needed my cotton skirt to protect me from mosquitoes that bit through my pant legs.

3) Picked up box at Shelter Cove Resort
It turned out Shelter Cove had a small store that was better stocked than expected. I could have found enough to eat there with a little flexibility. They also made a great cup of cafe Americano. Best I ever had. They also had a t-shirt and DEET to protect me from mosquitoes biting me through my shirt.

4) Stopped at Elk Lake for emergency shipment of a new tent and shoes, shopped in Bend
My tent zipper broke and the mosquitoes would have driven me insane without refuge, so I had a replacement tent shipped there. Also asked The Man to send some new shoes while I had to wait anyway. They had almost no food at all in their store. This was probably the only place on the whole trail with so little food for sale. Only candy bars, chips and granola bars.

There is a restaurant at Elk Lake Resort. It seems the biggest meals are the burgers and they're pretty good. The beer is great.

While I was here waiting for my tent and shoes, I learned it is easy to get a ride from Elk Lake to Bend which is a good-sized city with major grocery stores. They have an REI, too. I ended up going to Bend and shopping there instead of Sisters.

5) Skipped the trip to Sisters

6) Stopped in at Big Lake Youth Camp for a meal
Turns out you can send a box to Big Lake Youth Camp. The meal was excellent, cheap and all I could stuff into my belly.

7) Attempted to stop at Ollallie Lake for a meal or snack
They were closed. I was like a lost puppy searching for food. It's not that I didn't plan enough, it's that there was simply never enough food. More was always welcome.

8) Shopped in Government Camp.
I hitched down from Timberline Lodge. Government Camp is a ski town. They have a mini-market and a small grocery store. There was ample food available for the two days to Cascade Locks. I made sure to eat at Timberline Lodge, too.

With the last two days completed from Government Camp to Cascade Locks, I was finished with Oregon. I learned a lot in Oregon about how hiking the trail is a lot like regular life. When you get hungry, you go get food. Plans can easily change and it doesn't ruin anything. Everything works out.

Resupplying and planning on the PCT

I'm watching The Man planning his hike on the PCT. It is hard not to butt in with advice. At some point, people have to do their own thing.

How resupply works
Here's how resupply and planning ended up working for me after I got the hang of it all.

All you have to do is take the distance you have to the next town and divide it by your daily pace. Carry that amount of food.

What is your daily pace? You'll get to know it after the first section or two. Plan the first two sections based on what you think you can do, then plan the rest of them after you know for sure what your pace is. That way you won't end up with too much food in your resupply boxes or become a slave of the post office, forced to time your schedule around the hours/days the post office is open.

To give you an idea of pacing on the PCT, before around Big Bear, my pace was around 15 miles a day.

After Big Bear, my pace was 20+ miles a day. Usually I did just a little more than 20.

Once I hit the High Sierra, my pace went back down to around 15. That took me by surprise and I ran out of food. Next time I will know and plan better.

After the High Sierra my pace started to rise to over 25 miles a day. Except for a few times in Oregon, my pace stayed around 25-30 miles a day.

Figure out how many days it'll take to the next store and buy that many days of food. It's that simple.

You will soon learn that most towns have grocery stores and even those that don't will have small markets. Many of these little markets are well aware they are on the PCT and try to carry stuff that hikers will eat. That's usually Pop-tarts, pasta sides and similar items.

With a little research, you can learn which towns have better stores. Then you can shop at those stores and from those towns, send ahead a package to a town that has limited supplies. By doing this, you don't need to rely upon a person at home to mail stuff to you. Also, if you do this a lot, that is to say, if you ship a lot of small boxes to little places in between the big ones, you don't have to carry as much heavy food.

Where do you find info about towns? The Yogi book is good. I also found good info on the Purebound PCT resupply page, As the Crow Flies resupply page, and Mara Factor's page. Sometimes towns change, stores go out of business, better stores open etc. But when people live somewhere they usually have to eat, so as long as there's a town there will be something to eat. And the bigger the town the less likely it is they'll lose their grocery store. Plan accordingly.

Towns with big grocery stores:

• Tehachapi
• Mammoth
• South Lake Tahoe
• Chester
• Ashland
• Bend

Towns with medium-sized, full grocery stores:

• Idyllwild
• Big Bear Lake (different from Big Bear City)
• Wrightwood
• Agua Dulce
• Lone Pine
• Bishop
• Bridgeport
• Burney? (Not the falls but the town)
• Etna
• Cascade Locks

Anywhere else will have a medium market, small market, mini-market or less. You can usually make it with what's available at these kinds of markets if you aren't too picky.

How does the daily mileage planning really work?
If your pace is 15 miles a day, you have to do at least 15 miles a day. Every mile less than that is a mile you have to add to the last day. So try to add miles to each day to chip away at the last day.

Once you reach your maximum speed, you can risk putting the pressure on yourself. For me the pressure was 25 mile days. Despite a little anxiety that it might be too much pressure, I was able to achieve it. The sad thing is that a 30 mile day doesn't chip much off that last day, but it sure does add a lot to the day you're doing it!

A few more general rules and tips for resupply

1. Never ship candy, cookies, junk food. You can get that everywhere.
2. Don't ship Pop-tarts, Pasta Sides, instant rice or similar hiker fare except to some of the more remote locations in Oregon and Washington.
   
3. If there's stuff you can't live without, it is worth it to make resupply boxes of it to ship.
4. Sometimes you can just bounce a box of special stuff. For me that was powdered Nido milk, Just Fruits, Emergenc-C and a few other similar items.
5. Learn to be creative. You can carry peanut butter and a loaf of bread or bagels, breakfast pastries or muffins, takeout pizza and sandwiches, even pancakes.
   

Really, it's a lot like regular life. You don't plan your resupply for regular life. You just look at the empty pantry and refrigerator and go to the store. It's the same on the trail. Really.