Resupply Planning
IN THIS LESSON
How to Forage online to find the most convenient, tastiest stops.
FarOut will be your Rosetta Stone for researching your food options on trail.
This lesson will cover how to select resupply points based on FarOut that fit best into your hiking style (and appetite!)
USING FarOut
FarOut is your main navigational tool for any long distance thru hike. You can purchase a trail bundle that will include all sections of that trail (each section is about 400-500 miles.)
Although you can thru hike without FarOut (the PCT and AT are well blazed enough), FarOut provides extremely useful and convenient information. I highly recommend utilizing this resource.
All resupply planning in this course is based around using FarOut.
Getting Started with FarOUT
FarOut not only shows waypoints on trail but also popular waypoints off trail, aka town or other civilized stopping points. Let’s take a look at how to find these stops.
FarOut categorizes waypoints with certain colors and icons to make it easy to distinguish.
Specifically for resupply you are looking for the “Store” icon. Stores may not always be in towns. In fact, there are many times that resupply stores are not in towns. Do not treat the town and store icons as mutually exclusive.
However, it is important to note that not all stores are on FarOut. Large grocery store chains typically do not have an icon marker. You can use Google Maps or another mapping app to see those locations in larger towns. Many times fellow hikers will leave comments under the town icon sharing their favorite store.
Descriptions and Comments
Every FarOut waypoint has a short description (written and controlled by FarOut) and then user generated comments. The description will provide more facts such as hours and address while the comments will give insight into pricing, accessibility, and options.
Always check the waypoint description for the TOWN and the STORE.
Connecting Trail to TOwn
Once you locate a store icon on FarOut your next task is determining where and how to access the store. Sometimes the store is right on trail or within 0.5 miles which makes it an easy, clear defined stop. Sometimes it is accessible via a road, but there can be multiple roads options at different mile markers on trail.
You find the '“off-point” to town one of two ways.
(1) Visually look for roads connecting trail to the town or resupply point.
(2) Using the list view in FarOut you can see the mile marker that the town is listed as closest too. This is not always accurate but it can help give you a place to start.
Example
For this example, we are going to use NOBO mile 77.3 through 179.4 on the Pacific Crest Trail.
You are resupplying in Julian at mile 77.3. You are pretty sure that you want to go into the town of Idyllwild when you get there, but need to determine your resupply options from Julian to Idyllwild.
Let’s look for the next resupply point.
*Download the example PDF for screenshots included in the video.
Factoring in the Pros and Cons of Resupply stop options
Part of determining a resupply point is weighing the feasibility and convivence of the stop. While you might hear that there is “only” one resupply option, that is rarely true. Normally there are several options, and it is just a matter of deciding how long you want to carry a resupply depending on the pros and cons of the resupply options.
The pros and cons that we weigh when selecting a resupply point are:
Distance from trail (convenience)
Distance from previous resupply and to next resupply
Cost
Selection
The first two points above can be addressed by assessing FarOut in the manner outlined above. The last two points can be deciphered through user comments on the STORE waypoint.
As with any user generated content, make sure to keep a discerning mind when evaluating comments. An “expensive” resupply can have significantly different meanings depending on the author. Comments that explicitly state prices of a few key items will be the most accurate in gauging the price expectations. Knorr Sides, tuna, and potatoes are standard items that nearly every resupply store will have and if those are marked up then you can prepare for everything else to be as well.
Example Continued
Let’s continue on with the example above and weigh the pros and cons of the three resupply points we already identified.