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  1. #1

    Default How much money spent on trail?

    Hi there. I'm trying to decide whether to do a CT thru-hike this summer and I have a number of questions that I'll probably post. One of them is, how much money should I set aside for use during that hike? Just to make the question clearer, I am NOT counting gear, travel to and from the trail, etc. I'm just curious how much you spent on the trail. I will NOT be using re-supply drops at all. I don't have a support crew, so I'll be carrying everything or buying it as I go. Particularly food, I'll be buying on the traill 100% and I'm trying to estimate costs. Thank you!

  2. #2

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    Are you going to pay for any shuttles back to trail?
    Are you going to eat in restaurants in town?
    Are you going to stay in hostels and hotels ? How many times?

    Ct is long enough you will appreciate a zero or two with copius town food. This is highly individual.

    Trail food is trail food. $12 per day will probably take care of that if shop smart. Buying resupplies can lead to waste because of quantities packaged vs what you want to carry.

    So, roughly, 400 for trail food and 200 for a couple zeros with restaurant meals would probably be average for the average 35 days.

    I expect it will range from $350 to $800 depending on person and amount of time it takes them. Faster is always cheaper. The person that takes 40 days will spend a lot more than the person that takes 25.
    Last edited by MuddyWaters; 05-09-2015 at 08:03.

  3. #3
    Garlic
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    I've hiked with people who spend twice on food what I do, both on trail and in town. I've also seen people who spend hundreds more than I do on lodging every week. If you haven't hiked a long trail, you don't know what your traveling needs and style will be, so it's hard to estimate costs.

    A decent rule of thumb on longer trails is $1000/month and one month is probably an average for the CT, so $1000 might be a good budget figure including lodging and some extras (it's surprising how much you can spend on laundry, for instance).

    Many use $2 per mile and $1000 would work out there, too. I think a minimum would be around $500, bare bones, and the sky's the limit if you want to go in luxury.
    "Throw a loaf of bread and a pound of tea in an old sack and jump over the back fence." John Muir on expedition planning

  4. #4

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    Great, thanks! I'm not into luxury but this will be my first through hike so I guess it's possible that I'll want to splurge. Honestly though I think I'll just want to finish as fast and cheap as I can so that works to my advantage.

  5. #5

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    i think i spent about $300 (on trail funds only) on the trail last summer, not sure though. did not include taxi ride to the waterton trailhead or bus tickets from durango home or all of the food i gorged myself on while in durango.

    i didn't pay to stay anywhere
    i didn't replace any gear
    i didn't pay for shuttles or other transportation while on trail
    one fuel canister lasted me the whole way
    i got some free food from the hiker box at twin lakes
    it was a fast hike as i was low on funds and time, but i made it work


    if you're on a tight budget, there's a walmart in frisco and salida where you can buy a food and save a bit. also hit up hiker boxes

  6. #6
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    My wife and I are thru-hiking the CT this year and I've budget about $1,700 for the two of us. We're mailing all of our resupply boxes and planning on spending a total of 6 nights in town since this will be our first thru hike. Hopefully it'll come in a little cheaper though as I've used $15 a person per day for trail food.

  7. #7
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    I ended up going way over budget. I was counting on hostels, but literally every single town I went into that had hostel was booked full. Ended up spending on hotels every town stop. Bummer, but then again it was a great night sleep. All this to say, keep some extra $$ in case things don't go as planned.

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