[pct-l] Re: post office

[Tom Rogers" <tom-rogers@attbi.com (Tom Rogers)]

Yep,small town post offices have been a source of positive experiences for
me as well.  In northern CA, both Belden and Old Station stood out.

I arrived in Belden on a Sunday morning, planning to hang out and hit the PO
on Monday morning.  After consuming a large tub of frozen soft serve ice
cream, I was just relaxing outside the saloon when a flower child (no
kidding, right out of my fading memories of the 60's) stopped.  She told me
that Dorothy, the postmaster (I think they eschew the term postmistress),
would be at the post office at 3PM and would give out hiker packages.
Apparently another hiker had made some inquiries earlier and this was the
answer. I found Stargazer at the laundromat and we hiked across the bridge
and down Highway 70 to the post office. The post office was formerly in the
Belden Town store, but is now in a falling down old wooden building. Dorothy
seems to be fixing it up, and is very hiker friendly. If you hadn't noticed
this is a Sunday afternoon and she's opening up for a pair of hikers!!

I arrived at Old Station on a Saturday.  The Town Guide indicated the PO
there was open from 12 to 2 on Saturday.  I hiked up to the Old Station Cafe
for a great pancake breakfast, then hitched back down to the resort to hit
the PO.  It was closed and the posted hours didn't include Saturday.  Doug
at the resort store (who is also very hiker friendly) told me not to worry,
"she always opens for a few hours on Saturday."  Of course he was right and
all went well.  I didn't get the postmaster's name, but everyone who mails
something on Saturday gets a free homemade cookie.

I think the best one in Washington was Stehiken, only because the postmaster
had to haul all the packages from the ferry landing to his tiny office using
a pushcart.  He looked like an eastern European immigrant circa 1890
carrying all his belongings in a two wheeled pushcart.  I was a southbounder
and passed through Stehiken several weeks before the northbound pack would
start to arrive.  The postmaster's tiny storeroom was already nearly full of
packages, but he was friendly and loquacious, enthusiastic as the hiker
season was rapidly approaching.  He liked to hike, but didn't have time
during hiker season.

Most of the others have been positive experiences as well, some neutral (ala
Sierra City), and a very few negative (Echo Lake Resort comes to mind).  The
bottom line however is that I've never lost a package.  How's that go again,
"on time every time."

happy trails, Tom

Hobbit's Hiking Pages ( http://friends.backcountry.net/rogers/ )