Daily budget on the AT

[thepokerkid227]

I was having a discussion with someone, and is saying you'll average spending $10 dollars a day on the AT for food, fuel, etc. a good estimate?

[4eyedbuzzard]

I was having a discussion with someone, and is saying you'll average spending $10 dollars a day on the AT for food, fuel, etc. a good estimate?

Store bought food and fuel. Yeah. Doable. And some, but not a lot of "etc." And not likely if one gets town food and/or drinks every 4 to 5 days.

[thepokerkid227]

Yeah I wasnt really counting in getting a meal in town every time you stop, strictly store bought food, canister fuel, laundry, and the occasional hostel/motel and a meal in town.

[4eyedbuzzard]

Yeah I wasnt really counting in getting a meal in town every time you stop, strictly store bought food, canister fuel, laundry, and the occasional hostel/motel and a meal in town.

Oh, THAT "etc." - you want to do laundry and stay in hostels/motels too? Yeah, that won't happen on $10 per day average. Figure a hostel is $20-30, a motel room is $60+ (a cheap motel). Decent town meals are likely $7-10 for breakfast, $12-20 for dinner. Without drinks. You might be able to get by on $20 per day average if you watch your expenses.

[nitewalker]

food 15$ per day = 450/month
lodging 30$ per week =120/month
laundry 6$ per week = 24/month

unexpected spending 2nd pr of shoes = 100/hike

i suppose the 700 per month total here is not too far off from the 1000 per month i thought was ridiculous...i think my estimates may even be conservative, hmmmmmm....

[leaftye]

My trail food alone is already around $10 a day. Add hostels, town food and consumables, and it's easy to double that.

[10-K]

No way could I hike for $10 a day. Figure you'll have an opportunity to spend money every 2-4 days and sometimes more often than that.

$25-$30 a day would be the lowest number I'd feel comfortable with. Even at $30 a day for 180 days (6ish months) that's just $5400, which is on the bottom end of what I feel like is enough to allow me to hike and enjoy myself.

But there is a very big caveat to this. I would never take 6 months to hike the AT. Maybe 4 months on the outside and the faster you hike the cheaper you can hike.

I still wouldn't do it if I didn't have a bit more $$$ than I thought I needed.

I am not saying this is how it should be for everyone, or this is a magic number or anything but if I started I would dang well want to finish and one of the top reasons people don't finish is because they run out of money. I would not start an AT hike without a bankroll of $7,000.

[4eyedbuzzard]

No way could I hike for $10 a day. Figure you'll have an opportunity to spend money every 2-4 days and sometimes more often than that.

$25-$30 a day would be the lowest number I'd feel comfortable with. Even at $30 a day for 180 days (6ish months) that's just $5400, which is on the bottom end of what I feel like is enough to allow me to hike and enjoy myself.

But there is a very big caveat to this. I would never take 6 months to hike the AT. Maybe 4 months on the outside and the faster you hike the cheaper you can hike.

I still wouldn't do it if I didn't have a bit more $$$ than I thought I needed.

I am not saying this is how it should be for everyone, or this is a magic number or anything but if I started I would dang well want to finish and one of the top reasons people don't finish is because they run out of money. I would not start an AT hike without a bankroll of $7,000.

Ya know, if you keep upping your budget, you might as well hire a sherpa. Maybe you should change your name to "$10K".

[10-K]

Ya know, if you keep upping your budget, you might as well hire a sherpa. Maybe you should change your name to "$10K".

Nah man... if you check the only number I've thrown out for the past 2-3 years for a thru hike is $7,000..

[nitewalker]

No way could I hike for $10 a day. Figure you'll have an opportunity to spend money every 2-4 days and sometimes more often than that.

$25-$30 a day would be the lowest number I'd feel comfortable with. Even at $30 a day for 180 days (6ish months) that's just $5400, which is on the bottom end of what I feel like is enough to allow me to hike and enjoy myself.

But there is a very big caveat to this. I would never take 6 months to hike the AT. Maybe 4 months on the outside and the faster you hike the cheaper you can hike.

