[pct-l] MTR vs. Bishop resupply

[MAXINE WEYANT]

Yoshihiro, the buckets we are talking about are any plastic bucket with a lid and a handle.  If you go to a restaurant or have a friend who works at one, you might be able to get a used bucket that once contained a few gallons of a food product. Housepainters use those buckets to mix several gallons of paint if they're painting a large room, and they can buy them empty at many hardware stores.  Or, if you buy a large container of laundry detergent that comes in a square or round bucket. The container just has to be mouseproof, the handle is so they can dangle it off a mule.  AT the Muir Ranch, I did see some containers there that were just like the kind of rectangular plastic box with a lid one might use to store sweaters under a bed.   They did have some tape to reinforce the lid closure. 

 

I spent 2 days at the Muir Ranch nursing an injury. I can't say enough good things about them. I did get to witness their amazingly organized resupply storage system, the large shed they store it all in, the systematic way they check things in.  The best thing is their "hiker box" system--they have a row of 10-20 buckets containing items that people got rid of, either because they got sick of their food by then, or they sent way too much. This is for all John Muir Trail hikers, so there's stuff from PCT thru-hikers and stuff from boy scouts and more novice hikers such as a 5 lb bag of peanuts, ramen noodles, camp soap, and other non-food items. Some people who were out of food completely resupplied from those buckets--either because their bucket never came, they decided to hike longer than planned, or they hadn't sufficiently anticipated their caloric needs and ran out of food. 

 

If you show up after dark, do NOT touch the building that houses the kitchen is in because they have it wired to deliver a mild electrical shock to bears. Maxine