I'm planning on attemping to thru hike the PCT either next year or the year after (depended on how quickly I can pull the funds together!) and am in need of some advice on resupplies.
A few years ago I solo hiked along the length of the GR10, however resupply wasnt really a problem on this as you tended to drop into little villages on most days or could eat in the mountain huts when not camping.
I have already read:
PCT: A Hikers Companion
Hiking the Triple Crown
Long Distance Hiking (AT)
Beyond Backpacking
All of which have excellent advice on strategies for hiking this trail but are all mainly focused on how US nationals, who will be able to prepare food and equipment drops months in advance, can do it.
Being in the UK I dont have this luxury (I also dont know anyone in the US who could post items for me). So my question to anyone who has been on the trail is how did you arrange resupplies/posting out equipment (ie cold weather gear tothe Sierras, etc..)
It's many years since I hiked the PCT (none of those books existed - or the web come to that!) but my experience and that on subsequent long hikes may still be of use. On the PCT I had a company called Trail Foods drop ship my food plus maps. Trail Foods are no longer in business but other backpacking food companies may be prepared to offer the same service.
On other long walks in the USA and Canada I've allowed a few days before starting hiking to sort out and send supply boxes. I've also used a "bounce box", which I recommend. This is a tough cardboard box that you send on ahead to the next post office. It can contain gear you don't need for the next stage, surplus food from large packets, maps, town clothing, toiletries, battery rechargers and anything else you don't want to carry but may need in the future.
I'd mail cold weather gear ahead and then send it home when not needed. On the PCT there was exceptionally deep late snow in the High Sierra so I ended up purchasing snowshoes and crampons to supplement my ice axe.
You could also try posting on PCT and long distance hikers forums and message boards. Thru' hikers are a friendly bunch and it's quite likely there'll be someone who can help you.
Books: in addition to the Wilderness Press PCT guidebooks (3 volumes) which are essential, and the databook (not essential but makes life a _lot_ easier) the pct handbook www.pcthandbook.com has lots of resupply advice.
info sources: the pct-l is a reasonable email/web based list with lots of pct enthusiasts, and, as ever, its own proportion of folks who love an argument.
I'd split your resupply into: gear which may only sometimes be needed (e.g. ice axe), gear that you'll want to swap in/out (Bounce box as Chris suggests, i'd recommend using a 5 gallon paint bucket with resealable lid for this) and food.
Food can be purchased along the way - the only places we mailed food to (* indicates we could have got away with what we found in the small local store/post office) are:
Warner springs* (mile 110)
Kennedy meadows (700)
Burney Falls state park (1440) (nearby town so could hitch to resupply instead)
Crater Lake* (1820)
Small lake resort I can't remember (1900ish)
Stablers country store* (2175)
White Pass (2300)*
Snoqualmie (2400)
Stehekin (2570)
For our cold weather/snow & ice gear we carried it pretty much from the start up to Agua Dulce, then mailed it to Kennedy Meadows (along with bear canisters that we bought in LA, near Agua Dulce). We didn't need it after mile 1200 so we sent ice gear to a friend in the US in case we needed it back, but could easily have sent it home from there instead. We had a very snowy year so needed axes & crampons from mile 150 onwards.
We kept our guidebooks & maps in our bounce box along with spare batteries etc. Our experience was that a bounce box was like a comfort blanket - early on we met it a lot, but eventually got tired of trying to meet it at the post office and mail it on again, so we started bouncing it 2-500 miles at a time. After the snow ended we put our warm clothes in our bounce box (fleece leggings & down jackets, so quite compact) and took it out again around mile 2000 when the temperature started dropping.
Thanks a lot for your replies! Its great to hear from people that have actually do it without relying on contiunal food drops. To be honest the idea of arriving in the US and buy, package and post 6 months worth of food was starting to make me feel quite sick
Though, Chris, I'll certainly look into the idea of getting a food company to post some supplies to me while im on the trail.
Interetsing that you both had to use crampons. Was it a particularly cold year when you were there? Was the snow icy enough that it wouldnt have been possible to kick/chop steps in it? I do a reasonable amount of Scottish winter and alpine routes so am pretty confident at that sort of thing, but i suppose that isnt with a heavy pack on!
I'd also be interested in knowing what type of stoves you used. I took a MSR Superfly cannister stove for my trip on the GR10 and found it pretty difficult to hunt down places that sold them. Are they reasonable easy to come by on the PCT, or is multi-fuel the way to go?
The food cmpany thing is, IMO, an unnecessary complication. We self-mailed our food - it's easy when you get to a big town to take a day off, head to a supermarket & post office, and buy and send food to yourself for the next month. All ours were done this way - bought food at LA/Agua Dulce for Kennedy meadows, South Lake Tahoe for burney falls, Ashland for Crater lake/lake resort/Stablers, Cascade locks for the rest.
Crampons depend on a) the snow pack that year, b) when you choose to do the trail, and c) whether you're prepared to start late each morning and slog through wet(ter) snow that you can kick steps in more easily. In a high snow year, entering the sierra before c. 20th June, they'd be very helpful. In a low snow year, I wouldn't worry unless you enter in may (very early). Most people enter in the period 5-20th June. We used 6 point forefoot crampons, 200g/pair, and well worth it - we entered 1st June in one of the highest snow years on record, Chris IIRC was similar snowpack but entered in May. If it is very snowy, then kicking/chopping steps for 500 miles would get a bit tedious (we probably walked c. 350 miles of snow). You won't know snowpack conditions until mid/late April (there's lots of speculation on the PCTL before then, but the meltoff rate in April/May can affect things dramatically). Overall, crampons mean you can walk fast on well consolidated frozen snow early in the mornings before it starts to melt - I think the effort saving is enormous if there's much snow.
Stove - multifuel would probably be the worse option. Too heavy, and hard to find fuel. Best options are: 1) coke can alcohol stove (80% + use these) or 2) ultralight canister stove (pocket rocket/coleman F1 lite). The alcohol stoves run off fuel line antifreeze ("heet") that you can find in most gas stations. Canisters are harder to find, but they last so long it doesn't matter. We went through 1 225ml canister every 4 weeks for 2 of us, apart from in the snow where our usage quadrupled. You can also mail the canisters to yourself as long as you package & label them in a particular way.
also on the photo front: more pics show the difference between identical locations in June vs September, i.e. high snow vs no snow.
