Just curious, I would like to read a journal of someone who was broke and homeless thru-hiking the AT. Any suggestions on any good ones?
W J White
Any journals involving broke people hiking the trail?
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#2
Hard to thru-hike with no $$$. Never came across a journal like that. A few hikers seem to run out of money in Northern New England but thats it.
Dan
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#3
Hard to thru-hike with no $$$. Never came across a journal like that. A few hikers seem to run out of money in Northern New England but thats it.
Dan
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#4
Hard to thru-hike with no $$$. Never came across a journal like that. A few hikers seem to run out of money in Northern New England but thats it.
Dan
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#5
Hard to thru-hike with no $$$. Never came across a journal like that. A few hikers seem to run out of money in Northern New England but thats it.
Dan
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#6
I knew a bunch of PCT hikers that were broke and on unemployment. As far as homeless most of the younger crowd and me were. Personally now I’m back in school, but for the last five years I worked for a ski area in the winter, and got laid off for the summer. I didn’t want to pay rent while hiking, so left my ski winter stuff with awesome friends, and hiked all summer. Then found an apartment to rent again in the winter. I suggest you look into the wonderful state of California and the beautiful ski areas that adorn many California trail towns for this sort of lifestyle. Cali pretty much encourages you to do this. They don’t make you look for a job if your a seasonal ski area worker in a rural area like Mammoth Lakes, Ca. Apply today for the winter season. Jobs are really going fast. Oh yeah they set you up with employee housing when you get to town, make sure you reserve it in advance though it’s limited. http://www.mammothmountain.com Theres a bunch of Triple Crowners that work here and you’ll get to know some good hikers.
This isnt a flame or anything. I know alot of people are anti-unemployment, but the economy does suck in Cali. Except in the winter when they need to hire so many people that they have to go outside the US to get workers for these resorts. Better a US citizen and thru hiker takes advantage of this then some kids from Australia or the UK.
Guino
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#7
A thruhike might be a once in a lifetime opportunity. Start the trail with adequate money in the bank so you can enjoy yourself. It is no fun having to quit hiking due to lack of funds. It is no fun not being able to enjoy a pizza and drinks with hiker friends in trail towns. It is no fun coming home to an overdue credit card bill.
Jeff - Green Mountain House
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#11
Sometime you have money but no time, or you have the time but no money, life can be a bitch
The Hobo
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#12
I hiked AT broke in '89… I wasn’t actually broke, but UPS, the most satanically corrupt organization in the history of corporate criminal mafias… would not give me my last paycheck, becuz I was the only one who stood up to those satan worshippers when they made us sign lies about how many packages we were doing per hour… got it years later from the state of texas… please don’t sent any packages “undead punk satanist”!!! Then my parents were afraid to send me another check to “hold for AT hiker” so my checking account ended up being overdrawn… I ended up writing hot checks becuz I thought when I finally sent a check to my bank that I was cool, but they closed my account a few days b4 so I was screwed for months!!! Had to live off of hiker boxes to supplement the food boxes I had already loaded & postaged…also I lost everything in my storage unit becuz they just kept piling on fees & penalties & then kept accepting checks for not quite enough so the scumswine sold off my stuff after taking me for hundreds… they are lucky I am a nonviolent fellow! Make sure you are squared away in the financial dept with lots of cushion… I had to work on the Kent (S. Amenia) pumpkin/squash farm after I finished to make enuf to bicycle south down the Appalachians & make it home for xmas!
gingerbreadman
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#13
If you don’t mind my asking, what is your intent in looking for “broke” hikers? I hope you are not looking for pointers on how to hike the trail without a nickel in your pocket. I wouldn’t recommend it… in fact, I very, very, very strongly recommend against it. Mind you, you don’t need to be rich to hike the trail. However, not only would you be foolish to not at least have a few dollars on hand for emergencies and/or to stay in the occasional hostel along the way, but you could also make life miserable for your fellow hikers.
Trust me, as a group, there are no greater bunch than the folks you are going to meet on the trail and, whether you want it or not… whether you like it or not… whether it is your intention or not… they WILL help you. They will help you with money and food and anything else you might need when you are sitting in the middle of nowhere in desperate need and no way to provide for yourself. The point is that it is NOT appropriate to simply count on that help instead of actually financing your trip like everybody else.
Too many people get into trouble out there (financially or otherwise) in spite of their best efforts to avoid it, and it is nice to know that there is a safety net of fellow hikers who would literally give the shirt off their back to help someone in need. However, to take advantage of that kind of kindness continuously and simply because you are unwilling or unable to get some money together before you leave (and again, we aren’t talking millions of dollars here)is not acceptable because somebody else… somebody who did all the right things and hit some bad luck… might have to do without because you were busy taking advantage of everybody and everything you could find and made sure they were tapped out by the time somebody who was truly in need came along.
Ken
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#14
Ken, I’m looking for journals that have something unique in them. 99 percent of the ONLINE journals often have people with money, and loads of it. I would like to read a journal of someone who did it with a MINIMALIST mindset instead. Someone who didn’t party up in a town every week or so but someone who roughed it out everyday instead. Someone who made their own gear instead of spending $1,000s at a REI store. You know, some recent journals of people hiking like the few who thru-hiked in the 60’s did. Or a journal where someone ACTUALLY stopped to work for a week or two to continue hiking.
Now you hike, and the biggest thing is everyone talking on their cellphones and updating their journals via blackberries.
W J White
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#15
Mr. White,
By definition, you’re unlikely to find anyone hiking the AT who is “broke and homeless.” It’s the “broke” part that would stop them, if by broke you mean “totally without funds of any kind.”
But, if you will review the “Stats” section of the journals of people who complete their through hikes in any particular year, you will find a “few” (very few) who listed the amount of money they spent on their hike. Among those, you will find another “few” who did it on just a “few” thousand dollars. In this last group, you may find the people who hiked in the manner you described.
You mentioned 1960’s through-hikers. Maybe you’ve read the two-volume Rodale Press compilation of journals from that era. My suspicion is that you have. If not, seek it out, as it has what you are looking for.
The distinction you point out has some merit, although, in saying that, I mean no criticism of current day hikers.
The older journals depict people hiking the trail, spending most of their time in the woods, and entering towns mainly to pick up supplies, after which they were right back in the woods again.
The newer journals, some of them, depict situtations where the hikers seem, almost, to be racing from town to town,to enjoy what is in those towns, and with an incredible amount of time spent in hotels (by which I mean, as an example, forty nights).
The bottom line for me is that people are still walking more than 2,160 miles. I’m okay with them doing it with a little more luxury. I wish we all could.
Nunam
Nunam