Date: 2014-02-01
To: Money Matters
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

I realize that Americans aren't supposed to speak publicly of their personal finances (rather like BMs, as Norman O. Brown argues), but you may be wondering, "how can anyone afford a 6-month walk on the AT?"Before we get to direct costs, I must mention opportunity costs. I am foregoing half of my 9 month salary as a philosophy professor in a regional public university to do this (at great savings to the school, who will pay contingent faculty to cover my classes). The costs listed below must be weighed, then, together with this lost cabbage, and at the same time against the alternative (another two semesters of teaching, service, and research) which is too mind-numbing at this point in my career (15 years in without even a Summer off) to constitute a genuine possibility. The hike is "priceless," in other words, but what this means in practice is that you feel pressured to avoid being "penny wise and pound foolish." That is, having sacrificed so much income already, you don't want to be forced off the trail due to an injury that might have been prevented by better gear (a lighter pack, quality shoes, e.g.) or due to otherwise manageable trail and weather conditions (a warmer sleeping bag, a newer raincoat, e.g.). For me, this is a very anxiety-ridden trade-off; my fear of failure collides with my lack of foresight (and these two character traits may be flip-sides of one coin; one theory suggests that people fail to plan in order to give themselves an out should they prove to be unprepared! Perish that thought!!) Given all of that, and despite the fact that I started planning with the idea of using the gear I had on hand, I have spent right about $1,500 before taking a step on the AT!How could this be, you ask? Almost $500 is made up of transportation costs: air, bus, and shuttle (and though the latter was optional, the AT Lodge in Millinocket, ME, seems to be the best way to manage the final leg to a very remote part of the country).Another $500 has been rationalized as an investment in new(er) gear, to wit: Nearly $300 of this went to my backpack, which is the 4th one I have field-tested in the last 6 months. (I heart Gregory Packs, especially as they gave me a tremendous discount on their newer packs--the Z65 is the one I finally settled on, and is a perfect fit for me--when I merely asked their customer support folks on how to adjust a 10-year-old model to my AT attempt.) As your pack must sustain your other gear, and thus your entire thru-attempt, and thus defray the opportunity-costs which you've already accounted for (right?), then surely it's worth all the failed experiments (bought used on e-bay, usually) and un-recovered shipping costs? (Economists may call this "throwing good money after bad," but what do they know?) I haven't bought a sleeping bag in forever, and none of mine had their original loft and warmth (and warmth is life, right?). I found my tent used for $110, and is a huge improvement over my old eureka. Sleeping pad technology has moved way past my ancient "Ergo-Mat" and, besides, I am cutting 2 lbs of my base weight with my Klymit Inertia Static V. (The used Kelty "forecast" +20 bag cost $73, while the pad was $55, which is cheap when compared to the Thermarest industry standard.)Something like $425 was "invested" in footwear and clothes, which are even less likely to see 2015 than the gear. This includes nearly $300 in winter boots and summer trail-runners (and $35 insoles for the latter). The remainder is made of various and sundry items ranging from permethrin flea and tic repellent ($17), water-filtration and treatment systems ($24 and $32, respectively), an alcohol stove and fuel($5 and $9), and some foodstuffs ($20).I hope to limit my number of day (and nights) spent off the trail and in town, which is the single biggest expense of thru-hiking, and some of these purchases will enable me to do this, so who knows...it may all come out in the wash. On the other hand, if the very general estimate of $2 per-mile is to be believed, this walk in the woods could cost close to $6k!Regardless, the opportunity to thru-hike the AT remains priceless.Spinoza