[pct-l] Low cost Thru

[Eric Lee (GAMES)]

Steel-Eye wrote:
>

Food is another big increment but since you have to eat anyway it could
actually be less expensive to eat on the trail than at home.  That all
depends upon how often you would eat out if you were at home.
>

The other major category that Steel-Eye forgot to mention is gear.  First you have to buy your gear if you don't already have it, and then you need to replace stuff as it gets broken, worn out, lost, or you discover it simply doesn't work for you.  For example, most people go through three to six pairs of shoes (and a lot people don't get new shoes as often as they should).

The one-dollar-per-mile figure was something that was thrown around a lot about ten years ago.  I've not done a thru-hike myself yet, but lately I've been hearing many people say that that figure is way out of date and these days it's going to be significantly higher unless you're hardcore about avoiding town services.

Eric