[at-l] cheap Thrus

[ron_the_baptist@xxxxxxxxxxx (ron babington)]

[ Converted text/html to text/plain ]

Jim- thanks an awful lot for taking the time and effort to write such a
response- i really do appreciate it.  as it turns out, however, none of your
points (well reasoned and said) apply to me.  yes, i am interested in proven-
though not despised- methods of keeping my thru-hike costs down, but not for any
of the reasons, motivations, or lack of disciplines assumed by your response
(i would grant though that your assumptions had the odds of being correct).
the real story is that i am blessed with an uncommon amount of financial
discpline (especially among my demographic), i live a pretty spartan life to
begin with, i've been working two jobs for months in order to buy gear and take
care of bills and finacial commitments ahead of time, and i've been saving the
rest for my hike (as i was starting from $0 when the opportunity arose to make
this the year). the amount of money that i have saved and have access to is
easily and comfortably within the range of a "standard" thru-hike- pizza,
phone calls and all.  my motivation for the inquiry -unknowable to you, to be
sure- lies in the fact that in many cases the amount of money i spend on X and
the pleasure i receive from X are inversly proportional, and that i derive
even more pleasure from giving the money saved away to those who need it more
than i do.  am i willing to save a few bucks at the expense of the respect and
kindness of my fellow Thru and Thru-minded Section hikers? of course not. will
i yogi rations from fellow college folks out for the weekend, or buy generic
rice and oatmeal instead of brand name meals (thanks Weary)? certainly.  i
choose to invest my money in ways that give lasting (read: eternal) returns,
and my mental/fiscal approach to this hike is necessarily filtered through
that perspective. can i afford to go out and live it up on $5000? sure. but
whats the point?

thank you again for your thoughts. my Owenian 'Contract with Myself' was among
the first of my 5 million steps (beware that poetic equivocation), and i
deeply respect and admire your hard-earned wisdom. you just happen to be wrong
on this one. :)

