Keeping busy

imported
#1

Calculating how much time it will take me to save up and reading the trail forums and journals CONSTANTLY…I’m kind of in a funk waiting to do my thruhike. So I’ve decided to write a list of gear and work on getting one thing at a time instead of looking at the total financial burden all at once. Then start worrying about saving up the spending money I’ll need. Does anyone else have any ideas of how to keep from going crazy in the interim? All I can think of at work is the AT, I get home and get on here to read about the AT, it’s insane! I’ve even started entering contests for hiking gear and money :)…Being poor is a pain!
Anyway, I want everyone here to know how much I love reading your journals and the forums, I feel like I know many of you already. Thanks for your support and for answering all my questions.
:slight_smile: Mindi

Mindi

#2

I too is poor, I suggest, that you spend NO money on gear and let the devine gods of hiking dictate your gear- use what you have, repeat, use what you have!
ie; NO Cotton! sturdy shoes with ankle support- wool this and Nylon that!! YOU CAN DO IT! any money that you may have should be saved until you reach “personal” milestones.
ie; I did not buy hiking poles until I reached Damascus due to much pain I relented and purchased. But, you might not need them anyway. YOU CAN DO IT! I wasted money on gear only to change the stuff later. I wasted too much money. Oh, Borrow everything! just ask everyone and you will be suprised what you can acumalate You can DO IT!
good luck

1\4 of the way

#3

I was in the same situation last year and wished I would have bought my gear in stages, too. but if you can barely afford your gear now, I sure hope you’ve got enough saved up for the hike itself. being broke is a big reason people drop off.

and there are also cheap alternatives to everything, so make sure you ask about those before you start buying, like alcohol stoves. oh, and I’d recommend Ozark Trails (I believe they’re called) hiking boots from Wal-Mart. a friend got those for $20 before he left and they didn’t start breaking down until New Hampshire.

0101

#4

I too once worked full time, came home, and read Trailjournals till some late night hour. Then I got a part time job, mostly weekends. ~15 hours a week X ~$6 an hour X ~one and a half years equals over $6000. Then, I thru-hiked. I even had money leftover.
P.S. Get your boots at a real outfitter. Many of them make charitable donations or donate employee time to trail maintenance. Wal-mart is evil.:evil

Grace

#5

To help pass the time: As you buy new gear, use your weekends and free time to do some overnighter practice runs and thoroughly test out that gear.

Any gear you carry should be both functional and suit your style of hiking. Those overnighters allow you to verify that now - instead of after you have started your thru-hike. Ideally, every piece of gear should have some dual functionality.

JAWS

#6

You all are right, I should save money before I start buying gear. I guess I am just anxious and wanting to do something that has to do with my thruhike :slight_smile:

K4Kam is going to hook me up with some trail books and I’m going to keep reading trailjournals and this forum and check out what other people bought.

I work fulltime for 8 bucks an hour, so maybe I can do it in 2-3 years. I haven’t actually calculated yet how much I will be able to save (I have to take into account my bills, etc…) because I was afraid it would be too depressing. Now I’m thinking maybe it won’t take as long as I thought.

I also have to think about insurance. Once I leave my job to go on my hike, I’m pretty sure they’ll let me come back when I’m done…but I’ll lose my insurance while I’m gone and I’ll have to go back to work for a year before I can get it again. I’m worried about not having insurance on the trail and also when I get home…(my prescriptions without insurance cost about $200 a month). Is there any kind of ‘hiker’ insurance for emergencies on the trail? (As a diver I get DAN insurance that covers airlifts and decompression if necessary) or is there a personal health insurance that I can get cheaply that covers prescriptions, that I can get for a year and a half?

Not to be a broken record, but thank you all again for all of your support and encouragement and for answering all of my questions. I’m really looking forward to getting out there and meeting such wonderful people…
:slight_smile: Mindi

Mindi

#7

Just one money-saving tip. Make your own pop-can stove. Do a search online.

