Cost Of A Thru Hike SpringerTo Katahdin

[Googan]

How much cabbage to do a thru hike? I'm not going to forage blueberries and poison ivy to eat. What is a reasonable budget. I'm not much of a drinker so I won't spend my time in bars or partying.

[kayak karl]

$4000 .......

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[MuddyWaters]

You gotta define whats included.

Usually when throw around $ here its not including transportation to/from trail, or gear. Or money spent on rent, storage, insurance , student loans, while on trail, or money needed while looking for work afterwards for or a few months.

These can add many more thousands, more than the cost of hiking, and cant be ignored.

A very few could do it for $1500, most 4000-5000. If you get extravagant, someone here once claimed to have spent $15000. I suppose they bought a lot of rounds in bars.

[soilman]

$1000/month is a good rule of thumb.

[ALLEGHENY]

$25.00/day

[Googan]

I plan on making the trail my home. I will stop into town to resupply, grab a good meal and hit the trail. The occasional stay in a hostel, cheap motel. I'm just talking the actual cost of the trail, no student loans, credit card bills, phone bills, etc...

[Googan]

I've also got a ride to the trail, and no other travel expenses other than a ride home from hopefully Katadhin

[Slo-go'en]

I plan on making the trail my home. I will stop into town to resupply, grab a good meal and hit the trail. The occasional stay in a hostel, cheap motel. I'm just talking the actual cost of the trail, no student loans, credit card bills, phone bills, etc...

It's really hard to pin down a number. If you only last a few weeks or a month, it's not going to cost all that much. If it takes 6 months, it will cost a lot. 5K for a complete thru hike is probably a good average if your reasonably frugal.

[Puddlefish]

I'm budgeting $1,000 a month for hiking/travel expenses only, for as many months as it takes. The only at home added expense will be paying for lawn mowing. I'm budgeting for one day a week in town, but hope to average less than that. Should cover food, supplies, re-gearing, lodging, showers, laundry, medical, postage and even a small entertainment budget. I have an empty credit card soley in the event that my elderly dad falls and breaks his hip again and I need to travel quickly.

[ALLEGHENY]

I plan on making the trail my home. I will stop into town to resupply, grab a good meal and hit the trail. The occasional stay in a hostel, cheap motel. I'm just talking the actual cost of the trail, no student loans, credit card bills, phone bills, etc...

Lets say you want one hot shower and steak diner once a week.

$75 B&B + $60 food resupply + $40 prime rib = $175/week = 25/day

[rainydaykid]

I did it for $2300 in 2010, didn't feel like I was being cheap. That included some gear and the bus ride home from Maine, Bangor to Nashville on Greyhound.

[rainydaykid]

Forgot to mention, I did it in 5 months. I had 4k budgeted for the hike. I did neros close to towns, hiked in, grabbed a town meal and resupply, and got out. Mostly did laundry and bathed on the trail. Rarely drank, grabbed some food out of hiker boxes before I went shopping. I was raised really poor, though, and learned how to be frugal at an early age. I budgeted 4k, and that would have been a pretty extravagant thru if I had spent it all. Learning to be cheap is a lifelong rewarding skill. The less you spend, the less you have to work. I preferred my tent over a hotel room, and stayed in hostels and hotels about 12 times total on my thru. Never did a hotel unless I split it with a couple other hikers. Never saw the point in paying for a bed when I could sleep in my tent for free. I also spent most of my zeros in the woods so I wouldn't be tempted to spend money in town, or be able to. Towns are a black hole that will suck your wallet dry if you let them. I think I dropped about $60 a week on a town meal and resupply, though that number went up in the north.

I'm doing the AT again this year after I finish college in early May. I have some money saved up, so I will probably be more extravagant this time.

Though I have finally gotten my Veteran's Disability after fighting the VA for 12 years, and have money coming in, I'm not going to change my habits and just start blowing through money. I should be able to hike pretty continuously for the next few years. It is for mental issues, and long hikes are very therapeutic for me. It is one of the few things that helps my symptoms, much more than meds and therapy.

[Miel]

Lets say you want one hot shower and steak diner once a week.

