View Full Version : Can you make a living guiding hikers on the AT?
The Doctor
12-19-2007, 23:09
I have been studying chemistry and am about to graduate soon. In the last few years I have fallen in love with backpacking and was wondering if it is possible to abort plans to work a 9-5 and ultimately become a work slave. Or is it possible to maybe have an adventurous career as a guide on the AT and or other trails in the U.S.? Any thoughts?
Appalachian Tater
12-19-2007, 23:13
Yes, I think you should take the summer off to play around and then go on to graduate school and then get a job for a large multinational corporation. It is not uncommon to have feelings such as yours when nearing graduation but you don't want to end up a poor hobo. If you wanted a life like that you should have gone to UGA instead of GA Tech.
bigboots
12-19-2007, 23:14
I know there are people who do that. A lot of college kids during the summers do such work. Sign me up if you find a year round way to backpack for a living!:D
But
Bigboots
bigboots
12-19-2007, 23:16
I know there are people who do that. A lot of college kids during the summers do such work. Sign me up if you find a year round way to backpack for a living!:D
But this reminds me of the other post today about taking inexperienced people into the backcountry. Might not be so much fun???
Bigboots
I need a sherpa for my next hike :)
I think it would depend on your definition of 'living'.
I think Matt Foley made a living as a motivational speaker but I'm not so sure it's something I'd want to do.
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=1524342447
"I am 35 years old."
"I am divorced,
and I live in a van, down by the river"
Come, join the worker bees. It's really not all that bad (he says from retirement)
Tom
take-a-knee
12-19-2007, 23:27
Invent something people are willing to throw money at you to own dozens of them like Ray Jardine did ( Ray invented the Self-Locking-Camming Device for climbers) and you can be a worldwide adventurer like he's been.
Ramble~On
12-19-2007, 23:29
It can be and is done.
There are degrees...Outdoor Leadership and Parks & Rec. Management.
You can "bounce" jobs by the season and location, work for any number of camps, groups like "Hoods in the Woods", Boy and Girl Scouts, At Risk Youth, National Outdoor Leadership School. Outward Bound, SOAR, etc.
There are PLENTY of people who bounce between different camps and organizations leading backpacking and other type trips...most include rock climbing or a ropes course and some form of water travel either whitewater or flat. Most of the organized type camps that deal with at risk youth offer 8 days on 6 days off and average 32K to start. These organizations seem to be doing a good bit of hiring.....:-? high turnover ? but that could be to the advantage of someone looking to do a lot of bouncing around place to place and never burning bridges, buiding a resume, making a living backpacking-working in outdoor pursuits. Course making a difference in someone's life at the same time is better than flipping burgers for about the same salary.
kayak karl
12-19-2007, 23:38
I think it would depend on your definition of 'living'.
I think Matt Foley made a living as a motivational speaker but I'm not so sure it's something I'd want to do.
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=1524342447
"I am 35 years old."
"I am divorced,
and I live in a van, down by the river"
Come, join the worker bees. It's really not all that bad (he says from retirement)
Tom
living on the river is nice,
except on foggy nights
Yes, possible to make a living off leading trips, but probably not very feasible on the AT. Look at a company like Mountain Travel Sobek. They lead very high end (read: expensive) trips around the world and i imagine pay well. Other organizations like NOLS and Outward Bound have career tracks though I imagine the pay isn't great. However you're workin outside all the time which sure beats looking at a computer screen from 9-6
Monkeyboy
12-19-2007, 23:41
Or you can do like Jules in "Pulp Fiction" and just "Walk the Earth"
4eyedbuzzard
12-19-2007, 23:46
I have been studying chemistry and am about to graduate soon. In the last few years I have fallen in love with backpacking and was wondering if it is possible to abort plans to work a 9-5 and ultimately become a work slave. Or is it possible to maybe have an adventurous career as a guide on the AT and or other trails in the U.S.? Any thoughts?
Actually physically guiding people on the AT? No, very doubtful, as there are almost no skill deficits that usually lead to death/serious injury. Leading higher altitude and expedition climbs and teaching climbing/mountaineering? Yes.
