If you're making up your own route, you may have to do a little more detective work. A Google search will tell you if there's a grocery store, but you'll have to call them to find out if they have lightweight, backpacking-friendly food options.

Often, hostels, hotels, and visitor centers will hold packages sometimes for a fee if you decide to mail boxes instead. Mailing boxes might seem perfect. You can eat your favorite foods without worrying if the tiny trail town grocery store carries them.

You can save money on the food itself if you're shipping from a larger town. But resupply boxes also come with some pretty hefty disadvantages. The shipping cost can quickly eat up any savings on the food itself.

You can find yourself waiting in town for days if your schedule does not line up with post office opening hours. Most of all, you might end up looking at a box full of food you can't stand, gagging at the sight of yet more instant mashed potatoes.

You can't account for changes in your tastes in a box you packed two months ago, and you will get sick of the meals you eat every day. You also cannot mail fresh food. If you include cheese, vegetables, or even tortillas with a shorter shelf life, it will spoil before you pick up your box.

Most hikers supplement their boxes with fresh food, so they have to go to a grocery store anyway. Unless you need to mail food for dietary issues, a trip to the grocery store will cancel out many of the benefits of mailing. So, how do you know how many days of food to pack for each section?

It all depends on how fast you can walk. You probably already know roughly how many miles a day you like to cover from shorter hikes, even if you haven't done a trip that requires resupply before. Some pretty easy math will tell you that if you like to hike 20 miles a day, a hundred-mile section will take you five days.

The amount of miles you can cover varies from person to person and trail to trail. If you're a complete beginner, do a couple of practice hikes beforehand on similar terrain to figure out how many miles you like to hike.

If you're packing resupply boxes for a five-month thru hike before you start, keep in mind that both the amount you eat and the distance you can cover will increase as your hike progresses.

You may start a hike only able to do 10 miles a day. After three or four months, you might be able to do 25 or 30 miles a day. Luckily, you're also hungrier, so if you underestimate how much distance you can cover, you'll still be able to eat the extra food you packed.

How do you figure out how many calories a day you need to eat? Unfortunately, there's no formula that works for everyone. At 5'2" and pounds, my food needs are very different than my 6'2" pound husband. One mistake that newer thru-hikers often make is assuming they will immediately be ravenous the instant they start hiking.

In reality, you're unlikely to eat much more than you would on a weekend trip for at least the first few weeks. I often eat less—nerves, poor sleep, and adjusting to life on trail saps my appetite.

Then, after a few weeks of hiking, when you finally feel like you know how much you should bring to eat, your body will move the goalposts on you. Hiker hunger kicks in at a different point for everyone.

For some, it takes just a week. For me, it takes about a month. At that point, I become insatiable. I can eat two dinners in town and still be hungry ten minutes later. By the end of a thru-hike, I carry roughly double the food I started with per day.

As a big proponent of the resupply-as-you-go method, I thought it might be helpful to include the resupply recommendations from his website in this chart. I also included a column for what I would like to do if I hiked again, assuming that I was sending myself packages from the trail.

The chart below includes most available resupply locations along the PCT and compares the individual strategies of a few trail veterans from these websites:.

Click on the chart above for the full data. This is extremely important in the desert, where you may have to carry 15 pounds of water at a time. There are even a few spots where you can pack out a burrito for the next day and reach another resupply that night like Lake Morena and Cajon Pass.

To send yourself a package, address it to:. Acton KOA — Sending a box here spares you a hitch into the town of Acton. Send your box to:. Write your ETA on the box. The Sierra Nevada range is completely its own thing. You will need to send all of your packages at least three weeks in advance, but a month is better.

Whitney which you absolutely should do adds an extra 16 to 17 miles, depending on your route, making the stretches between resupplies at least a week or more for many hikers.

But that also means that there are only a few different ways to plan your resupply. None of them are ideal, but all of them are adventures — and that is what you signed up for.

