Wow

[saltysack]

I think I've posted before...cold arse late February trip few years ago Roan highlands....do yourself a favor go prepared for the worst!







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Oops wrong post location....


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[AfterParty]

That's like my watch!! I do like it so far.

[Roamin]

Amazing pictures

[MtDoraDave]

Maybe , maybe not.
What counts really for many, in the long term, is are you able to afford it, and still be prepared to retire one day.
The actual difference that 6 months makes is pretty small in the grand scheme of things
And can be made up and then some by working 1 more year when one does the math.

Of course life never goes according to the way you plan it, so its all a wildcard anyway. We arent really in control, we just have an innate desire to believe and pretend we are. This applies to man and everything he concerns himself with.

This. Right. Here.

I want to do a thru hike. I have a mortgage and a business partnership. Convincing the partner to let me take off for 5 months hasn't happened yet. He thinks I should wait until I retire. My knees may not be able to wait that long. What has happened is that I started putting $35 a week into a savings account for my thru hike. When there is enough money to put the mortgage on auto-pay for 6 months and enough money to do the thru hike... we'll see how it works out. By then, I may be complacent doing section hikes 2 or 3 times a year and weekenders locally. I may no longer want to hike at all, in which case I can put that money into the retirement account or my next hobby? I cannot see the future and can not know the way things will work out - however, if I don't plan for the future I desire, how is it ever going to happen? Lotto? Right.

I buy equipment as I need it, so when the time comes to do a thru, my equipment purchasing costs will be reasonable. I realize there are plenty of people who are more impulsive or even surprised by their opportunity to do a thru... it's all good, it will work out the way it works out. For me, I have (hopefully) learned my lesson charging my hobbies and desires.

[Hikingjim]

This. Right. Here.

I want to do a thru hike. I have a mortgage and a business partnership. Convincing the partner to let me take off for 5 months hasn't happened yet. He thinks I should wait until I retire. My knees may not be able to wait that long. What has happened is that I started putting $35 a week into a savings account for my thru hike. When there is enough money to put the mortgage on auto-pay for 6 months and enough money to do the thru hike... we'll see how it works out. By then, I may be complacent doing section hikes 2 or 3 times a year and weekenders locally. I may no longer want to hike at all, in which case I can put that money into the retirement account or my next hobby? I cannot see the future and can not know the way things will work out - however, if I don't plan for the future I desire, how is it ever going to happen? Lotto? Right.

I buy equipment as I need it, so when the time comes to do a thru, my equipment purchasing costs will be reasonable. I realize there are plenty of people who are more impulsive or even surprised by their opportunity to do a thru... it's all good, it will work out the way it works out. For me, I have (hopefully) learned my lesson charging my hobbies and desires.

The opportunity cost of me doing a thru at this point also makes no sense. I feel privileged to be able to get in the woods a couple months a year (every year), hiking or canoeing
I walk on and enjoy

[rafe]

Expensive, compared to what? (Skiing? Bicycling? Golf?) Obviously there are ways of keeping costs down -- it's always a tradeoff between time and patience (eBay, craigslist, yard sales, thrift stores, closeouts) vs. what you want, when you want it, at retail. (And hefty credit card interest rates.) On the plus side, good gear lasts a long time, if not forever. All of my serious hiking gear from ten years ago is still 100% serviceable.

A serious thru hike attempt calls for decent gear, that's true. Get it, use it, and have a blast.

[George]

I would imagine that I have spent more than 15K - what I have used in the last 5 years would be around 3K ( when purchased )

I scoped out a gear set from the newest materials and it looked like another 2K for very slight improvement

[Maizeandblue9]

Compared to how much I spend on golf this hobby isn't too bad. It helps being single though and not having to hide receipts too

[rocketsocks]

Wow
Trader Joe's discontinued "dried wasabi peas" at least in my store, it's sad day.

[theinfamousj]

Wow
Trader Joe's discontinued "dried wasabi peas" at least in my store, it's sad day.

Time for you to find an Asian market. I think you will enjoy the cheaper prices, too.

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[josh_ATL]

$1100 sounds very reasonable. I guarantee I've got well over twice that into my gear. But like everyone else has pointed out: It's a one and done kind of purchase. I don't have to buy anything else to replace any of the gear I have...I just want to!

