The countdown begins. T minus 6 weeks. I need to be training but I’ll be in flatland Florida for the next 4 weeks, so…. it will be what it will be. 😳

Planning resupplies is quite a chore. Imagine having to plan 40-50 breakfasts, 40-50 lunches, 40-50 dinners and hundreds of snacks 6 -7 weeks ahead of time. Ugh…..arduous!! But, it must be done. 

This time I dehydrated all of my dinners. Hopefully I will look forward to a “home cooked” meal each evening that will taste good. This was quite a chore but I think it will help with keeping weight on and energy up. It’s a struggle to find store bought food light enough and nutritious that you enjoy and don’t have to choke down.  

I’ve started and am almost done packing 6 boxes of food to be mailed to trail towns ahead of myself. Here is an example of a typical resupply box contents. This will last me 7 days. 

For the box I’ll send to Pine, AZ (a little more than halfway), I will include a new pair of shoes, a fresh pair of socks, a new water filter and maybe one or two other fresh clothing items. The old ones will be trashed (because after 400 miles in the same clothes everyday no amount of laundry detergent can get rid of the stench)! 🤷‍♀️

The 6 boxes will supply me for about 600 miles. For the final 200 miles I’ll buy groceries in town instead of sending a box. Flaggstaff and the Grand Canyon South Rim should have some decent items to choose from. 

I will finalize this process and mail the first box about 5 days before I leave. It should be waiting for me at Terra Sol campground in Patagonia, AZ by the time I arrive there which I estimate to be about the 17th of March. The other boxes will be mailed a day or two before I leave home since it will be a little later before I get to those destinations on the trail. 

I prefer sending my own items ahead for a couple of reasons. One is that when you arrive in town you don’t have to spend precious time grocery shopping and repackaging things to save weight and space—-it’s already done. I’d much rather use that time to shower and maybe get laundry done if there’s time and a place. Another is the selection in most small trails is very limited. Some only have gas stations or Dollar Stores for resupplies so I usually end up with a ton of junk food, which is good, but not very nutritious. 

I always look forward to getting to towns for a resupply, shower and a hot town meal. I think the only drawback I can think of about going to town for a resupply is that you’ve lightened your load having eaten most all of your food by the time you get there so leaving town with a full pack again is heavy and cumbersome and “most” trail towns are in valleys so there’s usually a climb staring you in the face as you head back out on trail with a full pack. 

If you haven’t read waaaay back in this blog, my friend Karen named my pack “Olfrie”, short for Old Friend.  I have a love/hate relationship with Olfrie. She safely holds “EVERYTHING” I need to live on trail, but she’s fat, heavy, bulky, hot and weighs me down. I couldn’t do it without her though, so she must come along and I must accept her presence. 🤩 If only she could talk. 😂😂😂