[pct-l] The cost of hiking

[Donna "L-Rod" Saufley]

I second your recommendation for Amtrak as an alternative to flying, hitching, or Greyhound.  The Coast Starlight departs from Seattle and travels all the way into Los Angeles Union Station, with many stops along the way.  From there the Pacific Surfliner will get you all the way to San Diego.  It's comfortable, reasonable, and fun!  

L-Rod

-----Original Message-----
>From: Diane at Santa Barbara Hikes dot com <diane at santabarbarahikes.com>
>Sent: Nov 28, 2008 8:26 AM
>To: pct-l at backcountry.net
>Subject: Re: [pct-l] The cost of hiking
>
>A surprisingly hefty expense was post office business. If you can  
>minimize that, you'll save.
>
>A huge and avoidable expense for me was a rental car I got to go from  
>Bishop to Santa Barbara. If you feel like quitting the trail, don't  
>do it in Bishop. You can't get anywhere from there. Well, not easily,  
>cheaply and southward at the same time.
>
>And as nice as it sounds from the comfort of your home to avoid  
>staying in motels, I don't know that I could have avoided it. It was  
>the siren song of a hot shower and the promise of a few hours  
>completely supine in front of the TV that got me to shell out the  
>bucks. Plus I needed a safe place to store and spread out all my  
>stuff while I resupplied. As time went on, however, I did get into  
>the groove of the trail and being a vagabond so I think if I had  
>continued longer on the trail, that expense would have diminished.
>
>On the plus side, train travel home was surprisingly inexpensive and  
>comfortable. I recommend it to anyone looking for a way home who can  
>do that by train.
>
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