Dear Geneva: I do plan to visit Arkansas in 2009 during my nationwide book tour. Details to come! Thank you for the encouragement!I really only have one major question-how in the heck do I set up food drops, or do you even do them-I'm sure you must for 170+ days on the trail?!?!? I prefer to eat healthy & I don't eat red meat-so jerky is a no go.
Also-when are you going to come around here & speak sometime? hehehe I'm sure you are a busy chap right now, but I'm sure all the local hikers would enjoy it!
Geneva
Food drops require a fair amount of work, but they're not that complicated.
1. You have to determine your pace. This can be hard, especially if you've never done a long distance trail. At first, 10 miles a day seems like a lot, but after a few hundred miles, you'll find it easy to do 10 miles by noon! Ask others who have hike the same trail for advice and then take your best guess.
2. You have to see where are the potential resupply points and how easy they are to get to (some require hitchhiking in remote locations, which is tough). Favor easy to get to places and those that are open 7 days a week.
3. Most long distance hikers carry 2-6 days of food and many feel that 4 days is optimal.
4. Buy in bulk (like at Costco) and buy variety, because you will get sick of eating the same thing all the time.
5. When in doubt, ship less food than you think you need. You can often buy a few extra things even at small stores.
6. When in doubt, buy locally instead of shipping a box. Some towns really don't have a good store (or any store), so you'll have to ship, but some have a small store that has enough stuff that you can get by. It's nice to have variety. It's hard to predict what you'll be in the mood for.
7. Don't panic! I can't think of a single backpacker who has ever died of starvation. You'll be fine!
I hope that helps!
You might check out this post about food too.
Happy trails,