High Sierra Topix

I saw this post on another board, and thought it might be of interest. I don't know the person:
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I am available this summer to do food drops for anyone hiking the PCT, JMT or any other trail this summer. I will have a selection of bulk food available and I am willing to go to Vons, the natural food store or the local mountaineering store for supplies for the drop. I am located in Mammoth Lakes and I am willing to do drops anywhere between Lake Tahoe to Independence. Drop me an email with a list of a tentative food and dates, and your phone number. We will take it from there!


Thanks and best of luck to everyone hiking the trail this summer!

Melissa Buehler
BuehlerBulkFoods at gmail.com
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Good judgment comes from experience,
and experience, of course, comes from poor judgment.

Business venture I'll bet. Thinking outside the box a little, a trip to town and back would be a better option.

I'm sure it is a business venture. I'm surprised there aren't more people willing to mule some food in. A packer would charge around $300+ for a day round trip. Charging a couple of hundred would be a nice day's work for someone with a strong back and a weak mind... .

g.

I was thinking they would meet you at a TH with food. I know one guy from Backpacker.com, who would stash canisters on Bishop and Italy Passes for a Sierra High Route trip, then when the trip was done, go back and retrieve the canisters.

Sounds like a nice business venture - for the hiker as well as the guy or gal carrying the food drop up the mountain. There are few options for the JMT hiker who does not want to carry a full 100 mile food load out of MTR. And there are not that many jobs where you get to go hiking for a living. So it sounds like a fair trade for both - best of luck!

I could think of a lot of part time (even full time) jobs that pay a lot less, and are not even
close to as fun as this would be.

I always thought this would be a great venture for some of the local scout troops - packing in food drops for hikers would give extra money for the troop and maybe earn some kind of merit badge.

I had suggested it to a scout leader, though, and there was a concern about permits or something. But if this person can do it, I'm surprised that scouts (or some type of organziation) doesn't.

When I was a teenager living in Independence I sure wish the internet had existed. I would have popped over Kearsarge pass every day for $50, let alone $300.

If it is a business venture, it may want to fly under the radar. I think all commercial use of park or forest service land requires a commercial permit. There are a limited number of commercial permits available and I suspect that it is hard to get one. Outfitters are very territorial about their permits and areas and if they get wind of someone doing a business in their area they may cause a ruckus. Someone may want to correct me, but it is my understanding that an outfitter is given a permit for a specific area with an assurance that commercial use is limited. This protects his business. It seems that if it were legal, there would already be folks out there doing this and particularly advertising to the PCT hikers.