The Sierra section of this guide is set up differently than the other sections because it really deserves its own standalone guide. Whitney loop in my calculations. To send to the general store, address to:.

Mail your boxes to:. Of course, Kennedy Meadows is where your friends and family will probably send you letters of encouragement and inconvenient packages to completely throw off your planning.

Lone Pine has a small grocery store where you can get a reasonable resupply, and an outdoor shop with a lot of hiker-friendly food and supplies. To send a box to Lone Pine, address to:. Independence is basically only a post office.

Bishop has a real grocery store, several outdoor shops, and restaurants, bars, and even a movie theatre and bowling alley. To send yourself a package, address to:. In all fairness, the packages are mule packed in, so the price is actually reasonable.

You have to mail your package at least 3 weeks ahead of time. Follow the link to arrange your resupply. VVR is very hiker friendly, with free camping, a restaurant with work-for-stay options , a reasonably extensive store for resupply, and one free beer for thru-hikers. Please have the UPS clerk override the system with this address.

It WILL get delivered at this address. If you want to send yourself a package, address it to:. You have to mail your package at least three weeks ahead of time. Send to:. From Tuolumne Meadows, you can also catch a hitch or a bus to either Yosemite Valley or the town of Lee Vining, both of which have lodging, stores, and more amenities.

From Bridgeport, you can also hitch to the town of Walker. To send a package to Kennedy Meadows North, address it to:. This is a good location to stage any packages you want to send yourself in the upcoming section.

This is about miles of hiking including the Whitney summit and side trail to the trailhead and should take roughly one week. You want to plan to get to the trailhead on a weekend because otherwise, it could take you a full day to get a hitch down to town.

This is the toughest section of the Sierra and the most heavily snowbound. This is probably the most popular resupply strategy we saw, although there was variation with people who chose to stop at Muir Trail Ranch or Vermillion Valley Resort to pick up a little extra food or a package and cut their weight down.

Advantages: By cramming more miles in between resupplies, you can save time getting into town can take a while , money who can say no to a town burger , and anxiety hitching in the Sierra can be difficult.

Kearsarge is also gorgeous. You also need to ensure it fits inside your bear canister, which can be quite a challenge on the thru-hiker diet. From Kennedy Meadows, hike 45 miles a little over two days down to Horseshoe Meadow via Cottonwood Pass and hitch to Lone Pine for your resupply hitches can be easier to find on weekends, but then the post office in Lone Pine will be closed.

Our hiking partner Camel opted to do this and ended up stopping at Muir Trail Ranch to get a quick meal before he made it to VVR. A lot of hikers said VVR was a money pit, so maybe Muir is a smarter investment in the long run. Advantages: by planning to stop in more towns, you can get more flexibility in what and how much you eat.

You can also carry less food weight. Disadvantages: The miles between Cottonwood Pass and VVR are really challenging, and food can be heavy. Stopping in MTR or VVR can get expensive and take time. By adding in VVR as a resupply point, the maximum amount of food you need to carry is about a week, between Kennedy Meadows and Kearsarge Pass.

If you can manage more than 15 miles a day, you may be able to carry less though this depends on snow conditions and how well you adjust to the altitude. Of course, there are other creative ways to approach the Sierra range.

You could hike out through the Whitney Portal on the other side of Mt. Whitney if you get all the right permits. I saw someone who drove up to stash packages at the trail heads for Cottonwood Pass and Kearsarge Pass, eliminating the uncertainty of getting a hitch.

Or you might prefer to stop more often, take the most beautiful section of the PCT slowly, and hit all of the possible resupplies. These spots are the most convenient ones to have a package waiting for you:. Tuolumne Meadows — Accepts hiker packages and has a pretty good camp store that you could resupply out of a little expensive.

Note: As of September , Tuolumne Meadows Campground is closed for the next several years for repairs and restoration. the store and post office are still open. Send packages to:. A lot of hikers want to send their winter gear home at this point, but you might want it for the section before SLT.

