[at-l] Cost of a thru-hike?

[spiriteagle99 at hotmail.com (Jim and/or Ginny Owen)]

Joshua Roe wrote:
>Hello,
>I'm completely new here, can anyone give me an idea of how much it might 
>cost to t.h. the a.t.?  and what about physical preparation?  what 
>exercises are good and how physically fit should i be? Thanks all!


Joshua -
We get these same questions a lot more than once a year - so once someone 
starts kickin' the "silly ball" it just seems to keep on going.   Dont let 
it get to you - it ain't personal.

And let me welcome you to the zoo.  Think of it as a campfire - complete 
with clowns.  We even have smashmellows - if anyone can find them.

So how much DOES a thruhike cost?  I had to dig out the numbers for my AT 
hike recently, and my cost was about $3200 - and that was back in 1992.  For 
Ginny and I  (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 about 1000 days from going back out for another thru.

For the "physical" stuff - the best recent post was by Robert Seiler (Trail 
name - All the Way) a couple days ago.  Go to the archives at: 
http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/at-l/2003-July/date.html
then "find" his name.  He's only put one post here this month (actually - 
this year).  And it was really  good to hear from him again.

Walk softly,
Jim

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