Pacific Crest Trail Resupply

The Pacific Crest Trail is a little different from the Appalachian Trail. You will be hiking 100 miles instead of 50 - 70 miles before your next resupply. You are not walking in to town, you will need to hitch. Not every town has a full grocery store in town. Some resupplies were done in gas stations, several times in a row, for weeks. Our hiking allowed us to be able to resupply every 3.5 - 4 days for a 100 mile stretch. We enjoy stopping as often as possible, but we hike 30+ miles a day. A gas station that is 1 mile off the trail is worth resupplying; rather than trying to carry two more days of food and not stopping at the gas station.

You can hike the Pacific Crest Trail without any Food Drops and with little trouble.

The key to success is to find out what you enjoy eating and can be stocked easily. We never knew Beef Jerky is sold in every gas station and store in America. Pop Tarts are too! Candy Bars and Potatoe Chips have variety and taste good whole or crunched. In the High Sierras, We carried 9 days of food in a Golite Breeze without resupplying all the way from the Kennedy Meadows Store (mile 702.8) to Mammoth Lakes (mile 906.6). Resupplying is not difficult on the Pacific Crest Trail. We only had one Food Drop Box for 2,650 miles; and that was for our 9 day stint in the High Sierras. The Food Drop at Kennedy Meadows could have been avoided had we wanted to stop in Independence, Bishop, VVR.

We want to help those that follow. Below is a list of our Resupplies on our Thru Hike of the Pacific Crest Trail.