Now you could possibly thru-hike a few times and then turn it into a living by publishing a guidebook, becoming an environmental activist, running a website, etc. Well, least 'till you PO'ed most everybody and got tired of doing it.
You probably could make a living, though a meager one, and only part of the year, but people who are looking for a guide want an expert, which requires some time on the trail, and they also usually want security and comfort. In short, they're probably not the kind of people you'd want to guide.
I co-led a weekend trip for REI back in the mid 80's. Keeping people of different interests, dispositions, and hiking abilities together was more than I could do and call "fun". Not long after that, I began hiking mainly solo.:-?
Ramble~On
12-19-2007, 23:49
Actually physically guiding people on the AT? No, very doubtful, as there are almost no skill deficits that usually lead to death/serious injury. Leading higher altitude and expedition climbs and teaching climbing/mountaineering? Yes.
Now you could possibly thru-hike a few times and then turn it into a living by publishing a guidebook, becoming an environmental activist, running a website, etc. Well, least 'till you PO'ed most everybody and got tired of doing it.
:-? I wonder if he's talking about.............
4eyedbuzzard
12-20-2007, 00:01
:-? I wonder if he's talking about.............
Nope. Just a hypothetical example.:rolleyes: :D
If you've fallen in love with hiking you'd best go back to school and get a teaching degree.
If you've fallen in love with hiking you'd best go back to school and get a teaching degree.
Haha very true. All my hiking buddies are hikers, or is it the other way around?
A major reason i'm looking to go back to school to become a school counselor. Can't argue with 14 weeks vacation! Though you gotta like the job too!
woops. Meant to say all my hiking buddies are TEACHERS
envirodiver
12-20-2007, 00:40
Or you can do like Jules in "Pulp Fiction" and just "Walk the Earth"
Yes but he had just gotten off of Brain Detail and he was a bad a*& MF.
I co-led a weekend trip for REI back in the mid 80's. Keeping people of different interests, dispositions, and hiking abilities together was more than I could do and call "fun". Not long after that, I began hiking mainly solo.:-?
I was a scuba diving instructor for several years and experienced the same thing. Unfortunately sometimes when you take something you love to do and turn it into a job, it becomes...well a job. Sort of takes the shine off of it. Also, if you take it seriously the stress level can get pretty high due to the responsibility that you accept.
budforester
12-20-2007, 00:55
I did something similar one fall... best job I ever had. Unfortunately, the pay was low, work was hard, there was no insurance, no retirement, no work in the off- season. If there had been a living in it, I might still be there. It would have to be part of some paying enterprise, like a resort or retailer or park, or be secondary to some related money- maker like writing, photography, search and rescue, moonshine still, etc. If you finish the degree, you can throw it away whenever and go hiking but would be harder to go the other direction, returning to the studies later.
ChinMusic
12-20-2007, 01:05
Ah, a fellow Chem major, not that I remember much after 30 years.
Tennessee Viking
12-20-2007, 02:22
I have been studying chemistry and am about to graduate soon. In the last few years I have fallen in love with backpacking and was wondering if it is possible to abort plans to work a 9-5 and ultimately become a work slave. Or is it possible to maybe have an adventurous career as a guide on the AT and or other trails in the U.S.? Any thoughts?
Unless you like kids, you probably wont make much. School and scout groups always are need of guides. Or maybe a summer camp near the trail.
I rarely see a guide leading a group on the AT here in TN because its so heavily visited. When I do, its usually when they are leading a group of city kids who never seen the woods.
Then the guides that work around here have a main income working with an outfitter or hostel.
But you could make a living off probably in the Rockies, Sierras, or Cascades. Just need to have rock climbing skills and wilderness survival training.
double d
12-20-2007, 02:39
Look at the websites for the National Park Services and the Dept. of Interior. That might help, but I say go for it, combine your education with your passion. Besides, you don't have to work the next 30 years at one job/career, do you? My college girlfriend was a wildlife biology major (don't tell my wife, but she's the one who first got me interested in hiking, shhhhh) and she turned that into a full-time job working for the NPS. But that was back in the day (15 years ago) and I haven't talk to her in while, but well, its a long and boring story. "Make No Small Plans"
Doyle's done it. And that's not a slant to him. The trail is a lot of things. Some of my best friends make money/sustain life because of the trail.
