Take a deep breath

If I can give you one piece of advice - This is easier than it looks, and way more simple.

A lot of people get caught up in the complexities of a resupply strategy. I get it, the trail is long and it feels like you have to figure out how you are going to feed yourself every day for four months before you even start. I was a control freak, I wanted to ship a box to every stop just for the certainty. But I didn’t and you don’t need to either.

This guide is all about removing ambiguity and helping you quickly and easily put together a great resupply plan.

Table of Contents

1. Focus

2. Sierra Resupplies

3. Case for Buying as You Go

4. Pre-Made Complete PCT Resupply Plan

5. What to Do With This Thing?

6. Other Than Food

7. My In-Town Routine

8. Resources

9. Summary

Focus

You don’t need to plan every day of food for the whole trail. Your tastes will change and your caloric needs will change as your body adapts to life on the trail. Planning too far out typically has very little benefit and will end up costing more than planning less. If you are planning on SOBO hiking the PCT, I recommend you don’t plan your resupplies for the whole trip, focus only on planning resupplies for the first month or two on trail.

One to two months(which works about to be about Washington and Oregon) seems to be the sweet spot. This gives you some space to figure out the other parts of hiking without worrying about food for a while, but also isn’t so far out that you can’t implement all the things you learn into the rest of your resupply plan.

If you like planning: Plan Washington and Oregon
If you DON’T like planning: Just plan Washington and Timberline Lodge, worry about the rest of Oregon when you get to Cascade Locks.

Washington & Oregon

Here is where you should spend your time preparing resupplies before you hit the trail. Almost all of the places I recommend you send boxes to are in Washington and Oregon. So before you get on the trail focus on making sure all those are ready to go. See my Pre-Made Complete PCT Resupply Plan below for where your boxes should go!

Washington typically has 5 resupply stops, while Oregon usually has 5-6. If you only want to plan Washington, you can plan your Oregon boxes when you get to Cascade Locks.(Exception: You should ship your box to Timberline Lodge before getting to Cascade Locks, that way it has enough time to arrive before you do.)

Some people have gotten away with less planning, and some have chosen to do more but this is a good overall strategy.

California

Once you’ve made it to California you will have nearly 1000 miles under your legs, you will be accustomed to resupplying and you will have a better sense of what your body needs and wants. Northern and Southern California are very easy to resupply in, the towns are in general much larger than in the past two states and Dollar Generals(the best resupply spot ever) are abundant. The only thing you need to think about and really plan for is your resupply in the the Sierras.

Sierra Resupplies

Resupplying in the Sierras can be a bit tricky, for two reasons:

1. Many of the potential resupply points are significantly off trail, and require hiking extra miles over tough terrain and at high elevation.

2. Many of the resorts and ranches begin to close down for the season in late September.

Off Trail

The Sierras contain some of the most remote sections of the PCT. You are far out and the options for resupplying are correlated with that. After Mammoth Lakes and Red’s Meadow Resort(SOBO mile 1746) the next on trail resupply is at Kennedy Meadows(SOBO mile 1950). Between those two you have a few options, none of which are easy.

Starting at Mammoth Lakes/Red’s Meadow Resort:

• Pack food for a 204 mile stretch straight to Kennedy Meadows

• Vermillion Valley Resort(SOBO mile 1773.9) - 6.5mi off trail(one way). There is a ferry that runs twice a day, only a 1.3 mile trek to the pick up location.

• Muir Trail Ranch(SOBO mile 1794.9) - 1.3mi off trail(one way).

• Bishop/Independence(SOBO mile 1864.1) -7.5mi off trail(one way) over Kearsarge pass. Then a hitch or shuttle bus into town.

Closing for the Season

As the seasons change many of the ranches and resorts in the Sierras close up for the year before the snow begins to fall. Unfortunately for SOBOs, sometimes they can close before we are even able to get through the mountains. This happened for me at Tuolumne Meadows. I sent a box there but arrived one day after they had closed for the season.

Many of these places close on different dates each year depending on the weather. Here are the dates that they closed in 2018 for reference.

• Kennedy Meadows North(Sonora Pass)- 10/8

• Tuolumne Meadows - 9/23

• Mammoth Lakes - The town is open year round. But it may be hard to hitchhike down once Red’s Meadows closes for the season.

• Red’s Meadows - 9/30

• Vermillion Valley Resort - 10/8

• Muir Trail Ranch - 9/22

• Bishop/Independence - These towns are open year round.

To avoid showing up at a closed resupply location, call each place you might stop at while you are in Northern California. Ask them what day they plan to close this year and be sure to either get there beforehand or make an alternate plan. Don’t bother making a plan before then.

