You Can’t Take it [ALL] With You

Appalachian Trail (AT) Prep- Resupply/Dehydrating (~ 14 days until the start)

Resupply on the AT

Shy of starving to death, there are two main ways to resupply while thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail: “mail drops” and “buying on the go” in trail towns. Both of these methods have pros and cons.

Mail drops- are predetermined locations that a thru-hiker (or a thru-hiker’s support team) mail packages of food and supplies to ahead of time. These Mail Drops can be post offices (which will hold mail) or privately owned businesses such as hostels or outfitters (with permission).

Pros:

  1.  Not having to buy bulk items in town when in reality the hiker only needs small amounts (like toilet paper, duct tape, q-tips, ect.)
 2.   Knowing exactly what supplies are waiting just ahead and where

  3. Some control over dietary habits

  4. Able to receive letters on the trail (added to a drop box by the support team)

Cons:

  1.  Requires major effort to plan ahead, pack, and coordinate timing of drops to match the appropriate hiking speed

  2.  Packages can get lost in the mail 

  3. The locations packages are sent may close early, for the weekend, or unexpectedly

  4. Pre-determined stops aren’t as flexible with changing hiking itinerary

  5. Dietary needs or cravings can change while on the trail rendering the contents of the mail-drops as obsolete and a waste

Buying Food and Supplies “on the go” in trail towns:

Pros:

  1.   Extremely flexible stopping points

  2.   Easy to accommodate changing dietary needs

  3.  Minimal effort required before the start of the trail

Cons:

  1.  In recent years this has become a favored method of resupplying. There is a risk of all the hiking food staples (ramen, instant mashed potatoes, instant rice, Lipton sides, ect.) being completely cleaned out by other hikers in the smaller trail towns.

  2.  Dietary needs (especially for vegan or gluten-free hikers) are not guaranteed 

Dehydrating

For my journey I will be using both methods of resupplying. The mail drops will be used mainly for diet supplementation and small amounts of items bought in bulk ahead of time. The main focus for the food in the resupply boxes has become food that is high in nutrients and calories but are mainly water based, making the food heavy (not good for backpacking) i.e. I need to dehydrate the food ahead of time if I am planning on carrying it across mountains. 

This past Saturday marked the race against time to get all my food dehydrated in time to pack my resupply boxes, which will be done next week. The four foods I am focusing on are: lentils (high in calories, fiber, iron, and protein); apples (high in calories, vitamins, some fiber, are extremely light after being dehydrated, can be eaten without re-hydrating … and they just taste good); sweet corn (high in calories, carbs, and can be eaten without re-hydrating); and carrots (high in vitamins, minimal calories, can be eaten without re hydrating in a pinch).

Typically I just dehydrate everything for the same amount of time at the same temperature (135 degrees for 15 hours). I ran some experiments in early December and all four of the foods seem to dehydrate completely with this setting as long as the trays are switched around halfway through the process. This method worked well when I was working full-time becuase I could dehydrate 2-3 different foods at a time; for example if I didn't have time to slice a full 6 trays of apples in the evening I could just make two of the trays sweet corn (which was always on hand in the freezer). But now I have access to two dehydrators (thanks Nicole) and 8 lbs. of sliced carrots! Yes, my life is exciting … 

One shopping trip worth of food to dehydrate for the resupply boxes 

(minus the cat obviously, he fell in love with the carrots for some reason)

I will probably need to repeat 4x for the corn and carrots to meet my end goal, the apples and lentils are pretty close to making the quota already.  

Out,

-Mullins