Resupply is a type of thru-hike subjects that sounds purely logistical till you’re standing in a gasoline station holding three Snickers, a dented can of Pringles, and a field you mailed your self two months in the past questioning what past-you was making an attempt to perform.
The reality is, resupply doesn’t have to be excellent. It simply must help your rhythm on path.
This submit covers how to consider resupply, what really belongs in a resupply field, and the way a number of easy methods could make city stops quicker, cleaner, and manner much less chaotic.
Begin With a Resupply Fashion That Matches You
Most thru-hikers land someplace between planning every little thing and planning nothing.
Mail drops work properly when you have dietary restrictions, depend on particular dietary supplements, or identical to understanding what’s coming. Shopping for meals as you go affords flexibility and fewer logistics. Many hikers use a hybrid strategy, mailing bins to harder-to-shop sections and resupplying in cities in all places else.
The precise selection is the one which reduces friction for you. If planning forward lowers stress, lean into it. If flexibility retains you sane, construct round that.
What Really Belongs in a Resupply Field
Most resupply bins don’t fail as a result of they’re lacking meals. They fail as a result of they’re disorganized.
A stable resupply field often consists of:
- Meals you already know you’ll eat
- A number of calorie-dense staples you may depend on
- Electrolytes or drink mixes
- Dietary supplements or medicines
- Small alternative objects like blister care or sunscreen
Packing these things into smaller inside luggage makes an enormous distinction. Meals in a single place. City-only objects in one other. Random necessities like chargers, headlamp batteries, and meds stored collectively in a ditty or oddity bag so that they don’t disappear into the underside of your pack.
This additionally makes it simpler to bounce what you don’t want. Seize what’s important, reseal the remaining, and transfer on.
Cooking and Consuming With out the City Chaos
Resupply is when your meals system both proves itself or turns into annoying.
A easy cook dinner package makes town-to-trail transitions smoother. A 750 ml pot hits the candy spot for many thru-hikers, sufficiently big for dinners however compact sufficient to pack simply. Protecting your pot nested with a pot pocket helps insulate meals and protects different gear when every little thing will get stuffed again into your pack.
Lengthy-handled utensils matter greater than individuals anticipate. They allow you to eat instantly from luggage with out getting meals throughout your arms, which is very helpful on the primary time out of city when every little thing feels barely sticky. Some hikers carry a titanium spoon or spork for sturdiness, others desire a bamboo spoon for consolation and ease.
And sure, some individuals cook dinner of their mug, some of their pot, and a few in a devoted system like a crotch pot. The precise reply is the one which retains you fed with minimal effort.
Quantity Issues as A lot as Weight
Resupply planning usually focuses on energy per ounce, however quantity issues simply as a lot.
Cumbersome meals fills packs rapidly, particularly proper after city. Roll-top packs assist handle this, however group helps much more. Utilizing a Snack Sack or storage sacks for meals allows you to compress quantity as provides disappear as a substitute of preventing a set form for days.
Pack liners play a giant function right here too. They shield meals and sleep methods when resupply days overlap with rain, spilled drinks, or leaky packaging.
None of that is about being fancy. It’s about leaving city with out your pack feeling like a brick.
Water Carries and Stretch Sections
Not all resupply planning is about meals. Some sections require longer water carries, and that modifications the way you pack.
Collapsible water containers make it straightforward to scale capability solely while you want it. Carry extra via dry stretches, then roll it down and overlook about it when water is plentiful once more.
Protecting water accessible issues too. Shoulder strap pockets or bottle methods allow you to drink persistently with out stopping, which helps with vitality, hydration, and general temper throughout lengthy days.
Learn our total weblog about water carries and storage right here.
Snacks, Entry, and Consuming Typically
Most thru-hikers don’t bonk as a result of they forgot energy. They bonk as a result of meals is annoying to succeed in.
Protecting snacks accessible modifications every little thing. A feedbag or hip belt pocket provides you a spot for bars, sweet, and salty snacks that you would be able to seize with out stopping. It encourages constant consuming, which retains vitality and morale regular all through the day.
The identical goes for methods just like the Naked Boxer. For shorter meals carries or sections the place meals storage issues, having a compact, inflexible container simplifies packing and removes decision-making round methods to retailer meals at evening.
Don’t Overlook the Small Stuff
Resupply bins are additionally the place small consolation objects shine.
A mini lip balm, sunscreen stick, or recent hygiene merchandise can really feel disproportionately good after days on path. Reef-safe solar safety is very useful in uncovered sections the place shade is restricted and reapplication must be fast and mess-free.
These are the issues that don’t weigh a lot however can shield you and make you’re feeling human once more.
Count on Your Plan to Change
Each thru-hiker ultimately opens a field, laughs, and sends half of it forward.
Your urge for food will change.
Your mileage will change.
Your tolerance for sure meals will completely change.
Construct your resupply plan understanding you’ll regulate it. Bounce bins. Commerce meals. Purchase one thing bizarre simply because it sounds good within the second.
Resupply isn’t about optimization. It’s about sustainability.
Resupply Is a Talent You Be taught by Doing
The primary few resupplies would possibly really feel clumsy. That’s regular. By a number of hundred miles in, you’ll know what number of days you want to hold, what meals really give you the results you want, and methods to pack your package so leaving city feels easy as a substitute of tense.
Good gear helps, however methods matter extra. Easy group. Dependable waterproofing. Easy accessibility to meals and water. Instruments that keep out of your manner so you may deal with strolling.
That’s the aim of resupply.
Hold it easy. Hold adjusting. Hold transferring.