humbly, brother ron


>From: "Jim and/or Ginny Owen"
>To: ron_the_baptist@hotmail.com
>CC: at-l@backcountry.net
>Subject: [at-l] cheap Thrus
>Date: Wed, 02 Apr 2003 03:06:14 +0000
>
>
>ron babington wrote:
>
>> i am looking for some ideas on how to keep expenses for a Thru
>>to a bare minimum. any thoughts yall would like to offer? thanks.
>>brother ron
>
>
>Ron -
>First - I haven't had time to "play" lately, so I'm here to have
>fun. Take it that way.
>
>So - the advice you got wasn't bad - but it wasn't complete either.
>Staying out of towns may reduce your cost, but it won't "minimize"
>it. It may not give you the hike you're looking for either.
>
>The real question is - what kind of hike do you want? We've known
>hikers who did the "full-service" hike - as in staying at B&B's and
>hotels, eating at French restaurants and calling taxis to pick them
>up at the trailheads and take them to town. My kind of hike is
>eating pizza, beer and ice cream when I want, and being able to
>replace worn-out gear or taking care of medical problems without
>fear of aborting the hike because I'm broke. There are also those
>who did the "cheap" hike - where they couldn't afford to go to town
>for pizza and beer, and dumpster-diving became a way of life, and
>they NEEDED to raid every hiker box along the way so they wouldn't
>starve to death.
>
>There are all kinds of variations out there - one of my friends did
>the AT on $800 - another did the PCT on (I think) about $1200. And
>we know some who've spent $10,000 on their hike. Most of us end up
>somewhere in the middle.
>
>But unless I'm mistaken, you asked about the "bare minimum" hike.
>So I'll tell you how to do it - with the caveat that I never have
>and never will do it like this. And that I don't recommend it. But
>I'll give you a range of options - and you can decide which (if any)
>of them you can live with. Some of them aren't really very nice, but
>I know people who have done all of them - and more.
>
>First - if you can't get someone to drive you to Springer (at their
>expense) - hitchike so you don't have to pay for train, plane, bus
>or taxi fare. When you pack, take only enough food to get to the
>first town - then go into town and raid the hiker box. Don't start
>the Trail too early cause you want to give it enough time that some
>hikers will have put something in the box. When you get to town,
>find out which churches feed the poor - and show up at meal times.
>If they have a food box make sure you empty it. Make sure you also
>check out whatever "free" clothing they have, too - especially later
>on the Trail when your clothing and shoes/boots are wearing out. On
>the way into town - and then on the way out again, stop at the local
>supermarket(s) and check out the dumpsters to see what contributions
>they can make to your diet. That's called dumpster-diving.
>
>Also, make sure you get to the post office at the same time the
>other hikers do even though you won't have any mail cause you won't
>have any mail drops (cause you want to save money). You'd want to
>be there so you can scarf up any extra food the other hikers don't
>need.
>
>When you're in town, never stay anywhere except at free hostels.
>There aren't many of those on the trail anymore so you won't be
>spending many nights in town. Never buy pizza, beer or ice cream -
>or eat at restaurants. Don't pay for showers - don't use
>laundromats - and make sure you raid every convenient outhouse and
>bathroom for toilet paper. Use a Zip stove so you won't have to buy
>fuel - and "borrow" the batteries to keep it running. Don't use a
>radio, GPS, cell-phone, flashlight - or anything else that would
>require batteries. Never call home - or your girlfriend. Leave
>your phone card and credit cards at home.
>
>When you're on the Trail, always stay at shelters - that way if day
>hikers or weekenders are around, you can yogi them for food.
>Yogiing your fellow hikers may work for a while - but it'll also get
>you a reputation and then it won't work at all. And make sure you
>get to the shelters first so you can have first dibs on any food
>that's been left at the shelter by previous hikers (don't count on
>this too much, though - not much gets left behind).
>
>Make sure you hit every picnic area, overlook and other tourist
>attraction in order to actively and aggressively yogi the tourons.
>That won't work well in Maine, but then I've never known anyone who
>used these techniques to make it that far anyway.
>
>Encourage your family, friends and girl friend to come out and hike
>with you - that way they can pay for food, laundromat, a couple
>restaurant meals, etc and it won't cost you anything.
>
>OK - enough for now, but there IS more if you're really interested.
>And yes - I've known people who did all of those things - and more.
>It's not pretty, it's not a nice way to live or hike - it's extreme,
>and it'll get you a reputation (not a good one). And it probably
>won't get you to Katahdin - but there is a point here.
>
>The point is that if you don't have enough money to do the Trail,
>then get it. If that means you have to wait another year - then
>wait. The question becomes - HOW MUCH DO YOU WANT THE TRAIL? Do
>you WANT it enough to do what it takes to assure that you won't get
>blown off by that dread disease "lackomoney"? If you do, then
>you'll wait, save your money and then do it when you can actually
>afford it.
>
>In fact, let's take this a step further - do you WANT the Trail
>enough to actually make some sacrifices so you CAN save the money to
>do it? Do you want it enough to give up pizza, beer, movies, that
>new computer, all those new CD's - and all your other goodies
>(including dates) - for a year or more in order to save the money to
>be able to do the Trail? If not --- then you don't want the Trail
>enough. My advice would be to go home and do something else with
>your life.
>
>I'm not being mean, nasty or personally insulting - I'm just telling
>you about reality. I'll tell you how "I" live - Ginny and I have
>been to 2 movies in the last 2 years. We don't smoke, our alcohol
>consumption is minimal, we don't buy new computers, clothes or a
>lot of furniture. An occasional pizza is a treat for us and we
>don't eat much ice cream (except on the Trail) We DO buy some books
>(generally used), but we also spend a lot of time at the library.
>Our TV is over 15 years old, our "new" truck is 8 years old, and I
>do my own plumbing, painting, electrical, drywall and auto repair
>work. What we DO - is to save money for our next thruhike. That
>way we won't have to ask the question - how do I minimize the cost
>of a thruhike?
>
>I figure if someone really WANTS a thruhike, they'll have the
>discipline to save the money and get the thruhike - on their terms.
>Not as a "minimal" hike. YMMV.
>
>There are people who bemoan the fact that some thruhikers get off
>the Trail for financial reasons. I'm not one of them - partly
>because I've seen too many thruhikers blow so much money on partying
>in town that they went broke without finishing the Trail. They
>don't get my sympathy. Nor do I have any sympathy for the guy who
>starts the Trail with insufficient funds and then does the sackcloth
>and ashes routine when he can't finish. I save my sympathy for the
>people who really WANT it - and get blown out by injury or other
>circumstances beyond their control.
>
>So how much DOES a thruhike cost? I don't have the numbers for my
>AT hike, but for us (as a couple - TWO PEOPLE), the PCT cost us on
>the order of $8,000 including transportation from the East Coast,
>mail drops, wandering for a week after finishing, attendance at the
>ALDHA-West Gathering, etc - that's about $1.50 per mile per person.
>For the CDT, it cost us about $11,000 - including transportation and
>$1,000 in medical expenses - and wandering for a month after we
>finished the trail. We did what we wanted, when we wanted, the way
>we wanted and didn't worry about money until we were back on the
>East Coast (and very broke). But we had great hikes and a lot of
>fun. And now we're sorting out how and when we'll do it again. But
>we won't be doing "minimal" hikes - if we did that, we wouldn't have
>finished the CDT cause the medical expenses would have sent us home.
> "Minimal" is for those who don't really care about the hike - for
>those who don't have the self-discipline to put together the time,
>money and motivation to make sure they'll maximaize their chances of
>finishing.
>
>One last thought to keep in mind - this is all "my" opinion - and I
>was "different" even before three thruhikes.
>
>Walk softly,
>Jim
>

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The new MSN 8:[1] smart spam protection and 2 months FREE*

===References:===
  1. http://g.msn.com/8HMIENUS/2737