Lone Wolf
12-20-2007, 04:56
there is no money to be made "guiding" people on the AT. warren makes no money at it
Doyle's done it. And that's not a slant to him. The trail is a lot of things. Some of my best friends make money/sustain life because of the trail.
Yes, but Warren keeps his "Day Job"!:D
(Assistant Professor/Interim Director @ Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk,NC)
I have been studying chemistry and am about to graduate soon. In the last few years I have fallen in love with backpacking and was wondering if it is possible to abort plans to work a 9-5 and ultimately become a work slave. Or is it possible to maybe have an adventurous career as a guide on the AT and or other trails in the U.S.? Any thoughts?
Not much call for professional guiding on the AT other than youth groups which puts you in the youth counselor category.
Any adult that needs a guide on the AT probably needs alot more than a guide. Afterall, there are white blazes painted on trees that one can follow fairly easily .
On the other hand, some clients might want a guide for protection, cooking, Medic, pampering and general babysitting.....those would be the people willing to shell out $150.00 a day and you will likely have to outfit them with gear/food/band-aids etc.
How are your first aid/CPR/wilderness responder skills/certificates up to date?
As the old saying goes: Don't quit your day job to be a guide.
There are other avenues in outdoor recreation though where people can make a meager living as has been already mentioned.
Frolicking Dinosaurs
12-20-2007, 07:32
I totally understand the turn over in working with troubled and at-risk kids.... and I'm not sure that I would want to babysit those who would need a guide on a trail as easy as the AT.
Perhaps you could find another chemist that loves to ski / do winter sports and share a single job? Work six months - be off six months. Your income will be cut in half, but your joy will be doubled. And IME, joy trumps money pretty much every time.
CoyoteWhips
12-20-2007, 08:10
Remember that there is nothing that kills off all joy in any activity more surely than doing it for a living. You're better off doing almost anything else and hiking for yourself.
That said, a degree in Chemistry -- sounds like a good foundation for becoming Ranger Doc.
budforester
12-20-2007, 08:17
Another interesting possibility that I have seen teachers do: spend the academic 9 months in the classroom, then work a "fun" job for the summer tourist season.
Remember that there is nothing that kills off all joy in any activity more surely than doing it for a living. You're better off doing almost anything else and hiking for yourself.
.
Words from the wise;)
Appalachian Tater
12-20-2007, 08:55
....those would be the people willing to shell out $150.00 a day
Which is less than $10 an hour.
4eyedbuzzard
12-20-2007, 09:09
Look at the websites for the National Park Services and the Dept. of Interior. That might help, but I say go for it, combine your education with your passion.
Good advice. In the end, unless you're independently wealthy you're gonna have to have a job. Park, Forest Service, or similar state jobs (don't overlook Fish and Game depts) at least gets you some outdoor work in the places you want to be.
Jan LiteShoe
12-20-2007, 09:10
was wondering if it is possible to abort plans to work a 9-5 and ultimately become a work slave. Or is it possible to maybe have an adventurous career as a guide on the AT and or other trails in the U.S.? Any thoughts?
Why is no one here cheering on The Doc's impulse? The urge to freedom and adventure is emerging. Life force! He is waking up that there is more to life than wage slavery in a cubicle.
Run, Forest, run!
That said, I agree with the comments about AT guiding - income will be "iffy." That might be okay at this point in your life.
As an alternative, if you researched and found an adventuring/outdoor company efficient enough to earn a profit, you could work there as education and as a breeding ground for ideas and experience. Cultivate business mentors.
Then come up with a business idea for a niche company of your own. Keep it simple, would be my suggestion. And of course, undertaking a mortgage, wife and kids, etc. ups the amount of income required. Make deliberate choices.
One thing I have always admired about hikers is their impulse to freedom.
There's a great book called "Your Money or Your Life." Pretty radical, and may open your eyes to some new ways of looking at possibilities.
http://www.amazon.com/Your-Money-Life-Transforming-Relationship/dp/0140286780
There's a used copy for $6.40.
:sun
A friend of mine retired at 35 on an ordinary job, by saving relentlessly, and never going the overspend/credit card route. She's in SE Asia traveling right now.
