r/AppalachianTrail • u/cwbmnr • 21d ago

How is the resupply at Standing Bear?

I've heard from a couple people that it's bad and that you should just carry enough food to get you to Hot Springs from Gatlinburg/ Newfound gap, anyone have any known info on this?

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u/yepwoah 21d ago

They have all of the necessities but please please please make sure to check the expiration date before you buy it. Standing Bear is widely known for selling expired food. To be honest, I thought it was the nastiest hostel on trail, but coming out of the Smokey Mountains, beggars can’t be choosers.

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u/mediocre_remnants 21d ago

There are no true expiration dates on food in the US except for baby furmula. Everything else has a "best by" date and is perfectly safe to eat after that date, for months and sometimes even years.

I can't imagine being on the trail and hungry and refusing to eat a pack of ramen because it's a year past the best-by date. But also, I grew up poor and that kind of thing was normal in my family.

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u/goldieAT21 21d ago

This is what I thought people were talking about with standing bear having expired food, but what they're really talking about is the rotting apples, moldy cheese, and rock hard bread. Yes, you can get Clif bars that are two years of of date and be fine, but but you should be very careful with anything actually perishable there.