Resupplying on the Arizona Trail
Ramen > roast Squirrel
One of the most common questions asked by those unfamiliar with the world of thru hiking is often something along the lines of, “But… how do you get food?” Visons of foraging berries, snatching trout straight from crystal clear streams (with your bare hands, of course) and hunting squirrels to roast over an open campfire flash in front of wondering eyes. Thankfully none of that is necessary on any thru hike, including the Arizona Trail. Access points into towns are surprisingly frequent, either from the trail crossing a nearby road or going directly through it. Hikers are left with the option of buying food in these towns as they go or sending resupply boxes to a local business or post office. On the Arizona trail specifically, it would have been possible to not send a single box and exclusively buy food along the way. However, I found a mix of these options to work best for me.
Buying in town vs boxes
Sending resupply boxes is notoriously a bit of headache. After having several boxes not arrive at their destination on time (or ever…) during my PCT thru hike, I had sworn off sending boxes whenever possible. It’s easier most of the time to buy as you go and not stress about getting things sent/delivered on time. Not to mention trying to work around the strange hours of the tiny town’s post office. That said, those small town’s grocery options can be limited and very expensive. On the Arizona Trail in particular, towns will get further apart and more expensive the further north you go.
Boxes are often the cheaper and more time efficient option. The legwork of figuring out what and how much food you’ll eat for the next stretch has already been done and ideally all that’s left to do is pick it up and throw it in your pack. Sometimes it’s nice to not spend 10 minutes in the cracker isle trying to decide which flavor of Cheez-It is calling your name. Maybe that’s just me. Anyway, in an effort to walk the fine line of sending just the right number of boxes, I decided to send them to only 3 out of 12 town stops on the Arizona Trail.
Tip: When sending boxes make sure to mark the outside with something easily recognizable like patterned/colored tape or stickers to make it quicker to find your box among everyone else’s. Popular businesses and post offices along the trail are often swamped with packages during hiker season.
What worked for me
Below you’ll find a complete breakdown of every town I went to, whether I shipped a box or bought in town, the distance between each, if you need to hitch or can walk in, where/if I stayed somewhere, and any shipping addresses I used (always double check before sending your own boxes).
Start – Sierra Vista: Mile 0
- Buy for a 51-mile stretch
Patagonia: Mile 51
- Buy for a 74-mile stretch
- A couple options in town, decent selection and prices
- The new trail reroute goes just outside of town. You can either walk an alternate (the old AZT) into town or grab a short easy hitch where the new reroute crosses the road.
- TerraSol campground is a great place to stay while in town and is within walking or riding (with the bikes they have available) distance to everything in town.
Colossal Cave: Mile 125
- Box for a 73-mile stretch
- Trail goes right by; it’s a short detour up to the visitor center
- Absolutely loaded hiker box in the visitor center when I was there, wouldn’t rely on it but could be good way to supplement your box.
- Open 8am – 5pm
[Your name and ETA]
Colossal Cave Mountain Park
16721 E Old Spanish Trail
Vail, AZ 85641
Summerhaven: Mile 183
- Expensive general store but decent hiker box
- Grabbed a few snacks to get to Oracle the next day
- Trail goes directly through town
- Limited very expensive lodging in town.
Oracle: Mile 198
- Buy for a 65-mile stretch
- A couple limited grocery options in town but decent prices
- Can either walk the road or grab a short hitch into town
- Expensive lodging in town, the popular Chalet Village Motel looked to be out of business. I ended up staying at a trail angel’s small farm.
Kearney: Mile 263
- Buy for a 37-mile stretch
- Easy hitch into town
- Grocery store and dollar general in town, good selection
- Tempting to skip but Kearney lived up to its reputation for being the friendliest town on the AZT! I enjoyed a light pack all the way to Superior.
Superior: Mile 300
- Buy for a 45-mile stretch
- A couple good grocery options in town
- Easy hitch into town from the popular Picket Post Trailhead
- If you’re a plant person and have extra time, check out the Boyce Thompson Arboretum.
- A couple small motels available and MJ is a legendary trail angel in town if she has space.
Roosevelt Lake: Mile 345
- Box for 116-mile stretch
- Short walk down to Visitor Center and Marina (7am-6pm)
- Would be possible to resupply out of the small marina store but would be limited and expensive.
- Good place to send new shoes, your feet will thank you over the next stretch.
- Free camping by the hiker shed out back, good hiker box, questionable solar powered charging strip.
[Your name and ETA]
Roosevelt Lake Marina
28085 N HWY 188
Roosevelt, AZ 85545
Pine: Mile 461
- Buy for a 130-mile Stretch
- Good grocery store selection
- Easy hitch into town
- Very limited, expensive lodging
Flagstaff: Mile 590
- Buy for a 90-mile stretch
- Best grocery selection on trail! The world is your oyster.
- Walk into town on the urban alternate
- Infinite lodging options
Grand Canyon South Rim: Mile 689
- Box for 100 miles to the finish
- Send the box general delivery to the National Park post office (Monday – Friday 8:30 – 3:30)
- Right along the trail
- $6 (as of 2024) thru hiker sites available at Mather Campground, public laundry and showers located nearby
- Good place to take a day off and explore the rim and get permits for the camping in the canyon.
[Your name & ETA]
General Delivery
Grand Canyon Village, AZ
86023
Jacob Lake: Mile 760
- Wouldn’t plan a full resupply here, top off snacks as needed to get to State Line CG
- 3 mile walk or hitch off trail
Finish – State Line Campground
- No water or food available here unless caches left by trail angels are full
- Would be good idea to have enough food and water to spend a night here as finding a hitch out to Kanab or Page can be really easy or near impossible depending on the day and time.
It’s worth mentioning that there are tons of other opportunities to get into additional towns or cut out some stops entirely, particularly in the southern half of the trail. This was just what happened to work out well for me. It allowed for plenty of flexibility while avoiding having to buy a full resupply the most expensive or limited locations. The Grand Canyon Village Store for example, wonderful selection. Huge actually. But in order to afford it you might have to finish that last stretch to Utah without a kidney.
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© 2024 Ashley Teifke