I still wouldn't do it if I didn't have a bit more $$$ than I thought I needed.

I am not saying this is how it should be for everyone, or this is a magic number or anything but if I started I would dang well want to finish and one of the top reasons people don't finish is because they run out of money. I would not start an AT hike without a bankroll of $7,000.

i cant understand why so much money is needed. your saying 6mths will equal out to 5400. do you realize thats nearly 1000$ per mth just to hike the AT.. to me thats just crazy. what is there to spend money on that adds up like that. most people share motels unless they are loners...laundry and food surley do not add up that fast...

[leaftye]

laundry and food surley do not add up that fast...

Do you have any idea what those cost you at home? Probably not. Whatever it is, triple it. Laundry may not be more expensive if you already use laundromats, but food will be more expensive because you'll be eating 2-3x as much and because food in remote towns is much more expensive than in big cities. Then again, you might already know about the expense of food since you live in BFE.

[nitewalker]

Do you have any idea what those cost you at home? Probably not. Whatever it is, triple it. Laundry may not be more expensive if you already use laundromats, but food will be more expensive because you'll be eating 2-3x as much and because food in remote towns is much more expensive than in big cities. Then again, you might already know about the expense of food since you live in BFE.

so how many days a week do you do laundry if your hiking the trail? is it 1 or 2? it should cost 1.75 to wash and 1.50 to dry. so thats 3.25. we will say 4.00 just to round it up. 4.00 x 26 weeks is 104.00$. food at 15.00 per day x 180 days is 2700.00. i will say the food will add up fast but the laundry thing on the trail is a minor expense. yes the food prices around here are totally crazy, especially stop n rob..by the way what is the BFE.....

[Papa D]

No way could I hike for $10 a day. Figure you'll have an opportunity to spend money every 2-4 days and sometimes more often than that.

$25-$30 a day would be the lowest number I'd feel comfortable with. Even at $30 a day for 180 days (6ish months) that's just $5400, which is on the bottom end of what I feel like is enough to allow me to hike and enjoy myself.

But there is a very big caveat to this. I would never take 6 months to hike the AT. Maybe 4 months on the outside and the faster you hike the cheaper you can hike.

I still wouldn't do it if I didn't have a bit more $$$ than I thought I needed.

I am not saying this is how it should be for everyone, or this is a magic number or anything but if I started I would dang well want to finish and one of the top reasons people don't finish is because they run out of money. I would not start an AT hike without a bankroll of $7,000.

I would agree with $10K that, $7K would surely give you a comfort level that would enable you to buy whatever you wanted (just about) get a hostel or pizza or beer whenever you happened to hit a town but the trail (and that by going faster you spend less) but long distance backpacking (AT and elsewhere) can be done much cheaper and often is. I hiked in 1985 on less than $2500 including all of my gear which (using an inflation calculator would have been $4904.00 (roughly) in modern money. I also had money left over. I ate lots of oatmeal, peanut butter, instant rice, and cheap instant coffee and got two (I think) hotel rooms the whole way (and a half dozen pay campgrounds where they had showers). Instant potatoes, tuna, instant oatmeal, granola and even snickers are still cheap --- it's just that most people roll with Mountain House, stop in all the towns, pay for shuttles (vs hitch-hiking) and eat restaurant meals and beer (this is fun and makes it a LOT easier trip than what I did) -- it just depends on your style. I'd revise 10Ks numbers like this:

$1200 -- it could be done - absolutely NO frills whatsoever - you'd need hiker box help, used gear - most spartan ways possible -- no beer unless it's given to you
$2500 -- the cheapest most people should probably try - share a hostel every couple of weeks now and then - really watch it hard in groceries - use hiker boxes a lot - tall PBR every 2 weeks
$4000 -- very doable - you would rarely stay in a hostel and would have to watch your money carefully - you could probably get a $10 bunk every 10 days and split a 6 pack every week
$7000 -- 10Ks number - this is full fare - pay for shuttles, hostels, replace gear, drink micro-brews - do what you want to
$10,000 -- now you have so much luxury available for a thru hike, I think you miss the point

[nitewalker]

