Where thru-hikers spend their nights

[map man]

If a person slept in a tent adjacent to a shelter, did that count as staying at the shelter?

I believe that journalists tend to label that circumstance as a "tent" night when logging their info for each day at Trailjournals.

[Slo-go'en]

I did one last calculation, this time looking at how many hikers had a really marked preference for shelters over tents/hammocks, and vice versa. Around 35% of hikers in the study spent at least two-thirds of their on-trail nights in shelters instead of setting up their own tent or hammock -- a marked preference. Around 20% spent at least two-thirds of their trail nights in tents or hammocks. The other 45% were in between.

I think if you figured out in what sections hikers prefer to tent vs shelter, I think you would find tents are more commonly used in the southern sections of trail and shelters more common in the northern sections. Many hikers start out staying in their tent early on when the trail is crowded, and then slowly drift into shelters as the herd thins out.

[RED-DOG]

Motels are more popular than Hostels?

For those here who have completed a Thu (Or a attempted a large portion): Did you really use motels more often that hostels?

**UPDATE** Well I guess that may be because almost every town has a motel, and not every town has a hostel.

Yes i deffinatly prefer a motel/hotel over a hostel, Motels offer way more privacy and most of them are close to other services while hostels are usually out of town and you have to pay for a shuttle and plus you always got someone in your face.
on all three of my thru's 80% of the time if i spent a night in town it was at a Motel/hotel.

[rocketsocks]

What stands out for me in this study is the total number of "bag nights" be it tent, shelter, tarp or cowboy camping vs. hotel/motel/hostel. I think I'd much prefer campin' out when campin' out.

[RED-DOG]

I was watching Youtube AT Videos on Sara Dhooma page and she took a poll and she reported that most hikers this year says in order for a person to have a nice comfortable hike you need to budget around a $1000 a month, I think that is a little outrageous.
Personnaly i still say if you budget around 5-6000 and thats gear and EVERYTHING you should be fine.

[rocketsocks]

What stands out for me in this study is the total number of "bag nights" be it tent, shelter, tarp or cowboy camping vs. hotel/motel/hostel. I think I'd much prefer campin' out when campin' out.

I exclude staying with friends from the Hotel/Motel/Hostel category, cause lets face it, if your in a town and your friends live near it's nice to go see friends.

[RED-DOG]

I just wished that a thru-hiker thats on the trail this year would come on WB after their hike with their TOTAL expense for each town weather they stayed in a Hostel or hotel with their gear expenses and transportation and anything else they spent money on so we can finally put this trail budget topic to REST.
When i was on the trail during each of my thru's i tend to let the weather dictate where i stayed if it was rainning or looked like it was going to rain i stayed in the shelters if it was nice i stayed in my tent and during the warm summer months i preffered to cowboy camp. I feel that most hikers does the same
I don't understand how this survey is going to help people plan their thru-hike budget cause the only place you spend money is in towns i don't think i spent any money on the trail unless i was in AMC territory.
I think it would be best if we had a survey to see how much hikers spend in each town, i think that would serve hikers best when they are planning their thru-hike budget.
I really don't understand the purpose of this survey did Mapman get bored or what?

[Starchild]

Wow...I'm not saying I don't believe it (its actually very believable), I just find it surprising that people who want to thruhike the trail spend about 1/3 of their nites off the trail. During my thru attempt I was on the trail about 120 days and spent only 10 nites total between motels, hostels and private residences combined.

Is really 'off trail' if they are staying in a officially ATC recognized "AT Community", or is that part of the trail and the journey.

[rocketsocks]

Is really 'off trail' if they are staying in a officially ATC recognized "AT Community", or is that part of the trail and the journey.

hmmm, good point Starchild.

[rocketsocks]

hmmm, good point Starchild.

definitely part of the journey, just not in the woods...makes not a hill of beans to me, just interpreting the stats.