This is not to put down anyone who has chosen otherwise. Some people will only feel secure with a 9-5 job with bennies. Other would feel that as the noose around their necks.
The good news is, you get to choose.
:)
max patch
12-20-2007, 09:37
If you google you'll find folks who offer to guide hikers on 3-7 day hikes as well as at least one husband and wife team who attempt to guide hikers on their thru attempt. On my thru I ran into someone who leads hikes in VT from B&B to B&B. I don't know if any of them are successful at making a living or not.
Would be easy enough to contact these folks if you are serious about trying this.
I have been studying chemistry and am about to graduate soon. In the last few years I have fallen in love with backpacking and was wondering if it is possible to abort plans to work a 9-5 and ultimately become a work slave. Or is it possible to maybe have an adventurous career as a guide on the AT and or other trails in the U.S.? Any thoughts?
Can you make a living guiding others? Nah, it's more like a starving or a freezing. I don't say this to be cute. I've been there.
I keep hearing people talk about NOLS and Outward Bound as possible career options. Well, I taught for three seasons for NOLS (2001-2003), and like many mountain men before me "lost my a**". First you have to get into their instructor course, and it's VERY selective. If you just started backpacking, it isn't going to happen. Then you have to pay for it. I was lucky and got a scholarship that paid for most of mine. Then you apprentice and work a contract or two a year for the first couple of years. I taught at a little private school then headed west for the summers.
When you're out there, it is the BEST job imaginable. Really. Even with a less than great group, the job is a dream come true. Mountains, snow, alpine meadows, climbing, the whole nine yards. But then you return to the frontcountry. NO reimbursement for the gas for the 3000-mile round trip to work there. NO reimbursement for the $300-800 to maintain a WFR certification. And $46-55 a day. That's it. After a few years, you move up to Course Leader and can make about $80 a day, but this is after years of working 2-4 months a year. Basically the only people who make it this far are those who have other income (often family) or who have a job (again often family) that allows them to take off at a moment's notice to catch that extra contract that just opened up.
I cut firewood, groomed hedges, poured concrete, built fences and whatever else I could to get by between contracts when I moved to Wyoming in 2003. But there just wasn't enough work to make it. I'm glad I gave it a try. But unless you've got a decent supplemental income, you'll be hard pressed to make a "living" guiding anyone, especially with only the experience of someone whose just started out.
As for outdoor therapy programs, you might have a chance with the right temperament. I teach special kids who've all been kicked out of their regular schools for patterns of long-term misconduct. I would never want to deal with their issues 24/7 in the backcountry. My breaks are for getting out there and enjoying myself.
Of course, if you use your chem degree to TEACH, you can do your own hikes or work summer camps or whatever you decide ;) . For me, it's a winning situation.
Lone Wolf
12-20-2007, 09:46
Back in mid 90s, Backpacker Magazine came out with an issue with the 100 Mile Wilderness splashed all over the cover with a big article to go with it. At the time i was living in Maine at Maineaks, a 3 time thru-hiker. We talked about doing guided group trips through the wilderness geared toward rich folks. Fly them into bangor, outfit them and meet them every other night in the wilderness with lobster dinners and such. Woulda been fun. I think folks would pay for that.
Look at a company like Mountain Travel Sobek. They lead very high end (read: expensive) trips around the world and i imagine pay well.
While on the JMT in 2006, I took a trip to the Vermillion Valley Resort (VVR). A group from Mountain Travel Sobek was there. They were hiking the JMT and the travel company was carrying all their gear and food. Well, the mule driver had a problem, and the day before I met these folks, the mules never showed up with their food and tents. So they spent the prior night out in the open - hungry. The travel company took them to VVR the next day and fed them as a way to try and make it up to them. To their credit, the folks on the trip seemed to take it all in stride! It was part of the adventure!
johnny quest
12-20-2007, 10:11
join the military, work towards a field such as airforce pj or ranger or recon. try for b billets as instructor.
CoyoteWhips
12-20-2007, 10:12
Well, the mule driver had a problem, and the day before I met these folks, the mules never showed up with their food and tents. So they spent the prior night out in the open - hungry.
