The opportunity cost is likely far higher. Taking six months away from productive activities is quite expensive.Originally Posted by skinnbones
Its like anything else, you can spend as much or as little as you want and still have a good time. A friend of mine has as much as you spent tied up in fishing gear...my entire setup for fishing cost around $25. When we go fishing he doesn't catch any more or less or any larger or smaller fish than I do. For him, shopping for the gear is just as much a part of it as the fishing is.
A wise old fisherman once told me "Some lures are designed to catch fish. Others are designed to catch fisherman."
Expensive hobby compared to what? Golf, skiing, drinking Scotch? Now those are expensive hobbies.
The most expensive thing about hiking gear is buying and re-buying it to fine tune the system. This is one of the reasons I can't understand the people who jump in with both feet and start out on a Big Hike with expensive gear before they even know whether they like it.
It's possible to spend about $300 and get yourself outfitted to try the hobby in safety and comfort in summer. It'll last long enough to learn your hiking style, and learn how to choose stuff so you don't get taken. Then when you do spend the big bucks, you at least know what you're buying, and more important, you know you're going actually to use it. I got back into backpacking eight years ago with a 1970s-vintage pack, a sleeping bag from the REI garage sale, a blue foamy from XYZ-mart, a blue tarp and Coughlan's bug net with gutter spikes for stakes, a Grease Pot and popcan stove, mostly clothing that I had at home already. I looked absolutely ridiculous and had some wonderful times.
The pack was badly deteriorated, and the first thing to be replaced - with a $70 special from the REI sale. (The frame is sitting around waiting to be repurposed, likely as a tool rack for trail maintenance.) I have my eye on a young man without very much money who will grow into the REI pack in a couple of years. The blue foam got kind of torn up, but I still have about a third of it for a sit pad on day trips, and I've cut up pieces for other things. A few bits sit under the corners of my dehumidifier to make it quieter. I'm still using the sleeping bag, Grease Pot, and alky stove - although the stove is about the fourth incarnation. I stepped on one while exploding my pack one Sunday evening, and have given a couple away. I don't sleep under the blue tarp any more, but a tarp is always useful.
I have upgraded into 'mid-range' gear - a Granite Gear pack, a TarpTent Notch, some Marmot clothing, and so on, but that's happened over several years of weekend trips and short sections. One advantage to the 'weekender' style over jumping right in on the Big Hike is that you don't have to start with a complete kit up to dealing with six months of everything Mother Nature can throw at you, and light enough to bash out the 20+ mile days.
And you know what? I learnt during the time I spent on 'training trips' that the Big Hike doesn't appeal that much to me. So I saved spending an awful lot on ultralight gear - and spent it instead on gear that was appropriate to winter weekends, weekend bushwhacks, Northeast peak-bags, and so on. The ultimate saving is in not getting stuff!
I think my biggest single outlay on gear has been my snowshoes - because I knew that where I was going, I'd need good ones. By the time I got them, I also knew where I was going - and that I'd need a pair smaller than what the catalogs would call for on a man my size. In the dense vegetation around here, what would be important was manoeuvrability on wet snow. Flotation on fresh powder could be relegated to dreams of the Rockies. I got the kind with the snap-off tails so I do have an option when I start to wallow. I live Up North, so a lot of my winter gear sometimes gets used off trail. I've walked to work in my facemask and goggles.
My most expensive "gear that doesn't get used" is my ice axe and crampons. No regrets there! I've racked them maybe 6-8 times (other than practice jaunts to the canyon in a local nature preserve), and actually used them only a couple or three times. But when you need them, there is no safe alternative. Including, possibly, turning back, if the weather goes bad fast enough. I've been in the Catskills in an unforecast ice storm of epic proportions - with just Microspikes on my feet, which taught me a lesson. (I have to concede that the drive home was even scarier than the trip down the mountain.)
In short: Get cheap gear. Have fun. Build your skills. By the time it gives out, you'll be wise enough to make better choices about the expensive stuff and have a good idea where you can cut corners.
I always know where I am. I'm right here.
Always enjoy reading your posts and responses. I "WANT" to jump in with both feet. To venture into the unknown is part of the thrill. And you are correct, I have purchased other items after buying it once already (mostly clothes). That's what's rookies do. After waiting 30+ years the window of opportunity is finally open. Kids are grown and have job freedom. And finally, if I find that I dislike lugging a pack over mountains, I will have 2100+ miles to ponder the thought, "what was I thinking". Thanks for your response!
