Thru Hike...I plan to Spend

[tridavis]

Okay, I won't be thruing for at least 5 years or so (I am 50).....but I am planning on spending 15-20K and having a really good time. I have read all of the threads on the lower limits, but what about the higher (I am really going to enjoy myself) limits??? Who has done this and what did you do and enjoy??

[Lone Wolf]

whoa! i spent 12 grand in 2000. took 9 months to hike 1600 miles. 120 +/- DAYS OFF. HAD ABALL!

[fredmugs]

You can give me $10K and I'll shuttle you and make sure you have a nice cold beer or three at the end of the day. I just turned 50 and can't retire until 56.

[Slo-go'en]

A friend of mine has a problem solving method while out on a long hike, far from home. If there is a problem, throw money at it until it goes away. Sounds like you'd have no trouble doing that. Days off and slack packing eats money. But hey, they do make the trip easier and more enjoyable.

[Armywife]

A friend of mine has a problem solving method while out on a long hike, far from home. If there is a problem, throw money at it until it goes away. Sounds like you'd have no trouble doing that. Days off and slack packing eats money. But hey, they do make the trip easier and more enjoyable.

Not to jack the OPs thread but, what is slack packing?

[Slo-go'en]

Slack packing is when you camp in town (hostel/motel) and have some one shuttle you to and from the trail. All you need to carry for the day is some food and a little gear, which depends on the expected weather.

If you make a habit of doing this, it can get expensive. Back in '08, I figure it cost me about $250 to slack pack 75 miles of Maine, after splitting expenses with a woman I was hiking with at the time. It was worth every penny too.

[Marta]

There's quite a bit of the Trail where you can hike from motel to B&B, eating in restaurants morning and night, relaxing with draft beer in the evening, and having ice cream for a pick-me-up during the day. When I counted up my nights, I spent about half of them sleeping outside and about half inside, either staying with friends, or staying in hostels, motels, or B&Bs. I stayed in the AMC huts in the Whites. I was well-fed and clean for much of my hike.

Slackpacking can really run into money. It's sort of fun, but it also puts pressure on you to speed along and meet a schedule. Not worth it, I concluded after an extensive, expensive experiment with it.

In PA I met a Trail maintainer who was section hiking with his wife. They didn't camp at all. He said he was going to write a guidebook: How to Hike the AT on $450/Day.

[peakbagger]

Slackpacking is the way to go and if you can find someone like minded to join you its not that unaffordable. My hiking partner had some ankle issues that got worse on backpacks so we switched to slackpacking when we were close to finishing the AT. All you need is one car, two hikers and two sets of keys, then key swap everyday. You also can hike away from the bubble with a car as the water issues are far less when slackpacking. The big plus is that with a car you have a much wider exposure to the areas on either side of the trail. We visited a lot of remote valleys and forest service roads that regular thru hikers would never get to visit. There are many shelters quite accessible to various Forest service roads in rural areas and plenty of hotels and hostels in most areas. We usually split up the week, staying at AT shelters for a couple of nights and then hitting a hotel for a night or two.

[perrymk]

You can give me $10K and I'll shuttle you and make sure you have a nice cold beer or three at the end of the day. I just turned 50 and can't retire until 56.

I plan/hope to retire in 7 years. I might just give you a call. OP, you can try him out and work out the logistics for me (smile).

My thoughts have been that the biggest problem with a follow-along support person would be to find someone trustworthy and reliable.

[Datto]

At the Secret Shack on my AT thru-hike, Jim, the owner, said on his AT thru-hike he'd met a guy from England who'd come over to America and had hired some guy to carry his pack the length of the AT. Evidently, the short and wide guy who carried the pack didn't mind carrying an 80 pound pack since he'd wanted to hike the AT and didn't have any money and the guy from England had plenty of money but didn't want to carry the backpack. Jim said it worked out very well for the two of them.

Here's a photo of that day taken about 10 minutes after Jim had told me about the guy from England. Also about five minutes after my Barry White impersonation. Wahoo to the left, me in the middle, pretty Blister Sister to the right. Link to my journal entry for that day follows. Picture:

AT Slides 2000 111.jpg

http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=176930

Datto

[Dogwood]

Spending 15-20 k is going to allow for a lot of party favors in those resupply boxes.

[Monkeywrench]

During my thru in 2009 I spent about $10k. Though I did stay in a few hostels, whenever I went into town I mostly got a motel room for myself. In every town I sought out the best restaurant and went for a nice meal with a couple of cocktails. I flew home and back from Front Royal when my daughter needed to see me. I pretty much bought whatever I wanted along the way. I think I would have had to work at it to spend much more money than I did.