Gear list costs?

[Arwin]

How much money does it normally cost to get all your gear and supplies for a full thru hike not including money for the through hike itself like while on the trail but before hand. how much did it cost you just to buy all your gear and supplies?

[Mountain Wildman]

Depends a lot on what equipment you buy.
You can easily spend 3000 or you can make some gear yourself.

[Slo-go'en]

You can do it on the cheap or go gold plated.

Get the highest quality gear you can afford and put most of it into your sleeping bag and tent. Everything else you can skimp on a bit. And try to go light weight, even though that often costs more.

[Mountain Wildman]

If you go with good quality you can figure about 200 for a good solo tent or hammock.
300 for a down bag, 100 to 250 for a good light weight pack, And less than 100 for a sleeping pad. But it depends on how you want to hike, How much comfort do you want in camp, Do you want to carry the extra weight for the comfort? There are many considerations.
I am comfort driven and can handle the extra weight and have purchased all top quality gear because I will use it on many hikes yet to be hiked.
All said and done I will have around 3000 invested just in gear.
Obviously I do not strive to be an ultralight hiker.

[lazy river road]

depends how winter or summer, hammock, tarp, tent, you could do it real cheap or you could do it real expensive IMHO it all depends on how creative you want to get. For example. I put some money into a sea to summit 70 L sil bag (it was %40 off) but for stuff sacks Ill be useing gallon zip lock bags. So to answer you question you could spend very little to a whole bunch

[drifters quest]

I spent over 2000k, and that doesn't include some items that were bought for me and most of the clothing. I didn't have any major items such as pack or sleeping bag and although I got quality gear, I could have gotten even better stuff.

[GeneralLee10]

I have spent over $2000, that is me not liking an item and getting a different one. Like stoves bought a few use none of them now, the ones I bought. I use a tea light for a stove now. Purchased a HH hammock, still not sure if it's for me or not. The list continues....

Some gear you have to buy in order to test it out, see if it is going to work for you. Unless you have a friend willing to loan his or hers stuff.

[gravy4601]

spend the extra money and buy what you want the first time or befor you no it youll have a closet full of un used gear

[Bags4266]

Once you start buying gear it turns into an addition. Before you know it you have alot of stuff you really don't need. Research and find what fits for you.

[leaftye]

A lot. It's best not to keep track once you've decided to buy whatever you need no matter the cost.

[Bronk]

Don't be discouraged by all the people you see saying it costs $2000 to $3000. You can get set up just as easily for under $500. Look for the thread on the $300 challenge.

There's a lot of expensive crap you can buy...but that is just more crap you have to carry. You need a pack, sleeping bag and tent...try to keep the weight of these 3 to 10 pounds. The rest is all on how much money you want to blow and how much weight you want to carry.

[Panzer1]

How much money does it normally cost to get all your gear and supplies for a full thru hike ....?

It just depends on how much money you have. The more money you have, the more you're going to spend.

Panzer

[JustaTouron]

You can do it on the cheap or go gold plated.

Nobody buy anything gold plated.....the real money is in the titatium plated overpriced stuff.

[garlic08]

My AT kit cost under $900.

[Blissful]

$1500; you're also going several seasons. You can do it cheaper with used gear (like a pack), tarp, Campmor down bag, grease pot, alcohol stove, chain stores and salvation army for clothing, etc. For me footwear can cost a good amt as I use good trail runners and use many pairs.

But this is for gear. Budgeting for food and other necessities is separate.

[RollingStone]

For us there isn't any feasible to calculate the cost of the gear we will use on our 2011 Thru. We've been backpacking for a long time and our gear sets and comfort factors have fluctuated and changed with each year that passes. As others have said, you could spend 1000, you could spend 3000.

The issue is, without experience you aren't going to know what is comfortable for you or what is the most cost effective. I've seen threads on here time after time where people factored in 500 dollars or more to their budget just to change out gear because they were unfamiliar before starting.

My advice to you is to start modestly, shop smartly, and get some experience on the trails in your local area before making major purchase considerations.

As an example, 10 years ago I had a double wall tent. Then went to a hammock, then back to a double wall tent. Then to a tarp, then a tarp tent, back to a double wall tent, to a tarp, and finally now mostly tarptents. Every time I mention the word tent, tarp, etc, my wife rolls her eyes and groans "Here we go again! "

If anything, find someone knowledgeable and with common sense to help mentor you through your gear purchases. I am nto afraid to spend 300 bucks on a piece of gear, but ONLY if it makes sense. Sometimes there is an alternative that is just as high quality and cost effective. And sometimes when it comes to gear, you dont need all the fancy doo-dads the outfitters want to sell you. The KISS method works best.

[yaduck9]

Here is a gear list that Garlic posted for, I believe, his 08 hike. It has weight and Prices; His price total was 900.

I am a big believer in end of season sales. I just purchased a Granite Gear Nimbus Meridian on sale for 120. Mfg price is over 200. A year ago I purchased a Patagonia rain jacket at 40, well over half price.

I purchased a decent golite down bag on ebay for half price.

Made my own alcohol stove ( zenstove.com ) and windshield ( caldera cone clone; youtube )

I am sure someone has mentioned this person, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Gatewood. Which shows that hear prices have little to do with how far you can go.

So if your in a hurry to get on the trail, then you may need to carry a large wallet to purchase at retail or be thrifty and go "ultra simplistic".

The middle ground is to watch for store sales, craigslist, ebay and "gather" your gear over a period of a year or two, or even three....

Just my humble opinion.

[white_russian]

Find the deals and you can get some good gear cheap and even if you do end up with more gear than you need you have still spent less. Never pay MSRP, I don't care how much folks say to support your local outfitter or cottage gear manufacturer. Even if you see something that is perfect, you can pretty much always eventually get something else that is 90% as good at 50% of the cost on the clearance rack.

[Trailbender]

You might have to think outside the box on some gear purchases. For example, men's wicking underwear are about 3 oz in weight. The women's bikini brief, made of the same stuff is 0.5 oz, and are more comfortable. So right in underwear I save 5 oz right off. Stove is a potted meat can with holes punched in it and a bottle of denatured alcohol. I am always looking to lighten my load, the main question is can it do the same job for lighter?

[skinewmexico]

Never pay retail. Spadout.com and Steep & Cheap are your friends.