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Former Admin
09-03-2002, 19:26
discuss money issues related to thru-hiking

EarlyRiser
09-05-2002, 18:22
I think it all depends on what your objectives are. if your out for the experiance and to meet as many other hikers and friends as possible than its going to cost a bit more because youll most likely have slower pace and therefore require more food, lodging ect. in towns and be more likely to spend larger amounts of money than you would otherwise. its easy to lose track of money when your having a good time. as they say "money and time fly when your having fun". if your goal is to complete the hike than you may be more likely to just go and not stop and spend less. you know yourself, if your a spender than obviously it will cost you more. if you think you can go for minimal than thats just another challange and challanges make life fun. it dosnt have to be a huge capital adventure, but it dosnt have to be cheap either. your in control (mostly) of the amount of money you spend. ofcourse in emergencies who knows what might happen, its good to be prepared but be carful cause if the moneys there you might be tempted to spend it. costs arnt as big an issue as some think, gear is only costly if your brought in by those sales guys who want you to buy the most expensive thing in the store. many things you can find at tag sales, salvation army, or any other place where you can find a deal. you can get an entire trails worth of shoes for five bucks if you use five pairs at a buck a pair at a tag sale or whatever. expensive dosnt always mean better and cheap dosnt always mean worse. ofcourse, many times cheap does mean worse, so becarful about that as well.

psuruns10
09-26-2002, 13:11
I am planning a through hike for 2004. Long way off but i am a poor college student. Is $3000 a resonable estimate to make it. I have the gear. Plan on stayin in hotels 1 out of 10 nites or so?

any suggestions on teh amount of money i need to save will be much apperciated

randy

Peaks
09-26-2002, 16:24
Well, I spend nearly $2000 on my trek, and rarely stayed in towns. So, let's say that
one night out of 10 equates to 17 nights in a hotel. Let's assume that it costs you roughtly $50.00 per night. So, in addition to the roughly $2,000 I spent, you are going to spend another $850. Quick math, it should be doable if you watch your spending habits.

However, the big caution is town suck. It can lure you in big time.

I kept records of how much I spent. Did anyone else?

Jumpstart
09-26-2002, 20:49
I hiked with my husband, so granted almost everything (food costs, hotel rooms, dinner in town, etc..) was doubled, and we did the trail sort of on the high-life side, we stayed at hotels in town, sometimes more than one night, took side trips to Hershey Park, PA, all -day sight-seeing in Gatliburg, and a road-trip to visit home from PA, including car rentals, rented a car in Waynesboro, VA to see the premier of Star Wars, and on our zero-days genrally ate or drank every meal in a restuarant.

We took time a zero day in nearly every town once we hit VA, and also swapped out quite a bit of gear as we went along, ended up buying a new tent, new shoes twice for each of us, lighter gear, etc...as we went.

So even though $8000 sounds like a lot, I think we got quite a bit for our money. You should be able to do it with $3000, especially while you are in the south, hotels are much cheaper in that area, and I know that most of the thru-hikers on a conscious budget how no trouble finding other to split the cost of hotel room, bulk food in grocery stores, etc. Like Peaks said, the best way to do it cheaply is to avoid town suck, but when you are in towns, consider hostels (defintley cheaper than hotels, many with the smae ameneties), or even consider spending your day in town and then hiking the 3-4 miles out, where there is usually a shelter, sometimes closer.