To send packages to Kennedy Meadows North, address it to:. Return to top. This is the longest section of trail or at least, it feels like it. But there are some beautiful sections still, and on the bright side, pretty decent resupply options most of the way.

You could go through this entire section without sending a package, but you might make your life easier by sending a couple. Sierra City — An old California mining town.

There is a general store where you can find a somewhat expensive resupply with the typical hiker offerings. Send boxes to:.

Belden — A little resort and lodge best known for its raves. Caribu Crossroads also has a decently stocked camp store, showers, and laundry. To send a package to Caribou Crossroads, address it to:.

The Oregon trail has two sides to it. The worst combination of worlds for a thru-hiker, this means lots of people but very little and very expensive food.

It might be too late to send them from Ashland, so I would recommend sending them ahead from an earlier location like Mt. That lets you breeze through Crater Lake National Park and dozens of campgrounds, picking up a few days of food at a time and occasionally a hot cup of coffee as you go.

No matter how bad the resupply options are on the PCT, tortillas can fix anything. Address your box to:. Shelter Cove Resort — 90 miles after Crater Lake.

Bend, with lots of grocery options, is located 88 miles later. They accept UPS only. Address to:. Big Lake Youth Camp — Right on trail a couple miles after Santiam Pass, which is arguably the easiest road highway 20 to take to Bend. If you show up in the second half of August or later, the camp may be empty, but your package should still be there.

Address packages to:. Guest Services — Timberline Lodge PCT Hiker: Your Name E Timberline Rd. Government Camp, OR Most of them have some kind of PCT-friendly resupply option although it tends to be a little expensive , and all of them accept hiker packages.

If you want to make miles and not worry about logistics or buying pricey gas station food in Washington, send yourself four or five packages from Ashland or Bend. Foraging: fun but not sufficient in calories.

Please ignore dirty hands here. SLT also has large and affordable grocery stores. Picking up a box at Burney Falls saved time because it is right on trail, but not necessary because you could go into Burney to resupply at the grocery store.

Crater Lake is also a good spot to send a box, depending on your pace. Sending too much food means carrying extra weight or getting rid of some of your food, which is just wasting money. If you sent too little food, chances are there is a hiker box nearby that you can raid, or you can buy some snacks to supplement your package.

Put less food in your boxes. That was partly due to our flip-flop, which involved about 10 extra zero days and all the hotels and travel associated with it. Thank you for sharing your experience.

A fine tuning to the nobo resupply logistics and warnings to really heed. Like Like. Our Plan We followed the most common strategy for PCT hikers: Send some boxes to ourselves at specific locations, and purchase the rest of the food along the way.

What Happened Things went according to plan until we decided to flip-flop after Kearsarge Pass, and return to the Sierra at the end of the hike. Cost Breakdown Strategy 1: Mailing Boxes from Home Our original eight boxes contained about 40 days of food.

Strategy 3: Shopping in Trail Towns Most of the trip, we resupplied along the way in trail towns. What We Would Do Differently 1.

Send Less Food to Warner Springs At just over miles in, Warner Springs sees a lot of hikers. Send fewer boxes from home Because our boxes were sent from Arizona, shipping started out reasonable and got more expensive as we moved North.

Send a box to Bishop, not Independence Sure, Independence is closer to the trail. Send Sierra boxes from Tehachapi Tehachapi has big grocery stores, so you can resupply cheaply there for the Sierra and send the boxes ahead and still have plenty of time to ship the boxes.

Send NorCal boxes from South Lake Tahoe SLT also has large and affordable grocery stores. Send one day less food in each box Sending too much food means carrying extra weight or getting rid of some of your food, which is just wasting money. A Few Parting Tips Regional shipping is almost always cheaper than flat rate.

Because we mailed for 2 people, the flat rate boxes were too small for us. Still, shipping the larger boxes was oftentimes still cheaper than the cost of shipping the large flat rate box.