There's a lesson in life -- when taking a luxury hiking vacation, pack food and overnight survival gear.
Tipi Walter
12-20-2007, 10:20
I have been studying chemistry and am about to graduate soon. In the last few years I have fallen in love with backpacking and was wondering if it is possible to abort plans to work a 9-5 and ultimately become a work slave. Or is it possible to maybe have an adventurous career as a guide on the AT and or other trails in the U.S.? Any thoughts?
As they say, you can't let school get in the way of your education . . .
If it's true what you say, that you've fallen in love with backpacking, then you've also probably fallen in love with the woods and the natural world, inwhich case a way needs to be found to pull a Jeremiah Johnson while still having enough cash flow to survive.
The biggest impediments to living out in the woods are having a wife/spouse and having children. These two things will curtail the hardiest mountain-man type and cause him/her to forsake the forest for the family. But for those lucky few who have learned early on to avoid the family restrictions, a full life can be spent in the outdoors, living out of a pack and exploring all the wilderness options.
Money? The answer is a part-time job. A very part-time job. Like working one day a week. I found the perfect job for living out, a church janitor gig, worked only on Friday mornings, and made about $50 a month which gradually increased over time. It allowed me to hitchhike to various camps in Pisgah National Forest and a hundred other campsites scattered within hitching distance of the church.
The catch is having no car and relying on the outstretched thumb for transport. With no car, many things are accomplished: No insurance, no gas, no upkeep, and the most important: No permanent sign of your presence wherever you decide to live out(National Forest, AT, etc). The worry factor also goes down considerably when not having a car, etc.
If you've fallen in love with hiking you'd best go back to school and get a teaching degree.
Even better: become a tax accountant.
CoyoteWhips
12-20-2007, 11:23
Money? The answer is a part-time job. A very part-time job. Like working one day a week. I found the perfect job for living out, a church janitor gig, worked only on Friday mornings, and made about $50 a month which gradually increased over time. It allowed me to hitchhike to various camps in Pisgah National Forest and a hundred other campsites scattered within hitching distance of the church.
You may have permanently altered my retirement plans.
Digger'02
12-20-2007, 11:45
leading trips on the AT for profit requires alot of paperwork through the National Forest and the National Park...and I think there is a legitimate argument to be made that questions for profit use of the Trail. that said, I knw REI is selling trips so they might need guides...although they haven't planned very well...
you want to make money backpacking? Write, build gear and live cheap
Let's not forget that million dollar liability policy for X # of $$$$$$ renewed annually if you plan to work independently.
If some one gets hurt while they are paying you to guide them, even if it's no fault of yours, they could try to hold you responsible for medical costs/loss of work/marital problems associated with said injury etc.
Most of the people who will hire you won't likely be too good in the woods coming mostly from the land of concrete jungles.
Waivers don't always hold much ground in negligence issues either.
I have been studying chemistry and am about to graduate soon. In the last few years I have fallen in love with backpacking and was wondering if it is possible to abort plans to work a 9-5 and ultimately become a work slave. Or is it possible to maybe have an adventurous career as a guide on the AT and or other trails in the U.S.? Any thoughts?
There are a few people in Maine who make a living, or most of a living, guiding -- though their customers are mostly hunters and fisherfolk. One couple, however works all winter guiding winter walking expeditions.
Keep in mind that the most successful of such folks are basically servants with a talent for telling stories. I've hiked and canoed quite a bit with a guy with a doctorate in pre-islamic Bedouin poetry who made a living (of sorts) guiding in Maine. He eventually, however, got a series of state jobs dealing with natural resources and recreation.
He spent his spare time taking pre-med courses with the idea of becoming a doctor. He retired from the state a few years ago and I've lost touch.
Weary
dessertrat
12-20-2007, 12:10
I have been studying chemistry and am about to graduate soon. In the last few years I have fallen in love with backpacking and was wondering if it is possible to abort plans to work a 9-5 and ultimately become a work slave. Or is it possible to maybe have an adventurous career as a guide on the AT and or other trails in the U.S.? Any thoughts?
