[pct-l] Thru-hike cost: It's not cheap!

[Rick Ostheimer]

A while back there was a thread on thru hike costs.  It was cloudy, 
rainy, cold and just plain miserable here in NE Ohio today, so I got a 
"round tuit" and loaded up a spreadsheet with all my 2008 thru hike 
expenses.  I had the statements from my Visa card and my bank 
transaction history covering the hike period.  

I don't have anything in for lost wages because I'm retired, though I 
supposed I could put in about 30% of my formerly much larger stock 
portfolio since I couldn't mind it and bail out while I was happily 
walking the trail.  You don't know how much book value I lost during 
that time frame from April to October.  I don't include taxes, 
utilities, etc. on my home----my wife has to have somewhere to live!  
Nor do I include my health insurance expense----I pay for it whether I 
sit home or hike.  I do include what I paid an neighbor to mow my 2 
acres if grass while I was gone. 

Here's the break down:

$ 550   Travel to/from trail (base location Pittsburgh PA)
 1375   *Food from supermarkets
 1050   *Restaurants and visa charges of snack foods
 1285   Lodging
  450    Postage
  225    Contributions to trail angels/gas money for rides
  700    *Pocket money (cash otherwise unaccounted for---mostly snacks, 
but also things like bus fares, etc.)
  600    Equipment (2 sets spare socks, gaiters, clothes from REI, 
Seattle, $100, for travel home)
    80    Fuel (alcohol, I often left 1/2 pint in hiker boxes)
  250    Replacement pocketmail composer and pocketmail service subscription
  250    Other, mostly spending at drug stores
1000    Lawn care back home

7815   Total  (= approx $3/mile)

* indicates expenditures that would have been made regardless of whether 
I was home or not.

Offsetting some of the extra expenses:  I spent no money on gasoline.  I 
put my cable service into vacation mode ($10/month)

Hope this helps some future hiker.