I would agree with $10K that, $7K would surely give you a comfort level that would enable you to buy whatever you wanted (just about) get a hostel or pizza or beer whenever you happened to hit a town but the trail (and that by going faster you spend less) but long distance backpacking (AT and elsewhere) can be done much cheaper and often is. I hiked in 1985 on less than $2500 including all of my gear which (using an inflation calculator would have been $4904.00 (roughly) in modern money. I also had money left over. I ate lots of oatmeal, peanut butter, instant rice, and cheap instant coffee and got two (I think) hotel rooms the whole way (and a half dozen pay campgrounds where they had showers). Instant potatoes, tuna, instant oatmeal, granola and even snickers are still cheap --- it's just that most people roll with Mountain House, stop in all the towns, pay for shuttles (vs hitch-hiking) and eat restaurant meals and beer (this is fun and makes it a LOT easier trip than what I did) -- it just depends on your style. I'd revise 10Ks numbers like this:

$1200 -- it could be done - absolutely NO frills whatsoever - you'd need hiker box help, used gear - most spartan ways possible -- no beer unless it's given to you
$2500 -- the cheapest most people should probably try - share a hostel every couple of weeks now and then - really watch it hard in groceries - use hiker boxes a lot - tall PBR every 2 weeks
$4000 -- very doable - you would rarely stay in a hostel and would have to watch your money carefully - you could probably get a $10 bunk every 10 days and split a 6 pack every week
$7000 -- 10Ks number - this is full fare - pay for shuttles, hostels, replace gear, drink micro-brews - do what you want to
$10,000 -- now you have so much luxury available for a thru hike, I think you miss the point

nice. BUT if i had 10,000 saved for a hike i would spend 5000 on the hike and the other 5000 in hawaii or something like that...

[Don H]

Agree with 10-K. Better to have enough money and maybe even have some left over than to come up short.

[nitewalker]

alot of people on here will tell you that your gonna need close to 4000 or 5000 to have a comfortable hike that takes 5 months or so. thats close to 1000 a month. to me thats absurd.. 150 days at 20$ per day equals 3000 total. thats 600$ per month. if you cant hike on that then someting isnt rite in my book..when u get to the new england section of the AT your costs will go up for sure. everything costs more in the northeast...

[bamboo bob]

Hiking is cheap. backpacking is cheap. Towns are not cheap. If you have a few pints of beer in town and stay in motels split with others and town meals it can add up. It will be hard to stay on a budget when most people are enjoying their town stays. Just Nero's will cost let alone zero days. I find the trail cheaper than staying home because I don't take my wife out to dinner on the trail twice a week No gas, etc. Some folks apparently consider part of the back packing experience to take a vow of poverty when backpacking. I don't. I really enjoy hiking but if it the AT was Inn to Inn I would be happy. I just tolerate camping.

[Sassafras Lass]

I just tolerate camping.

Here it is in a nutshell.

Do you hike the Appalachian Trail to get away from civilization and be in nature for months on end - or do you hike between hostel/motel/hotel beds and restaurants bars?

If you can be honest with yourself, figure out your limits, figure out what limits you're willing to push and calculate from that - then you'll find yourself with the budget that works for you.

[Jeff]

Do you hike the Appalachian Trail to get away from civilization and be in nature for months on end - or do you hike between hostel/motel/hotel beds and restaurants bars?

If you can be honest with yourself, figure out your limits, figure out what limits you're willing to push and calculate from that - then you'll find yourself with the budget that works for you.

You make a good point but it's tough to "figure out your limits" from the comfort of home.

[Sassafras Lass]

You make a good point but it's tough to "figure out your limits" from the comfort of home.

Oh, I absolutely agree. I know it's been said a hundred million times, but if I had any advice for anyone wanting to try a thru-hike, it would be this:

Take 3 weeks off and go hike a long trail. Any long trail. Get out there and get dirty and grubby and hike through thunderstorms and hail and snow and in the dark and see what pushes your buttons. That is the only way you'll figure out what you can do without, what your comfort zone is, etc.

It's been said, but until I went hiking this spring I didn't take it to heart.