[pct-l] How you hiked your hike

[Matt Thyer]

That really depends Josh,

First you have to consider that gear costs are a capital expenditure with a
very slow maturation rate.  I'm still using gear (stove) I bought way back
in high school.  I'm guessing here, but I'm also pretty certain that the
original cost associated with the stove purchase have long been realized and
reduced to zero by its service.  So, if I bought the stove for a different
hike and use it for many hikes over the course of its serviceable lifetime
do I simply divide the capital expenditure for the gear by the number of
hikes I've used it on?  Do I include that cost for the trek I purchased the
gear for in the first place?  Or do I apply the cost to the balance of any
hike where the stove is used?

Next up, some of us don't actually spend as much on gear as others.  I have
a nifty Faff sewing machine for instance that I use to make a good amount of
my own gear.  The sewing machine was left to me after my grandmother passed
away, so its cost to me was zero.  Cost of materials for gear can be as
little as zero or a tiny fraction of what I might pay at a retail outlet for
the same thing.  The cost of my time to make the gear is a variable, if I'm
not working and I'm also not hiking because I'm putting a jacket together,
and that jacket takes me 3 hours to sew, how should I account for the sweat
equity of that object in my accounting?  If I use my billable rate (or the
rate I get paid in my working life) my "costs" might increase dramatically.
But I like to sew my own gear and this, in and of itself, might be a hobby
on its own.

Finally, the amount and kinds of gear that people choose to trek with will
dramatically affect this accounting.  A swift-moving, ultra-light, packer
who purposefully eliminates objects because of their mass from his or her
packing list will generally be carrying less material than the "average"
backpacker might.  Packing complexities are only made thornier by the
previous two notions and this presents serious issues to anyone interested
in polling this information from the vast collection of people who choose to
hike the PCT.

Just adding pennies,

MT

-----Original Message-----
From: pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net [mailto:pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net]
On Behalf Of Josh
Sent: Friday, November 27, 2009 4:12 PM
To: 'Austin Williams'; pct-l at backcountry.net
Subject: Re: [pct-l] How you hiked your hike

Austin,
I took the poll.  Very nice.  I wish more would take it.  It only takes a
few mins.

1 thing that I think you should change somehow: The Question about $$$ of a
PCT Thru-hike.  I SERIOUSLY doubt, that the majority of thru hikers can
thru-hike the PCT which includes Clothes, Gear, Food, Water, Transportation,
Lodging (in town), etc. for UNDER $6000!  But so far, the majority of those
polled have put <$6k.  I THINK that they're NOT including the cost of the
gear.  I mean, if one is to consider Pack, Tarp/Tent, multiple pairs of
shoes/Boots, Stove, and a few misc tools, you're basically looking at around
$1k or even more if you begin your hike early & require pricier cold-weather
gear.  From what others have said in past PCT-L Posts, the typical cost ~$5
or $6k PLUS GEAR.  That's just my 2c.

Maybe the best way is for others on this list to take the poll while taking
careful consideration to that Q.

http://www.planyourhike.com/polls/

Josh