No doubt, if the time is right, give it a go! You will have plenty of opportunity to swap out a piece or two a gear that you HATE after 50 miles. Just save a bit of budget for that
I expect there are more than few folks who more into the planning then the actual trip. They potentially are planning an AT event to get away from something and gear investment allows to the make a firm physical commitment now to the future endeavor. I wonder how many of the majority who get off the trail after a short time end up with pile of gear they never use. I know of one potential thruhiker who was sick of his job and went out an bought all the major gear within days of particularly stressful event at work, the gear has sat unused for at least 15 years.
The other financial surprise I expect more than few hikers have is starting the trail with all new gear and then decide after just a few days that they need to buy new gear at Mountain Crossings and ship it home. I ran into one potential thruhiker that had bought some new gear at Mountain Crossings and then a lot of new gear at Mt Rogers Outfitters. I ran into him a day later with his brand new ultralight gear shivering with every warm thing he had on his back as the unusual warm spring weather pattern has shifted into the more traditional cold damp and rainy.
Bingo
Especially if you are taking time of from a high paying career...
I know it was sticker shock for me when I outfitted me and my daughter last year for a trip to Yellowstone NP. Now I'm a gear junkie lookin for the next great deal. Can't......stop......buying.......gear. :-)
So true!! I'm currently a ground dweller and seriously considered switching to a hammock but I have to sell some gear before I can swing paying $170 for a WBBB.....and a tarp.....and an underquilt. Sheesh.
Don't know who said it first but, "beware of any endeavor that requires new shoes". Like back packing boots, trail runners, hiking shoes, Keen water shoes, golf shoes, gym shoes, dance shoes, tennis shoes, camp shoes, riding boots, ski boots, snow shoes, etc. Shoes are the gateway to runaway expenditures for fun things.
Let no one be deluded that a knowledge of the path can substitute for putting one foot in front of the other.
—M. C. Richards
Even more so if the time off will leave a suspicious gap in your résumé, so that you have trouble getting back in the door.
I always know where I am. I'm right here.
One could argue that the opportunity cost of not hiking is quite high as well.
Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
Agree life's potentially short and full of unknowns....if you have the means then I'd go and not look back! I'm envious as many like myself get caught up in life's commitments....one day I'll break free! With two kids 16 and 10 it'll be a few more years!!!!
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I am planning on gathering things little by little over then next couple a years to do my AT hike ..... i have looked at many different things and once I think i got my game plan it changes ... I think you did very well on your preperation.
That's one of my favorites, and I believe it was Mark Twain. A couple of decades ago I became distressed at the number of special-use shoes I had in my closet, and since then I have been working on that. I switched back to old fashioned toe clips and straps on my bike. I work on a trail crew that allows me to wear my hiking shoes. If I ever need new ski boots, I think I'll switch to snowshoeing instead so I can use my hiking shoes. I bought some microspikes so I can wear my hiking shoes on many winter hikes. I have an active social life, but I stay away from events where I can't wear my hiking shoes (surprisingly few, as it turns out). The only work I do, I can wear my hiking shoes. I apologize for the drift.
"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
Maybe , maybe not.
What counts really for many, in the long term, is are you able to afford it, and still be prepared to retire one day.
The actual difference that 6 months makes is pretty small in the grand scheme of things
And can be made up and then some by working 1 more year when one does the math.
Of course life never goes according to the way you plan it, so its all a wildcard anyway. We arent really in control, we just have an innate desire to believe and pretend we are. This applies to man and everything he concerns himself with.
Last edited by MuddyWaters; 10-24-2016 at 20:40.
In the end, it all boils down to how much you use the stuff. It could work out to be a bargain or an expensive lesson.
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I hope you have at least another $1000 for trail expenses while hiking.Hostels,motels,restaurants ect.One thing you can't buy is good weather. Hikers with little cold weather camping/hiking experience are the first to quit after a bit of unseasonably cold & nasty late spring weather.Just a few miles north of Hot Springs NC it snowed 15" on April 17th many years ago.In 2010 the temp got down to 36* with 40mph winds on May 10th crossing the extensive balds in the Roan Highlands area.
Sleep on the ground, rise with the sun and hike with the wind....
I think I've posted before...cold arse late February trip few years ago Roan highlands....do yourself a favor go prepared for the worst!
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