We stuck a post-it on each box with the address to keep track of them, and had my sister label them only once she was actually shipping it. It was a good thing, since several of our boxes had to be sent to different locations. Avoid shipping a UPS package to a post office general delivery such as a package from Amazon.

This creates a lot of problems.

You could even live out of hiker boxes for some of the trail. The only limit is your own creativity. You can have resupply boxes sent to you along the trail. There are dozens of post offices, hotels, stores, and lodges that will receive your package and hold it for you.

All post offices along the trail will hold packages for you — at no extra charge — for up to 30 days then they return them. You can check out the complete list of PCT resupply points to find the addresses, phone numbers, fees, and more for all of the resupply points along the Pacific Crest Trail.

Pros: Some small towns along the Pacific Crest Trail offer very few options for thru-hikers looking for lightweight pack food and reasonably priced gear. Having food and gear sent to you at those places can save you a lot of money and unnecessary weight in your pack.

You can spend that time relaxing and hanging out. Cons: Depending on what kind of mailing service you use, having your supplies sent to you can be expensive. The cheapest and most reliable seems to be the U. They charge you by the box size instead of the box weight.

In larger towns with lower prices and more food options, it is generally cheaper to buy your food in town than to have it sent to you. Finally, you may not like the food you send to yourself. So be generous with the serving sizes and send yourself a variety of foods. Then you mail the box ahead to another resupply point further down the trail.

You can repeat this with the same box as many times as you want. Pros: The Bounce Box can be used to save you money.

In fact, it is even possible to self-resupply along the entire trail using Bounce Boxes and purchasing supplies in the larger, cheaper towns. Cons: Mailing the Bounce Box over and over again can be expensive. Using USPS Priority Flat-Rate mail can reduce the cost, but it can still add up over several resupply points.

There is also a small risk of your Bounce Box being delayed in the mail. So, if using Priority Mail, you may want to always bounce the box to a town at least 6 days down the trail. Most of the common resupply points along the trail have hiker boxes.

Other hikers do the same, and everyone is free to take from the box as they please. Some hikers have hiked hundreds of miles eating nothing but what they find in hiker boxes. Pros: Food and supplies in hiker boxes are totally free. Also, the food one finds in hiker boxes is as diverse as the people who hike the trail.

Cons: Hiker Boxes are really hit-or-miss. Hiker boxes are also unreliable. Download Now. Additional resources dedicated to helping you manage indirect spend:.

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Tuolumne Meadows Store is right off the trail. They have a post office and a small variety of resupply food. Their hours are super limited, PM daily, so keep that in mind if you plan to stop by.

If you want to mail a resupply, the address is:. This is also the best place to head into Yosemite Valley. You can either hike 30 miles, hitchhike, or take a shuttle.

It took over an hour and we had very limited time to enjoy the valley. The official end of the High Sierras and your bear canister! However, as of , you DO need a bear canister in Desolation Wilderness if you are camping there. Kennedy Meadows North is about 9 miles from the trail but the resort provides shuttles for hikers from the trail: AM, 3 PM, and PM.

All of these options include showers, WiFi, laundry, and the shuttle. They have a restaurant with great food options and big portions — definitely worth it. There is also a small store with the most amazing soft-serve dairy free ice cream , which you can definitely resupply from.

If you want to send home your bear canisters, they can ship them out from here! South Lake Tahoe is a perfect place to take a zero. You can get off trail at Echo Summit and hitch into town.

There are tons of options for accommodation, restaurants, grocery stores, post office, outfitters, etc. Everything is a little spread out but there are Bird scooters everywhere that you can ride around town.

If you want a good rest, head to El Dorado Beach and take a nap on the sandy beach! Donner Ski Ranch provides thru-hikers with a free 40 oz beer with proof of permit. There are grocery stores, outfitters, food, etc. Sierra City is a small old mining town. There is a general store with expensive resupply options, outlets for charging, and an amazing deli.

