[pct-l] how do long distance hikers make a living?

[Edward Anderson]

Krikor,
One approach is to plan a strategy that will allow you have the time and money to be able to live your dream.  Does your wife share your dream of doing long-distance hiking?  Will she go with you?  If not, will she be OK with you being gone for perhaps months?  Have you ever done an extended hike yourself?  Are you sure that you will like it? Some who have started from the border discover, in a few weeks, that they aren't really having fun any more. If your wife will go with you just quit your job and lease out your furnished house for six months or a year and follow your dream. I have customer-friends who did just that. They hiked the PCT (and inspired me to do it).  In essence, I suggest that, at least temporally, retire young and live your dream while you can. It helps that you have not yet started a family. 
 
The following is what my wife and I did decades ago:  We were both working and living in small apartment.  We had a sailboat - we were sailors. Our original dream - buy a bigger boat and sail it around the world. We became impatient  to work long enough to earn enough money to buy a suitable vessel so decided to compromise and do it by vehicle. We quit our jobs (retired temporally) once we had saved enough to finance our trip. We were to convert a VW van into a self-contained camper in the carport of a motel in Coventry, England.  We visited 31 countries on four continents. We lived in our camper. Our vehicle had to be transported by boat 34 times. We crossed the Sahara. Being backpackers, we hiked in the Alps, in Norway, on Corsica, etc. When we returned we went back to work and also started a company converting VW vans. Then we started a family. Now we are retired again and can take long trips. I have even had time to ride 2200 miles of
 the PCT.  
MendoRider 

From: Krikor Y <kyeremian at gmail.com>
To: pct-l at backcountry.net
Sent: Wednesday, October 5, 2011 10:34 AM
Subject: [pct-l] how do long distance hikers make a living?

For any thru and long distance hikers, or simply those who hike for more
than 2 days at a time multiple times per month or year...how do you generate
income? I'm in my late twenties, recently married with a mortgage and a job
with limited vacation days. I am considering changing careers so I can live
my dream of hiking for extended periods of time multiple times per year. Do
you guys have any suggestions or experiences as to careers that support such
a lifestyle?
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