Resupply for the Continental Divide Trail (before the dirt)

It’s been a 24 hour whirlwind of resupply activity in New England as I hang up my painting smock and prepare for my thru hike on the Continental Divide Trail. I bought 800 dollars worth of resupply food, which will give me over 100 days of food on the trail. The rest I will buy in towns along the way. Trying to resupply for the CDT is much harder than prepping for the Pacific Crest Trail. In fact, it drove me a bit bonkers. I should have listened to all those #cdt2018 hikers from the @halfwayanywhere survey and packed LESS boxes. Or listened to my fellow #cdt2019 hikers who are only prepping the first three boxes. Now I know they are wiser than me. I don’t even know if I addressed the boxes to the right locations. UPS took 20 minutes at the counter trying to over ride the computer’s refusal to acknowledge the address ANNIE VARNOT, CDT Hiker ETA: [FILL IN DATE], c/o The Toaster House, Hwy 60 South at Mile Marker 56, Pie Town, NM, 87827 as a real one. And I have a feeling I’ll have to do a lot of flip flopping too, as the snow levels in the San Juan Mountains, CO, are off the charts. So then these resupply boxes and their etas remain on my friend’s shelf staring back even more confused. “Where and when do I get to go?” say the 5 days of food and wet wipes. Sometimes I stare blankly at myself, too, as if I am also an inanimate object, totally incapable of comprehending my decision to hike 3000 miles. My boxes are my way of trying to make me understand the magnitude of the hike. I finally sent three NM resupply boxes off. I told the USPS worker that these were my first resupply boxes for my hike. All of a sudden I noticed everyone in the USPS was listening and braving to ask questions. And it started to feel more real. And I teared up behind my glasses and drove away. Ok, this is something big. And I can’t wait to touch the sand in the desert so it will feel real. #cdt #continentaldividetrail #hike #optoutside #girlswhohike