What to do About It

Don’t worry about it at all before you get on the trail or while you are walking through Washington and Oregon. It will be too early to do anything about it. When you get to Northern California you can start thinking about it.

At one of your stops in NorCal(Etna, Burney, Chester, etc.) take 20 minutes to call all of the resorts above and ask them when they are closing for the season. You should know how fast you can walk by now, so you can determine if you will be there in time or not. Based on that decide on a resupply plan for the Sierras and ship any boxes you need to accordingly while still in NorCal.

The Case for Buying as You Go

I was always an advocate of planning out everything to the maximum degree possible. I found that when it came to resupplying on the PCT, it was not necessary and was sometimes much more expensive to plan too far in advance.

Here are a few of the reasons to consider shipping a few less boxes and buying more in grocery and convenience stores as you walk.

• Food is heavy, most people ship large flat rate boxes, which cost $18.20. Do that a few times and it adds up fast.

• Many places on trail(Not Post Offices) will charge an additional fee between $5-15 for holding your box.

• When you buy in store, you only buy what you need. If you send a box, you often end up with extra food. This is what hiker boxes live off of.

• When you buy in store, you buy what you want to eat, not what you thought you’d wan a few months ago.

• Post Office hours are generally much more restricted than grocery store hours, meaning you spend more time, and sometimes days, waiting to pick up your package.

• Lastly, when you buy in small towns you are supporting local economy and helping the trail towns we love so much.

There are some places where there is a legitimate need to send a box, but in many cases you can buy from wherever you are. See below for the places I think deserve to receive a box.

Pre-Made Complete PCT Resupply Plan

I spent countless hours before my hike pulling together all of the data for my resupply strategy. With so many people hiking the PCT, I was surprised there wasn’t an already made complete solution. So I made one. Here is a PCT resupply plan that incorporates everything I learned on the trail. It is ready for you to take it and go hiking.

It contains the exact resupply plan that I would recommend. Feel free to use it exactly as is or use it as a template to work off.

There is a link to the Google Sheets version of the document here. You can make a copy of it and then make any edits or additions that you want.

Disclaimers:
The above information represents my best efforts to find current info about each site, but I cannot guarantee accuracy
There are many more possible resupply points along the PCT, these are the ones that I think are best, easiest and necessary.
Each individuals resupply plan should be build to suit their needs. Please use this only if it is helpful.

What do I do With This Thing?

Relish, this looks great! Now what the heck do I do with it? Great question. Here is the quick-start guide:

1. Click here and go to the google sheet version of the spreadsheet.

2. Click “File” then “Make a copy”, name it after yourself.

3. Now open that new sheet, scroll to the bottom and find “Daily Milage Estimates” cells colored in yellow.

4. Fill those out with how fast you conservatively think you will be able to walk that section of the trail.

5. Column F the “Days Til Next” column will automatically populate with the number of days until you reach the next resupply based on your input.

6. For each location you want to ship a box to, you now know how many days you’ll need to pack.

7. Send me any feedback you have on the sheet.

8. Go to the store and start buying the food you need!

Other Than Food

There are a few other things you may want to consider throwing in your box or picking up when you are in town depending on your preference and location on the trail:

• Toilet paper

• Sunscreen

• Bug spray

• toothpaste

• Socks or other gear

• ground sheet - I used polycro and would get a tear every so often

• Fuel

My In-Town Routine

Whenever I arrived in town, I generally wanted to find a booth in a diner somewhere, stuff my face and then go braindead for a little while. To make sure I got everything in town done that I needed to, I created a list and checked through it at each stop. I simply made a note on my phone and this kept me from forgetting things. Here are the things that were on my list, each one was not always applicable:

• Look at next resupply(google maps, location website, Guthooks, etc)

• Clean my pot

• Wash clothes

• Shower

• Charge batteries

• Check weather report

• Check fire report

• Send pictures to my family

• Call family

• Download new podcasts/music/books I wanted to listen to 

I recommend you keep a short list of the things you always want to accomplish while in town, that way you’ll never worry about forgetting something.

Other Resources

There are many more resources for planning your resupply. Here are some that I used while planning my thruhike.

1. PCTA

2. Craig’s PCT Planner

3. Halfway to Anywhere

4. Plan Your Hike

In Summary

A PCT resupply does not need to be a massive and intimidating endeavor. Don’t try to plan for the whole trail, just do Washington. And if you are really excited, you can plan Oregon too.

If you still have questions about your resupply strategy or have other questions about your upcoming hike, send me a message here and I would be happy to help you out more!

Thanks for stopping by and happy trails!