how much money does a true hike cost is it 2 dollers total or more thanks. with gear and food and every thing.
luke kaim
Money - Appalachian Trail
system
#2
Luke-
Totally depends on how you want your hike to be. Some spend a dollar a mile and some spend 3 dollars a mile. Some people know they will only do this once and want to go all out and eat steak in town, have their own motel room and take side trips to Gettysburg, New York City and Fenway.
Others do it on almost nothing, using hiker boxes to supplement resupply, splitting motel rooms with 4-6 hikers and staying at an occasional hostel.
Gear is also up to you. You can use a garbage bag for a packcover, sneakers to hike in, a stick instead of hiking poles, a walmart foam pad, alcohol stove, thrift store clothing OR get the most expensive hi-tech stuff. The choice is urs.
It’s hard to say how much I spent. A bit less than 2000 bucks, which included sharing motels once a week, staying in hostels, eating well in town, mostly resupplying at groceries and even 200 bucks on a new pack and a couple hundred bucks on 3 pairs of shoes, aquarmira sets, frogg toggs and miscellaneous stuff.
Then again, I got some help from my folks. They paid for the food and shipping on about 8 maildrops and also covered my rather large insurance plan while I was out of school. They also drove me to springer and home from K, which are expenses you will have to add too.
Some hikers spend tons in town. Some drink ALOT and smoke cigarattes which add up quick. Some spend a month or two in zeros and that adds up quick. I tried to limit town time and hike in and out whenever possible. I limited my zero days to every couple hundred miles or so. I went 400 miles and then 500 miles without one, so it is totally possible.
I would recommend going to Whiteblaze.net and looking under the information column (right hand side) at an article written by WeatherCarrot about hiking on a budget. He has tips on how to thru-hike for about 1200 bucks and it’s really good info. Good luck
A-Train
system
#3
More than $5000, this included 60+ zero days. Eight days for going back and forth from traildays. Five days in April When it rained, but the pitchers at Quincy’s were only 3 or 4 bucks.
Chef
system
#4
i have a question about the insurance plan you talked about, My dad says that if i thru hike next year I will have to pay a ton more insurance because i will be 19 and not a full time student, so i will no longer be able to be on my parents plan and have to get my own, not to happy about all that, i guess i didn’t really ask a question there, but just wonderin if thats what you ran into also
clong
clong