Anatomy of a PCT Resupply Box

As I sit here inhaling the smoky scent of beef jerky drying in the dehydrator and with boxes of supplies lining the wall behind me, it occurs to me that it could be valuable to share exactly what is included in one of my re-supply boxes with all of you who are thinking of planning your own long-distance hike.  This aspect of planning has taken me the most time and effort, but seeing these packages finally come together is really satisfying and quite a relief!  This has been a major hurdle and now it is one less thing standing between me and the crunch of my first steps on the trail. 

Knowing that at least half of my food on the trail is already prepared (I am only shipping re-supply boxes to 12 towns along the way) will enable me to enjoy large stretches of trail and plenty of zero-days in town without worrying about food shopping or fuel re-supply.  So let's get to it!

More On Food Dehydration and On-Trail Meal Strategy

As I am approaching the 100-day mark in the countdown to the beginning of my hike, I wanted to provide an update on my food preparation for the PCT hike.  Here is what has worked for me so far...


I decided early on that I would ship pre-packaged meals to myself in only half of my town stops.  For the rest, I will rely on resupplying in town or enjoying restaurant meals when available.  I am more happy with this decision now after getting a taste for how much work would be involved in preparing and packaging 150 breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks!  Even if you cut that in half, that still leaves 75 days of meals to prepare - no simple task.  For these meals, I am finding that dehydrating food is the most effective way of getting the nutrition and convenience I will need on the trail.  See my previous blog on dehydrating potato soup for a description of one of my first experiments with dehydrating soup.  Some advantages that I like are:  guaranteed nutrition through knowing what goes into each meal (dehydrating preserves the nutrients in the food), lightweight, variety, ease of preparation on the trail, and definitely taste!  I have relied on the following sources for tips and recipes for this endeavor:

Dehydrating Potato Soup!

Nutrition is important to me.  Hiking through mainly small towns on a 5 month Pacific Crest Trail hike will require some nutritional trade-offs, but I plan on swinging the pendulum at least a little bit in my favor by pre-planning some nutritional meals and then dehydrating them, prepackaging them and shipping them to myself in several stops along my hike.  See my PCT Itinerary for my planned stops and shipping locations along the PCT.