You can send packages to the store:. Sierra City, CA They have showers, laundry, a small store and restaurant, and accept resupply packages. I took a quick stop in Chester to grab my resupply box from the post office and a burger from the famous Pine Shack Frosty. There were outlets inside the restaurant that I was able to use as well!

Burney Falls State Park is right on the trail. They have a small store with very limited and expensive resupply options, but amazing soft-serve ice cream.

The store hours are PM but they stop serving ice cream at 5PM important info!! The state park campground has a free area for hikers to camp and tokens you can purchase to take a shower. If you choose to go into the town of Burney instead, you can send packages to the church for free.

They also provide free showers and a free place to sleep. Most people, including me, chose to go into Shasta and take a zero day. We stayed in an affordable Air BnB in town and even went to the movie theater on our day off! You can send packages to the post office:.

The Ammirati Market accepts USPS resupply packages:. Etna is a very hiker-friendly town and a great place to take a zero! It can be difficult to get a hitch into town but trail angels are constantly coming to pick up hikers from the trailhead.

We tried to hitchhike but failed haha. This is also your last stop in California and the perfect place to buy a celebratory drink to pack out for the border. Make sure to bring the trash and leave no trace! Seiad Valley is also home to the famous pancake challenge.

If you can eat 5 pounds of pancakes in less than 2 hours then you get them all for free. They provide soap, shampoo, towel, and laundry detergent. Congrats on finishing California! Ashland is a large town and a great place to take a zero. There is no need to send a box here since there are many resupply options.

They offer free camping for hikers and also have showers, laundry, charging stations, and a restaurant. Crater Lake National Park — Mazama Village mile One of my favorite places on the trail. There is a general store and restaurant about a mile from the trail where most hikers hang out.

There is a free camping area for hikers just down the road from the store. They have a buffet that was SO good - one of my favorite meals on the trail. If you choose to send a UPS or FedEx package here, the mailing address is:. Bend, OR Bend is about 37 miles from the trail but SO worth it.

There is everything you need in town — grocery stores, REI, post offices, restaurants, breweries, motels, etc. If you have time, you can even rent floats and float down the river. The perfect way to spend a rest day! This is a short detour off of the main trail. They provide free meals, free showers, and a little cabin for hikers to rest.

They do accept packages if you need to send something:. Sisters, OR Timberline Lodge is right off of the trail and a must place to stop! They have hiker deals for bunk rooms and an incredible breakfast and lunch buffet.

You must make reservations for everything prior to your visit. The famous Cascade Locks at the border of Oregon and Washington. One more state to go! I was lucky to walk into town at the start of PCT trail days so the town was full of people. We camped on Thunder Island for the event, but in town there is an RV park with camping and motel options.

There are restaurants, breweries, a grocery store and a post office. There are also a couple of buses per week to Portland if you need more resources!

Trout Lake is about 13 miles from the trail and one of the harder towns to get a hitch to. Thankfully, the general store provides shuttles for hikers a few times a day.

You can also sign up for a ride back to the trail once you are ready to leave. Once you get into town, everything is conveniently on the same street. The general store has a lot of good resupply options, but if you want to mail a box you can send it directly to the general store:.

They are both SO good. You can do a quick resupply here! They have coin showers but everyone told us they were cold so we skipped out. If you need a place to camp, they allow hikers to camp behind the gas station! If you want an actual grocery store or accommodation, you can hitch into Packwood.

We quickly went into town to grab food and hang out at the brewery amazing tacos!! Snoqualmie is a small town with a comfortable motel, a few restaurants, and a small grocery store. If you want to quickly pick up a resupply then get back onto trail, you can mail a box to Stevens Pass Ski Resort.

They have a restaurant with great burgers! but no store to resupply. They accept UPS only:. It was an easy hitch and very much worth it. Leavenworth is a super iconic Dutch town filled with restaurants, breweries, grocery stores, hotels, and gear shops.

This remote town was my last resupply stop on the trail. There is a yellow bus that picks up hikers from the trail at 9am, 2pm, and 5pm.