As a "guide", usually guides are more valuable (and hence better paid) in remote, less popular, but still visited wilderness destinations, where local knowledge matters more, and guidebooks are rare. You could certainly get some sort of job related to backpacking, shuttling, helping hikers, etc. But those dang white blazes and wingfoot's books pretty much put the guides out of business on the AT!:D
ChinMusic
12-20-2007, 12:12
Complete your education, get a good job, save money, THEN donate your time in helping others in the wild.
you should be a teacher. most schools around the country need math and science teachers. that way you could help kids who actually need it, and hike all summer!
Look at the websites for the National Park Services and the Dept. of Interior. That might help, but I say go for it, combine your education with your passion. Besides, you don't have to work the next 30 years at one job/career, do you? My college girlfriend was a wildlife biology major (don't tell my wife, but she's the one who first got me interested in hiking, shhhhh) and she turned that into a full-time job working for the NPS. But that was back in the day (15 years ago) and I haven't talk to her in while, but well, its a long and boring story. "Make No Small Plans"
NOAA. USGS. Tell them you want remote postings.
I think water quality issues will be a big deal in the future. The number of Superfund sites in Colorado alone is astounding.
Bare Bear
12-20-2007, 15:23
Go get a CDL and be a trucker. You can work six months then go hike six months...always find a job. If you are any good at all just go back to the same company over and over. They won't like it but good sober drivers are hard to find and they rehire you anyway. Just ask JellyBean.......
The Doctor
12-20-2007, 16:08
Thanks for all the ideas. Maybe teaching isn't such a bad idea! Well I appreciate all your input.
It's good to make a living doing what you love if you can, but is hiking what you love or guiding what you love? Would you pay for a guide? The best thinks in live are free, and most often found within your family, or in natural places like the woods. Don't spoil it for yourself or for others. Find your own way. Lead the way for others to find their own way. Live free.
ChinMusic
12-20-2007, 17:06
The best thinks in live are free, .....
Not the "exact" quote but close enough to remind me of that great Flying Lizards song "Money (That's What I Want)" and so appropo for this thread......
The best things in life are free
But you can give them to the birds and bees
I want money
(That's what I want)
That's what I want
(That's what I want)
That's what I want
(That's what I want)
That's what I want
(That's what I want)
You love gives me such a thrill
But your love won't pay my bills
I want money
LOL I've been 'thinking' way too much recently.
Great tune. Love the percussion.
Well, our son has managed to live on his own since graduating. In the summer, he has been a guide for an outfitter in a National Park in Alaska. In the off season, he has done other things, including being a medic in Alberta during the winter. So, it's been done, and can be done. All depends on how much money you need to live.
warren doyle
12-20-2007, 18:13
Become a school teacher. We need more educators who love and appreciate the outdoors and who can share their enthusiasm for outdoor adventure with their students.
I teach in a great program here at Lees-McRae College where you can get your teaching degree (elementary education) and a job (about 85% placement rate in/near the mountains of NC/TN) by going to school for four semesters twice a week (TR) for 6-6:5 hours in the late afternoon/evening while keeping a day job (and one four-week summer session). This program is for people with AA degrees or more than two years of postsecondary education.
The students (many adult/second career learners) in the program inspire me so much that in honor of their hard work, I walk to school (an off-campus site) once a year - a 4.5 day 115-mile walk over the highest point in the Blue Ridge (Calloway Peak on Grandfather Mt.), along the MST, through Stone Mt. State Park and along backcountry roads.
I'm surprised that more long distance hikers aren't educators. Why does one have to wait until they retire to be able to have the time off from work to do a long distance hike?
Teach in a rural setting, have weekends off, a Xmas/spring break, and at least 2.5 months off in the summer to hike. One could do the AT and the PCT over four summers if they stuck to it.
On another note, LW is right. I make it a point to separate my hiking from my job which I both enjoy. My job is how I earn my living and my hiking/dancing is how I make my living.
Our 5th annual 'Contradancers Delight' Holiday in Morgantown, WV is coming up soon - check it out at my website. Over 150 dancers from 22 states and Canada will be gathering for dancing, music and fellowship.
Happy holiday trails and twirls!
Jim Adams
12-20-2007, 18:36
Let's not forget that million dollar liability policy for X # of $$$$$$ renewed annually if you plan to work independently.
