How To Create Mail Drops for your Thru Hike
While on long adventures sometimes it’s advantageous to mail yourself some supplies and/or food somewhere along your route so that it will be there waiting for you when you get to that specific town.
Thru hikers do this all the time. I, myself, had 39 (yikes!) Mail drops along the AT when I thru hiked in 2007. Yeah, I know, way too many mail drops and unnecessary to have that many.
Mail drops can be convenient if there are no grocery stores in the town you’re hiking/biking through or if you have specific dietary needs.
There are two different types of mail drops. 1. One that gets sent to a private business, like a hostel. Or 2. One that gets sent to a post office. If you’re wanting to send a mail drop of the first kind, be sure to check with the business owner to see if they will accept a package on behalf of you, and if so, how they would like you to address it and preferred shipping service.
If mailing a drop via the United States Postal Service (USPS) use the General Delivery method. This is available to anyone and not just thru hikers. Not all post offices accept General Delivery, but post offices along long distance trails like the AT and AZT do. You can easily find out where/how to send your General Delivery drop box in the guides for the appropriate long distance trail. For instance, for the AT and the AZT, the Far Out App (formerly Guthook) has the post office locations and the address/and how to send your General Delivery box. You simply search in the app for the town you want to mail your box to and it’ll tell you if there’s a post office there that accepts General Delivery. Your General Delivery box should be address like this:
Name (your real name, NOT your trail name)
GENERAL DELIVERY
City, State Zip
For most long distance trails, along with this addressing method above, you should also write something like “Hold for AT Hiker” along with your ETA on the box. Obviously, if you’re hiking/biking a different trail substitute that where “AT” is written.
Now that we got all of that nonsense out of the way let’s talk about what to put in your box. You want to think about, “how long does this resupply have to last me?” So, you’ll want to know roughly how many days it will be until you can get to. Your next resupply location and pack that many days worth of food into that General Delivery drop box. It’s that simple! A post office will generally hold a box for 30 days.