Tell it like it is

#8

you can get high-deductible insurance for 300-400 bucks for six months.

the goat

#9

The cost of insurance depends on your age. When we hiked the CDT, we figured insurance would cost the two of us at least $500/month - decided it wasn’t worth it. If you are young, the cost is less. Anything that would cover your prescriptions is likely to be expensive. i.e. if your prescriptions cost $200/month - they aren’t going to want to charge you $50/month - more like $400. They’re in business to make money. Cheapest is a high deductible - but if you have a $1000 deductible, it may not be worth it. How lucky do you feel? I’ve never had insurance on a long hike, and only had one accident that cost about $600 in ER fees. But I know people who ended up hospitalized with dehydration, Lyme, Ehrlichosis, car accident, broken leg, etc. while on the trail. Haven’t figured out about the next one.

Ginny

#10

also check into getting sponsors for your trip. talk to shoe and backpack and food companies and sometimes you can find a few who will donate. Usually you end up sending in updates to their website in return for their products, or you send back product reviews for newer gear. And don’t count out people like Snickers, Inc. (or whoever they are) for sponsorship.
definitely the soda-can stove
and you can sew your own backpack and tarp if you have the right equipment.
Ebay and this website are good places for used gear at cheap prices.

0101

#11

Mindi, I’ve been in that mode for years as well. Waiting to try a thruhike has elevated my interest in trying out lightweight and homemade gear.(ie V-8 can alcohol stove, hammocks, food menus, and water treatment options)Read all you can from others who have tried certain gear. Work on your camping “system” or “style” before you buy a bunch of stuff only to find out later you really don’t like what you’ve bought. Work on staying in shape…that doesn’t have to cost much at all. Collect pictures of the AT. I have well over 1000 now and enjoy “virtual hiking” until my time comes. Lastly, let me encourage you to “get out” in all types of weather. It’s good training for the AT when your time comes. Best wishes to you.

2Questions

#12

Home made tarp, pop can stove are some of the obvious homemade projects. Sew a sleeping bag liner, stuff sacks with extra tarp scrap material. check out thrift shops/stores…you’ll find some decent stuff in there some times (examples: old down vest, old windbreaker that could be used to make stuff sacks or tarp reinforcements, I bought a superlight old external frame pack that I use for quick overnighters, insulated mugs, lightweight aluminum cookware, spatulas and coffee prep doo-dads. THE DOLLAR STORE is a great outdoorspersons resource (examples: tuna packets, jerky, gorp, candy, ramen, spices. Most foods at these stores is non perishable and often very trail-worthy and most important, 2 or more for a dollar!!! As for insurance, I just make sure I have plenty of food, rest, calcium, no ticks, boiled/filtered water, and first aid (and the certification(s) to use it). These simple stragies have given me more freedom than any insurance company could ever do (plus I’ve saved thousands and thousand of dollars by not having insurance).

Ohioan

#13

If you have a large family, they are supportive of your “insane idea of walking in the woods for half a year”, instead of them sending you box after box of brownies-which R tasty-see if they’ll drop some $$ on a PayPal Visa. $5 isn’t much from Aunt Mildred but it adds up. That birthday gift?

If you have friends near the AT they may be willing to put you up for a few nights=shuttle, laundry, bed, shower, BBQ + beer! Tell them about you trip plans and get them interested. Yogi some support. I got my dad to send me beer in mail drops for most of our hike. We had a massive pizza and beer fest in Va on the trail.

As above; start now and learn how to make cheap good gear. Stoves, tarps, dugout canoes, nucular wessels. The list is endless. We made our own gaiters for a winter start. Some great links here for home gear. www.owfinc.com,
www.thru-hiker.com

Bushwhack

#14

You all have given me tons of ideas to keep me busy :D…Thanks!!!
I’m getting close to setting a date, I think that’ll help. Maybe I’ll make one of those big paper chains like we used to do in Elementary school to count down for Christmas break, and cut one off for each day?? :lol
I guess I am going to have to wing it without insurance, probably. I’m thinking before I leave I will get a 6 month supply of the scripts I need, then see if I can finagle my Dr. into writing me a couple in-case-of-emergency scripts. Then just keep my fingers crossed:oh …
I lovelovelove you all :smiley: !!! Any of you can feel free to email me any time. In the meantime I’m going to try to keep busy with all the stuff you suggested and practice the art of the ‘yogi’…:smiley:
Mindi

Mindi

#15

Oooh, you may have trouble getting an out of state scipt filled. As you said best if you cvan get six months. Prob may be that unless you start to stock now most insurance companies won’t pay to refill sooner than a 30-60 time period. So if you have a bulk 60 day supply you can’t refill untill day 61, not day 17.