If some one gets hurt while they are paying you to guide them, even if it's no fault of yours, they could try to hold you responsible for medical costs/loss of work/marital problems associated with said injury etc.
Most of the people who will hire you won't likely be too good in the woods coming mostly from the land of concrete jungles.
Waivers don't always hold much ground in negligence issues either.
Insurance is pretty cheap as long as you aren't in whitewater higher yhan class II or rock climbing.;)
geek
Jim Adams
12-20-2007, 18:42
You may have permanently altered my retirement plans.
become an EMT or Paramedic...work one 24 hour shift a week partime. the money isn't great but 6 days a week off kicks ass.
you will always be in demand...work fulltime for 6 months then quit and go hiking. if your employer wont hire you back (he will) the next one will!:-?
geek
The Doctor
12-20-2007, 19:29
Nice, thanks jim. Wow, these are some really great ideas. Being the lazy man that I am I would have to say that 24hours on and 144 hours off is great.
superman
12-20-2007, 19:58
I suggest that you make the most of your education and potential while your young.
Appalachian Tater
12-20-2007, 20:05
The catch is having no car and relying on the outstretched thumb for transport. With no car, many things are accomplished: No insurance, no gas, no upkeep, and the most important: No permanent sign of your presence wherever you decide to live out(National Forest, AT, etc). The worry factor also goes down considerably when not having a car, etc.
Not having car is a great thing to do for yourself and the planet. If you live in a small town, get a bicycle, in a large city, use public transportation. Stop and figure how much a car really costs you: purchase price, interest, taxes, tags, repairs, insurance, sometimes parking or garage--and you may figure you don't need to own a car, or to own two cars, or to own a new car.
join the military, work towards a field such as airforce pj or ranger or recon. try for b billets as instructor.
Join young enough and you can retire at 40, and spend the next 40 hiking.
Of course you are also signing up to be shot at. Not a universally popular choice.
For those with a talent for kids, teaching is a reasonable alternative to being shot at -- though be careful in choosing your school district.
I didn't do as well as 20 army years might have offered. But I did manage to get paid for walking in the woods from time to time. My job was to cover environmental affairs for a newspaper. Luckily land protection was a bit of a fad back in the 70s and 80s. And being a good reporter I insisted on looking at these lands first hand. I did at least a dozen Bigelow stories, made numerous assaults on Katahdin -- summer and winter. And managed to get paid for canoeing a few dozen wild rivers. lakes and streams.
Most people have long since forgotten my tomes on coastal Maine oil refinery proposals, aluminum smelters and subdivisions. But occasionally someone will bring up my walking stories. At one meeting a year or so ago I was praised for having "walked more Maine mountains than anyone in history." Probably not true. But I had the advantage of writing about my hikes in the state's largest newspaper.
Weary
Trade-offs, Sacrifices, Dilemmas. This is the stuff of an "Interesting Life."
Pros: Living outdoors. The scenery, the clean living, the raw contact with nature. Excitement, change, waking up to and going to bed with the joy of Creation. The freedom that an "outdoors/rec" job gives you to quit work and play, episodically --- like every 2-3 weeks getting a week off. "Work at what you love and you'll never have to "work" a day in your life."
Cons: Being forced to live by someone else's schedule: your clients'. Not having the choice to "bail out" in the middle of an expedition. Worrying about---and being responsible for---your clients' well-being 24-hours a day. Being so involved in being "away" and serving your clients that you don;t have much time for maintaining serious friendships or romantic relationships.
I was an Outward Bound Instructor from 1985-1989, and directed an Outdoor Leadership program at a private college for 2 more years. I considered these years my "Peace Corps" years (Never made more than $15,000/year which I spent on adventure travel and gear) and as "early retirement" to enjoy the world while my body was still young, supple, and virile. I have never regretted it.
That being said, the wisdom of my years has led me to conclude that having a viable income-producing career in a beautiful location that allows great weekend adventures, when combined with personal thrift and investing 10-15% annually, would be the ideal combination of prudence with pleasure.
