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As you hike it

Post Office serves as supply hub for adventurers

WA hiker
Skykomish, WA, Retail Associate Virginia Eburn serves a unique set of customers — hikers along the Pacific Crest Trail.

Retail Associate Virginia Eburn makes sure every customer feels welcome when they step into the Skykomish, WA, Post Office — especially the hundreds of hikers who visit each year.

Adventurers from around the world drop by the office to pick up “resupply” boxes as they journey along the Pacific Crest Trail, which spans more than 2,600 miles from Canada to Mexico and can take more than five months to complete.

The hikers determine how much food and supplies they will need ahead of time and mail packages to various Post Offices along the way.

“The Priority Mail boxes come in handy,” said Eburn. “Especially Express Mail for when loved ones need to send hikers important items like left-behind passports and emergency supplies.”

Eburn, who joined USPS in 2012, greets the hikers with a smile and a sign-in sheet she keeps in case authorities need help finding a missing hiker.

Tracking the hikers also helps calm loved ones.

“There’s limited GPS near the Post Office, so if a hiker can’t send updates, sometimes the family gets worried and calls us to check on them,” said Eburn, who doesn’t mind taking messages.

“When the hiker comes in, I tell them to call their mom and dad right away,” she said.

Eburn appreciates her Post Office’s unique role.

“I have the opportunity to help hikers and their families, as well as our town’s citizens.”

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