[map man]

I think if you figured out in what sections hikers prefer to tent vs shelter, I think you would find tents are more commonly used in the southern sections of trail and shelters more common in the northern sections. Many hikers start out staying in their tent early on when the trail is crowded, and then slowly drift into shelters as the herd thins out.

I suspect you are right. I hear there aren't as many decent places to pitch a tent up north, as well.

[jj2044]

Map man, I need your email..... im going to forward you my college stats homework lol, im sure you will enjoy it. its due Monday so no rush

[CarlZ993]

Great data, Mapman. Got me to look over my 2013 hike & tabulate my totals. Boy, did I stay off the trail a lot.
Shelters = 74 nights
Tenting = 14 nights
Hostel = 36 nights
Motel = 27 nights
Total = 151 nights on the trail (not counting the night prior... which was in a hostel)
Note: Had 12 zeros. No zeros in shelters or tenting.

As my hike went on, I starting writing in the shelter journals that I was starting to spend my Grandkids inheritance by spending more nights in town.

[map man]

This will be a real seat-of-the-pants estimate. The total number of town nights is 53.0. But some of these nights are consecutive nights in one place because of zero days. So if we subtract the 20.7 mean zero days for hikers in the study, that would leave 32.3 discreet different places for overnight "town" stays . The average thru-hike time for hikers in the study is 168.8 days. So take that number and divide it by the 32.3 "town" stays and we get one off-trail overnight stop for every 5.2 days of a thru-hike.

These numbers got me to wondering how often seeking lodging off trail ended up turning into a zero day (or days) for thru-hikers in the study. The way I have zero days recorded made it pretty easy for me to figure out that the number of mean "zero day episodes" (counting times when two or more consecutive zero days were taken as one "episode") was 12.2 for the typical hiker. Considering that there are 32.3 discreet lodging stays per thru-hike, that means that typical hikers will turn a lodging stay into at least one zero day about 38% of the time.

Considering that 20.7 is the average number of zero days, people on a tight budget or with time constraints could take "zero day episodes" just as frequently as the average thru-hiker but cut around 8.5 days from their hike by avoiding taking consecutive zero days -- yes, bravely escaping the town "vortex."

[Jeff]

I suspect you are right. I hear there aren't as many decent places to pitch a tent up north, as well.

Great work Mapman. Tenting up north is no problem, just have to be creative sometimes.

[Mykneeshurt]

I kept an OCD-like record of my 2013 thru, because (please, no arguments about technology on the Trail...I didn't carry a phone!) my IPod Touch, an amazing 3.2 oz invention, had a Notes app. Every night (have already admitted I am a bit OCD) I took about 3 minutes and recorded where I started, stopped, and slept. This summer (2014) it has been fun to pull it out and remember where I was one year ago. I am surprised at how many hostels and cheap motels I stayed at. While planning, I was all "in the woods" mode, but have to admit I took advantage, more than I suspected I would, to catch a shower/bed/meal. I am retired, and had saved for years for the trip...if money was more an issue, I like to think I could have sucked it up and stayed more in my very comfortable tent. (I did turn 60 on the hike, not an excuse, but am sure that accounted for taking advantage of creature comforts as much as I did).

[bamboo bob]

It's often cheaper to split a motel room with hiker friends than stay in a hostel. Either way a motel is usually a better place for a good night sleep and and down time rest. Older hikers (over 50) simply have more money to spend on meals and motels so that might be considered. In 2002 I took four zero days 4/4-9/7 and starting date is important. March starters get out of the weather a lot.

[ChuckT]

Great data analysis! Looks like you really know your way around the math.

[ChuckT]

Hikers that write that they are going into the "Wilderness" to find themselves should study what you are saying.

[Don H]

I just looked at the stats page on my 2011 TJ. It shows I took 16 zeros but 8 of those were for an injury. I'm wondering if that is the reason for the higher than anticipated average number of zeros, especially for the older hikers.