[pct-l] pct-l] On-trail shopping

[Ann Marie]

Re: I had an idea of seeing how far $50-75 would get me on the trail,the
section that ive been talking about not resupplying on(ken to
mammoth).

Mike,


You'll do just fine, even with a tight budget.  Take lots of dried rice 
and pasta (angel hair/tortellini) pasta, and ramen/asian/miso soups thru
 the Sierras. And dried veggie chili or beans from Fantastic Foods. 
Squash them down and poke holes in the wrappings (or any dry-food 
wrappings) to get them as small as possible, and I strongly recommend a 
small bottle of olive oil or dry ground flaxseed - it is worth the 
weight thru this section alone - you'll manage to regain enough calories thru 
every other section thru your own packing.



I did the JMT in late summer 09 as a section hiker, going southbound. Yes, you CAN 
yogi day section hikers for food if necessary - all of us are 
carrying extra food. But please don't ask a thru-hiker for food.  Also 
please don't count on going thru the buckets at the MTR unless you pay 
for the re-supply bucket delivery. I paid, bought alcohol fuel, raided the 
buckets, and still left some of my re-supply food behind. More 
importantly, I was able to leave my trash behind thanks to their 
generosity.  Keep in mind that MTR won't normally let you in without a 
resupply unless you are especially charming. They work their butts off 
accommodating hikers and I'll spend the $ to go back in a heartbeat, but
 please don't expect freebies from them. As everyone has stated, it 
takes $$ to get the goods to them in the first place. Their fee is not 
unreasonable.


I was going southbound and took a night off (but not a zero) at Mammoth. This night was not originally planned since I had the MTR resupply, but the night was needed to convince a co-hiker that she could go no farther. I got off the trail before 5 pm. She didn't meet me in Mammoth until 9 pm. I was back on the PCT by 7 am the next morning. If I had to do again, I would not exit the trail. It was not difficult, but certainly not restful, and was definitely wasteful in terms of $$. Wait until Tuoluomme when going north.