Resupply	Miles	Distance	Days to Hike Section	Where we Did It!	What we might Do Next Time / Notes
1	0 - 77.6	El Cajon to Julian	4	El Cajon (Full Grocery Store)	Could have bought everything out of Campo Trading Post (but Post is Limited), good for snacks
2	77.6 - 109.6	Julian to Warner Springs	1.5	Julian Market & Deli (Medium Store)	Two stores to resupply. Jack's Grocery- limited supplies and more pricey. Julian Market- Full Resupply with fruits and vegetables
3	109.6 - 151.3	Warner Springs to Idyllwild	2	Warner Springs gas station (Small Store)	Purchased Pop Tarts, Chips, Candy Bars, Ramen (Very small gas station, but Attendant supplies towards Hikers' needs. Gas Station is aware of Hikers)
4	151.3 - 265.3	Idyllwild to Big Bear	4.5	Fairway Foods (Full Grocery Store)	Fairway Foods is large store hidden in shopping center with Post Office behind European bakery. Fairway Foods doesn't carry name brands in all products
5	265.3 - 342.1	Big Bear to Cajon Pass	2.5	Vons (Full Grocery Store)	Two stores in town. Vons was nicer and had everything.
6	342.1 - 454.9	Cajon Pass to Aqua Dulce	3.5	Chevron gas station (Small Store)	Not the easiest of resupplies. Pop Tarts, Potatoe Chips, Ramen, Candy Bars, Fruit. Expensive, but this stop helped us to make it 4 days on this food and how to deal with other resupplies to come.
7	454.9 - 518.4	Aqua Dulce to Highway 138	2.25	Sweetwater Farms (Full Grocery Store)	Great Grocery Store with coffee, milkshakes, fruit. Resupplied for most of High Sierras 9 day supply here.
8	518.4 to 566.6	Highway 138 to Tehachapi	1.5	The Country Store (Small Store)	Chairs, table, milk, ice cream. Very Limited, but doable.
9	566.6 - 652	Tehachapi to Onyx	3	Albertson's (Full Grocery Store)	Full Resupply in Tehachapi
10	652 - 702.8	Onyx to Kennedy Meadows	2	Gas Station (Small Store)	Could be a tough hitch, little traffic. Restaurant was closed. Probably would skip Onyx next time.
11	702.8 - 906.6	Kennedy Meadows to Mammoth Lakes	10	Aqua Dulce (Full Resupply)	We spent our time in Aqua Dulce to prepare for the High Sierras. With the Saufley's help, you can get to ALL the grocery stores you would need. Could have resupplied from Kennedy Meadows General Store to one of the stops in High Sierras (Independence, Bishop, VVR). Don't think you would want to rely on making it from Kennedy Meadows General Store to Mammoth Lakes just from Kennedy Meadows General Store...they do run out of supplies.
12	906.6 - 1018.3	Mammoth Lakes to Bridgeport	3.5	Vons (Full Grocery Store)
13	1018.3 - 1094.5	Bridgeport to South Lake Tahoe	2.5	Buster's Market (Medium Grocery Store)	Buster's is pricey.
14	1094.5 - 1155.8	South Lake Tahoe to Soda Springs	1.5	Safeway (Full Grocery Store)
15	1155.8 - 1197.6	Soda Springs to Sierra City	1.5	Soda Springs General Store (Small Grocery Store)	Enough to survive to get you to Sierra City.
16	1197.6 - 1265.4	Sierra City to Bucks Lake	2.25	Sierra City Country Store (Small/Medium Grocery Store)	Great Store. Does not have everything, but more than enough to Bucks Lake, or Belden.
17	1265.4 - 1289.3	Bucks Lake to Belden	1.25	Bucks Lake Restaurant & Store	Very pricey, and Limited. Would resupply from Sierra City to Belden. Good place to top off snacks (Pop Tarts, Candy Bars)
18	1289.3 - 1335.8	Belden to Chester	1.5	Caribou Crossroads Store (very small store)	Very, very limited. Ramen, Pop Tarts. The hardest resupply and for only 46 miles to Chester. If hikers get backed up in Belden, Caribou will be even more limited. If you can resupply here, you are golden the rest of the way. Do NOT count on Belden Resort. The Resort only carried canned goods, that is it! No resupply here. Canned Drinks were $1. Just plan on skipping the Belden Resort, unless you want an adventure with the locals.
19	1335.8 - 1377.7	Chester to Old Station	1.5	Holiday Foods (Full Grocery Store)
20	1377.7 - 1415.9	Old Station to Town of Burney	1.25	Old Station Convenience Store (Small Store)	Limited Resupply. Jerky, Ramen, Pop Tarts, Potatoe Chips. Small Cook Counter with ice cream and milkshakes. Buy Snacks only here to get you to the Town of Burney.
21	1415.9 - 1506.5	Town of Burney to Mt Shasta	3	Safeway (Full Grocery Store)	Burney Falls State Park (mile 1423.9) has snacks and microwaveable foods. Can eat a meal/snack here and avoid taking it from Burney.
22	1506.5 - 1606.3	Mt Shasta to Etna	3	Ray's Food (Full Grocery Store)	Berryvale Natural Food Store next door to Post Office.
23	1606.3 - 1662.1	Etna to Seiad Valley	Closed to Fires	Ray's Food (Medium Grocery Store)	Resupplied here for Seiad Valley to Ashland.
24	1662.1 - 1726.6	Seiad Valley to Ashland	2	Seiad Valley Store (Small Store)	Snacks. Carry dinners from Etna.
25	1726.6 - 1830.4	Ashland to Crater Lake (Mazama Village)	3	Albertsons (Full Grocery Store)	There are a number of Grocery Stores in town. Food Co-Op has variety for specialty shopper.
26	1830.4 - 1912.2	Crater Lake (Mazama Village) to Shelter Cove Resort	2.25	Mazama Village Store (Small Store)	New Store and Restaurant. Store was well Stocked for a small store. Restaurant has buffet.
27	1912.2 - 1958.3	Shelter Cove Resort to Elk Lake Resort	1.5	Shelter Cove Store (Small Store)	Very Expensive. Limited, but doable.
28	1958.3 - 1989.5	Elk Lake Resort to McKenzie Pass	1	Elk Lake Resort (very very limited supplies)	Only has small amounts of jerky. Less than 10 items you could take with you, and it's expensive. Only come here for a meal, and they may be closed. The power went out when we were there, and they would not help anyone - you'd be stuck.
Trail Closed due to Fires.
29	2053.1 - 2155	Olallie Lake Resort to Cascade Locks	3	Purchased in Portland
30	2155 - 2302.5	Cascade Locks to White Pass	4.5	Columbia Market (Medium Grocery Store)	Stabler's Country Store (mile 2189.1) - Geared towards hikers. Snacks and resupply to top off from Cascade Locks. No need to carry snacks here from Cascade Locks. Wish I would have known. Friendly store owner.
31	2302.5 - 2401.7	White Pass to Snoqualmie Pass	2.75	IGA (Medium / Full Grocery Store) in Packwood
32	2401.7 - 2476.3	Snoqualmie Pass to Skykomish	2.75	Chevron + small grocery store	Small grocery store has a fair amount of supplies for hikers, added with Chevron, it worked.
33	2476.3 - 2564.1	Skykomish to Stehekin	3.5	Chevron (Small Store) + Skykomish Deli / Bakery	Between the Chevron and the Bakery you can make it.
34	2574.1 - 2663.5	Stehekin to Manning Park Lodge	2.75	Stehekin Bakery + Lodge Store (very small store)	Both places are Expensive. Carry cinnamon rolls, sandwich, brownies from the Bakery. The Lodge Store only has cup-o-soups, candy bars, small bags of chips. You can make It!