Yogiing is best learned for the master. I managed to yogi a diet caffiene free once. I suck at it.
Seek out Yogi…Bones, seek out Spock. If you’re listening to this tape I must have got dead from some stray Klingon dirty hiking spoon I borrowed thinking it mine. Never loan your Cap’N Crunch Star Trek Spoon. Never.

Bushwhack

#16

I might add that if your drugs are “life necessary”, like insulin, then getting them filled out of state is rather easy. But I have seen problems in smaller towns. Keep a list of common chains like CVS and Walgreen’s locations in you trip planner with phone numbers and addresses and how close to the trail they are. You may have to pay in full and then fill out that reimbursement form. Also have your med card w/group number and tele so they can call to varify co-pay. Each place will differ.

Bushwhack

#17

I take Zoloft and I’m thinking that my doctor can give me enough samples to last me 6 months if I explain the situation.(He gave me tons while I was waiting to get my insurance)…if not, I’m going to see if maybe he can prescribe a higher dose and I can break them in half.

I also take birth control pills but I won’t need those out there. I only thought about taking them so that I’d know when my ‘visitor’ was coming since I’m only going to have a couple of pairs of clothes and I don’t want any ‘accidents’.

I also take Allegra for allergies but I’ll more than likely just switch to Claritin since I can buy that over the counter. On top of that I’m going to get some glucosamine/chondroitin and multivitamins, and of course lots of Vitamin I. Plus I have to carry a beekit and some Benadryl because I’m allergic to bees. I had some allergy shots when I was a kid but my Dr. said there’s no way of knowing how much my immunity is built up since I didn’t finish them. (I suffered severe anaphylactic shock when I was 7.) Does anyone know if honeybees are prevalent on the trail and in what areas? Those are the only ones that I tested as allergic to when I was a kid.

So with all of these darn pills, I’m probably going to have to have someone maildrop things to me along the way. I hate to take up weight with a bunch of pill bottles. I was thinking of doing no mail drops at all, but now I’m considering doing a couple in places where I may go more than 5 days before I can resupply. I am not looking at putting in huge miles and I don’t want to have to carry a week’s worth of food or 6 months worth of pills.

Whew, I guess I wrote enough here. If anyone else has experience with any of this stuff, let me know. If all else fails, I may just have to lug the prescription stuff and pick up the OTC stuff when I get to towns with a pharmacy or shopping center.

Sorry for being such a pain in the butt :happy …thanks for putting up with my endless rambling, everyone. Get ready for 2 more years of it :lol …
:slight_smile: Mindi

Mindi

#18

OH, I hate doctors who perscribe “ZOLOFT” please seek additional doctor opionions, People are generally over medicated throughout the US. aND "bIRTHCONTROL"pills my god, maybe you should stay in the big city. CONDOMS AND ANTI_SPERMACIDE is 99% effective and so is Birthcontrol pills without the dangers of “aftereffects”
FU^# insurance if you are dying someone will take care of you if it is minor like most stuff usually is 100 -200$ will cover any minor med center and perscription. Hell, tell them that you are a transient they even have that “Special” rate.
I have been transient for most of my life, I know that I can pay a hospital $10 a month the rest of my life and my credit rating will never falter below my current 750 points.(which is more cost effective than any f’n insurance plan I know of.)

CAPTAIN CAVEMAN!

#19

don’t change meds without consuting yer doc or getting a second oppinion of a practicing doc. hikers make poor consultants about meds.

be sure to keep yer doctors phone number in yer little black book so when you get to some outta the woods kinda town and “Flo” the pharmacist looks at ya strangely, cause she never heard of thruhiking, you can give her yer doctor’s number and she’ll have yer meds in 45 mins instead of hours or never.

you can also call yer info into them before you head over to the pharmacy so they can check yer info ahead of time, walk over from the motel an hour later and you’ll think yer “Elvis” when they treat you like yer somebody.

burn

#20

Thanks Burn, I forgot. We had our doc’s e-mail address and when we needed a refill or some poison ivy stuff we’d send him the pharmacy phone number and he would call for us and give his dispensing #. Our doctor’s office staff is useless so we’d talk to our doc directly. That worked fine out of state to get meds.

BW