[One Half]

my husband's last bicycle was more than all your gear cost. and that doesn't include shoes, repairs, maintenance, riding clothes, etc. And NONE of it can be used for anything but riding a bicycle (not really). Okay, maybe the sunglasses except he affixed a mirror to them (and he needs like 3 pairs for different lighting conditions).

[garlic08]

my husband's last bicycle was more than all your gear cost. and that doesn't include shoes, repairs, maintenance, riding clothes, etc. And NONE of it can be used for anything but riding a bicycle (not really). Okay, maybe the sunglasses except he affixed a mirror to them (and he needs like 3 pairs for different lighting conditions).

This got me laughing and nodding at the same time. I cycle a lot around Denver. Yesterday I rode a while with a guy whose pedals and shoes cost more than my entire bike ($300, twenty years ago). We joked about that for a while, but I wonder what his spouse thought about the disappearing paychecks.

There are definitely gear heads in every sport, as well as us dirtbaggers. I'm glad they're out there, fueling development and the economy!

[ScareBear]

Wow where did you go REI? otherwise this owl is stumped

Well, let' assume you start with nothing. Tent? $200. Pack? $200. Down sleeping bag? $200. Boots? $200 Rain Jacket and Pants? $200. That's a grand, right there. Seems about right, to me...YMMV...

[theinfamousj]

Rain jacket alone is nearly $200. (says the girl who just replaced her absconded-with Precip, last Friday)

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[rocketsocks]

Time for you to find an Asian market. I think you will enjoy the cheaper prices, too.

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i actually have a pretty old one near by...good idea! Thanks

[Dogwood]

What I recognize as much much more unproductive, even enslaving, exceedingly wasteful, selfish, and costly is complacently with little thought of the consequences letting oneself adopt destructive cultural and national norms.

What has to be respected and considered is different paths for different people. And, people can change. I did to realign with a sobering highly more passionate more self determined lifestyle. Not every career path needs that perfect resume(most are padded anyway), defines opportunity or productivity in terms of money or having more stuff, or being a rampant shopper or consumer or waster of resources. More is not always better! Downsizing, recognizing that I could forgo expensive automobile/truck or large house(often with empty rooms) choices, cancelling my cable subscription and killing my TVs, getting 50+ % of my food by growing it myself, changing my diet to eating less meat, etc has enabled me to take more time off from paid career work to focus on a life of experiences, traveling, and contributing through volunteering.

If folks are willing to take long hard looks at what is truly expensive they would be astonished - the behavior and things we allow by choice that undermine our time, happiness, and freedom to live more directed lives.

https://www.ted.com/talks/graham_hil...more_happiness

[ScareBear]

What I recognize as much much more unproductive, even enslaving, exceedingly wasteful, selfish, and costly is complacently with little thought of the consequences letting oneself adopt destructive cultural and national norms.

What has to be respected and considered is different paths for different people. And, people can change. I did to realign with a sobering highly more passionate more self determined lifestyle. Not every career path needs that perfect resume(most are padded anyway), defines opportunity or productivity in terms of money or having more stuff, or being a rampant shopper or consumer or waster of resources. More is not always better! Downsizing, recognizing that I could forgo expensive automobile/truck or large house(often with empty rooms) choices, cancelling my cable subscription and killing my TVs, getting 50+ % of my food by growing it myself, changing my diet to eating less meat, etc has enabled me to take more time off from paid career work to focus on a life of experiences, traveling, and contributing through volunteering.

If folks are willing to take long hard looks at what is truly expensive they would be astonished - the behavior and things we allow by choice that undermine our time, happiness, and freedom to live more directed lives.

https://www.ted.com/talks/graham_hil...more_happiness

OK...you found enlightenment. Good for you. Now, *** does this have to do with the thread from the O/P????????

[Dogwood]

OK...you found enlightenment. Good for you. Now, *** does this have to do with the thread from the O/P????????

Bitching about costliness of backpacking gear is relatively inconsequential to other common things or habits or lifestyle choices we take for granted that are actually quite significant to our finances.

[kayak karl]

I don't think the OP was bitching, I think they were bragging