My vote: take a LONG summer off to hike a great trail and experience the thrill of wild adventure, then get a good job in Roanoke, Pittsburg, Denver, Seattle, etc. and enjoy wild times while preparing for a long retirement with off-shore investments. FWIW....
Almost There
12-20-2007, 21:12
Teaching ain't that bad, in Georgia you start at about 40K, I'll have a week off at Tgiving next year, two at Xmas, one for spring break and it ends up about 8 weeks in the summer. Plenty of time to go hiking, if you can deal with the kids, good luck with your decision, but if you wanna try something different, do it now while you have nothing holding you back, it will be harder when you get older and have more responsibilities. Take a chance!
turtle fast
12-20-2007, 22:01
My wife and I are giving up our lucrative careers to hike the trail. We made smart choices with our money and didn't try to "keep up with the Jonses". We plan on hiking the AT and see what happens after..maybe try for a triple crown, or travel the world till the $ runs low. We just thought that life is too short for the high pressure s**t at a desk. I will probably go into teaching afterward sometime later....I always wanted my summers off to hike.
turtle fast
12-20-2007, 22:19
I see where the guy with the doctorate in preIslamic bedouin poetry would be a good story teller.....and love for open spaces... Funny thing, my degree was in Islamic History...with an emphasis on North Africa..ie the bedouin. ;)
My wife and I are giving up our lucrative careers to hike the trail.
Retiring at 34? That's a neat trick.
freefall
12-20-2007, 23:29
Not having car is a great thing to do for yourself and the planet. If you live in a small town, get a bicycle, in a large city, use public transportation. Stop and figure how much a car really costs you: purchase price, interest, taxes, tags, repairs, insurance, sometimes parking or garage--and you may figure you don't need to own a car, or to own two cars, or to own a new car.
I'm a full time student and work full-time. Here in Denver we have a SWEET deal where we pay $34 a semester and that gives us the ability to ride all of the RTD (public transportation system) for free! It is great! The only time I have ever had to pay for the bus or light rail was one night after coming back from a trip home, I had to pay 3 bucks for the Airport bus. I ain't complainin'!
I was living in the center of everything so none of my trips were long but rent was cheaper out here on the east side so no my trips to the mountains take a little longer but they still are free.
sasquatch2014
12-20-2007, 23:54
Don't get so caught up in thinking that it is forever. I find it funny that I say that because that was how i looked at every job/career that I was going to do this forever and was the most loyal hardworking employee that they ever had and thus they would value me ( group chuckle). It doesn't work that way so much anymore. I learned this after moving up the food chain and not really like what I saw or was called to do. I was the "ax man" way too many times. You will more than likely have several distinct career periods in your life. When possible try to find what you enjoy and then the work is less work.
The Doctor
12-20-2007, 23:54
I guess it's true. By not being married and having no kids, I basically only have the responsibility of taking care of my dog who pretty much takes care of himself. It really is releiving to think that I only have to worry about myself at this point in time. I will certainly make the best of it while it lasts.
envirodiver
12-21-2007, 00:13
Don't get so caught up in thinking that it is forever. I find it funny that I say that because that was how i looked at every job/career that I was going to do this forever and was the most loyal hardworking employee that they ever had and thus they would value me ( group chuckle). It doesn't work that way so much anymore. I learned this after moving up the food chain and not really like what I saw or was called to do. I was the "ax man" way too many times. You will more than likely have several distinct career periods in your life. When possible try to find what you enjoy and then the work is less work.
That is so true. Best be caerful what you wish for because it may come true. I Reached the point in a career that I had strived for and found that it sucked. I changed careers and started a landscaping business (my degree is chemical engineering). Loved it, but tough to raise children. I'll probaly go back to that some day. Often thought about teaching, bacause I like working with young people. Also, lot's of time to hike.
sasquatch2014
12-21-2007, 00:22
I was a Wrangler on a Dude Ranch while in college.
Graduated and worked at a residential treatment facality where I directed one of the units.
Did yellowpage advertising outside sales force. Moved up the food chain into managment levels and moved for the company twice.
Real Estate sales person. Also a very active Mr. Mom and rapidly developing hiking bum. Happier than I have been since being a Wrangler.
Life is a real kick in the pants somedays. Always keeps you amazed.