[pct-l] (Guest Post) Re: Affording a thru hike

[PlatyHiker at yahoo.com (Platypus)]

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Rather than factoring in lost wages, you may want to factor in lost
savings.  If your salary is high, but your non-hiking living expenses
are also high, you may not be giving up a lot to go on a thru hike,
provided you minimize your fixed costs.  But, if you've been saving
aggressively for some other goal, say retirement or a house, going on
a thru-hike does halt those saves for the duration of the hike.

> I think the cost of a thru hike is a little more complicated than this. 
> One has (fixed costs)+(money spent on trail).  Some people might want to
> factor in lost wages.

> But, we can certainly subtract from the total (fixed)+(spent)+(lost
> wages) the 
> amount of money one would usually spend if one was at home.