$75 B&B + $60 food resupply + $40 prime rib = $175/week = 25/day

Wow. Maybe I'm misreading your post (and I might be) but $60/week for food (not including a restaurant) sounds high for hiking. I have spent no more than $70 for parent and child/week on the trails (any trails), and we did fine, I'm not a tightwad (but I didn't drink alcohol and I rarely eat red meat). This included some food my "supplier," an Adirondacks man who creates delicious, healthy freeze-dried food geared to hikers (but also fine for making at home). I would think the most expensive think would be the B&B. (Was that independent, non-AYH hostel in Virginia, I believe, ever sold? Seemed like an ideal place for hikers or former hikers to own and run.)

Could you kindly break down the $60/weekly for food for one person? Not a criticism, just wondering. Maybe I should budget more for my thru-hike.

[Slo-go'en]

$60 a week for food does sound a little high but it can get close to that pretty easily.
Here's a "typical" diet and a guess at "average" prices and is probably a bit skimpy on how much you really end up buying. Add 10-20% if not shopping at Dollar General or Walmart.

7 tuna packets at $1.25 each = 8.75
7 Knorr sides at $1.00 each = 7.00
1 box of pop tarts = 4.00
bag of Fritos Corn chips = 4.00
7 power bars/cliff bars = 7.00
7 candy bars = 7.00
1/2 pound block of cheese = 4.00
bag of bagels = 4.00
total-------------------------- $45.75

[ALLEGHENY]

I was on a vacation, having a great time.
Not UL
Not in a hurry
Not a high processed, chemical, and sugar junky. I like real food
Not out to prove anything but to myself.
You know what they say about grocery shopping on an empty stomach.
I bought what ever I felt like. I liked to make my own trail mix with non instant oats or granola, nuts, seeds, dried fruits, dark chocolate morsels or DC m&m, what ever I could get.
I don't think I ate too many Knorr sides, I did doctor them up with my deer jerky.
Tuna packs sometimes, I liked cans of tuna in olive oil and cans of Alaskan Red Salmon. I wanted fat and protein. Crackers like triscete sp.
Fresh fruit& veg; I would carry squash, carrots, avocado, apples, grapefruit, etc...
Candy bars of course, but not so often. That trail mix I made had everything I wanted for snacking. Never ate a pop tart, not in years.
Cheese, Summer sausage, Peperoni, deli meat (turkey & beefs)

Weakness for B&J IC, Qts of milk or halves.
I bought what ever I felt like. Just took out the Visa. and paid it off each month.
I didn't budget or worry about money.
I spent about 44K-45K on trail and trains. Lodging in a better place was a treat. Five zeros, I did not stay at many hostels, many of I wouldn't let your dog bed in.

$25/day for a vacation.

HYOH

P-SQUARED GAME 2012

[Lone Wolf]

How much cabbage to do a thru hike? I'm not going to forage blueberries and poison ivy to eat. What is a reasonable budget. I'm not much of a drinker so I won't spend my time in bars or partying.

$3000 - $6000

[ALLEGHENY]

Pack was heavy 30# - $%+*#;see not ul, not in a hurry.
Sure I burned up calories, I needed to eat good.
I still ended up skinny, but you should of seen my legs.

[Slo-go'en]

I'm going to try and account for every penny spent on my upcoming hike of 38% of the AT by keeping a ledger. I've never really tried to track of how much these trips cost me.

[ALLEGHENY]

Wow. Maybe I'm misreading your post (and I might be) but $60/week for food (not including a restaurant) sounds high for hiking. I have spent no more than $70 for parent and child/week on the trails (any trails), and we did fine, I'm not a tightwad (but I didn't drink alcohol and I rarely eat red meat). This included some food my "supplier," an Adirondacks man who creates delicious, healthy freeze-dried food geared to hikers (but also fine for making at home). I would think the most expensive think would be the B&B. (Was that independent, non-AYH hostel in Virginia, I believe, ever sold? Seemed like an ideal place for hikers or former hikers to own and run.)

Could you kindly break down the $60/weekly for food for one person? Not a criticism, just wondering. Maybe I should budget more for my thru-hike.

"Maybe I should budget more for my thru-hike."

Yes you should, you might have so much fun and want to do a yo yo. Then it will be double. Or maybe a hurricane, or maybe a landslide, or hiker- flu, or just about anything could happen like in real life. But you could always resort to being a section hiker and give up on your dream.

[Mags]

Guideline for traveling: Take half of what you think you need and twice the money.