My wife and I are attempting an E2E starting in July. I worked up a spreadsheet based on my experience resupplying for myself, and added in food and meals for her. We're going to resupply 4 times, and take a night in a B&B or hostel each time.
Travel: $500 ($400 for r/t train tickets, $100 for shuttle from Amherst to North Adams)
Lodging: $600 (six nights: one before, four during, one after, averaging $100 each. I think this may be a little high.)
Resupply: $500 (four complete resupplies of food for two people at $125 per for 5-6 days of food, or $10-12 per-person per-day. This is inline with what I spend on resupply here in the South, so it may be low.
Meals Out: $400 (includes lunch, dinner, and breakfast for two people four times. Includes beer, so this may be very low
)
So basically I'm looking at about $1000 per person including transportation and before/after lodging. Take that out, and it's $650 per person spent while actually onthe trail.
I'm not including money for gear upgrades or all the little stuff we needed to repair or replace. I'm sure that we'll spend more -- if there's a restaurant half a mile off the trail, we'll probably stop in
But this seems like a good estimate from which to work for planning purposes.
We're sending a small maildrop to the Inn at Long Trail, with some goodies for motivation and some things it'll be easier to mail.
Have a great hike.
EDIT: let me add that this is our vacation, so we'll spend the extra money on a B&B over a hostel, and on a nice restaurant meal over the AYCE Chinese place. This is close to a luxury budget.