[pct-l] Low cost Thru

[Tortoise]

As Steel-Eye has pointed out, how much the hike costs depends both on 
how you spend you money and what you count.

The overall approach is to figure (estimate) what your financial 
position is at the end of your hike (and back to work if relevant) 
compared to what it would be if you had not hiked and carried on your 
usual non-hike life..  Even with this approach, one must do some 
estimating, but this will get you close to the real amount.

Then if you want to go further into the future, try to estimate your 
life time earnings and/or financial position at retirement if you did 
hike or didn't. Lots of imponderables here.  Do you become addicted to 
thru-hiking? Or will the experience enrich you such that you earn more? 
And then what is the value of the additional money to you versus the 
enjoyment you have?

I guess the end answer is that the overall cost of a thru hike is 
impossible to measure.

One will never have enough information to make a decision. One gets the 
information one can and then decides with a leap of faith that one has 
chosen  the best alternative.

Tortoise

<> He who finishes last, wins! <>



Steel-Eye wrote:
> Good evening, David,
>
> The short answer is, I have no idea what it will cost you, and other
> people's answers won't be of much use unless you know exactly what
> they did, or did not, include.  The largest single cost increment for most
> hikers is the loss of income opportunity, i.e. the probable net income plus
> benefits that you will miss by being out of the job market for about half a
> year.  If you want to see a small number just tell yourself that you would
> probably just sit on your butt anyway if you weren't on the trail.   Since
> I'm retired that's my situation, but most younger hikers have to account
> for income loss.
>
> Another significant increment is household costs.  If you have to continue
> to pay rent or a mortgage while on the trail it is an expense.  If you won't
> continue to pay rent, you may have to pay for storage for household stuff.
> A similar cost could be the debt service on loans.  Either continue
> to service the debt or push it out for 6 months and suffer the additional
> interest.
>
> Food is another big increment but since you have to eat anyway it could
> actually be less expensive to eat on the trail than at home.  That all
> depends upon how often you would eat out if you were at home.
>
> An expense you won't know about until you have many trail miles under your
> sneakers is the cost for hotels and restaurants in trail towns, and the
> number of trail-town days you take.  Food and lodging in town can easily
> cost as much as $100 per day, particularly the way hikers eat.
>
> Most serious long-distance hikers will take a look at the expense column,
> but usually in terms of assuring they have sufficient funds to bridge the
> work gap, or have some line-of-sight to a job when they return so they can
> work down the debt.  I doubt if any serious hiker would think, "I only want
> to spend $1.00 per mile but since it looks like it may be $1.10 per mile I
> won't go."
>
> Steel-Eye
> http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "David Thibault" <dthibaul07 at gmail.com>
> To: <pct-l at backcountry.net>
> Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2008 7:23 PM
> Subject: [pct-l] Low cost Thru
>
>
>   
>> I was discussing the cost of a thru hike a while ago and this question
>> arose, how cheaply can a thru hike be done?  I'm aware of the estimates of
>> $1/mi, etc.  What I am interested in is how low cost has someone actually
>> done a thru in the last couple of years?  Anyone want to brag as to how
>> little it costs for say '06 - '08 thru hikes.    I'm looking for the amunt
>> of cash needed from leaving your house until you return 4-5 months later.
>> I'm interested in traditional thru hikes - not record breaking attempts,
>> as
>> I suspect they might not be representative of the typical hikers expenses.
>> Note: I'll be attempting a thru in '09 and do NOT plan a doing it for
>> minimum cost.
>> Day-late ('09 thru wannabe)
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>
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