A long distance thru-hike isn’t cheap.
You would think so, right. I mean you are walking away from the rat race for six months to “live off the land.” HAH!
Just to consider the hike, you have to have gear. Gear that I’m estimating is going to cost me around $2000. That’s why I’ve been buying it one bit at a time.
To be gone for six months or more, you have to have the money to pay all your regular bills, have money for extra gear you might need, have money for all those hotels you might stay in, and have money to buy food along the way.
The tough part is knowing how much to have. You can’t really know when you will need a new pair of shoes, just that you WILL need at least one new pair. You can’t know when injury or weather or just plain dont-wannas will have you staying multiple nights in a hiker hostel or a hotel, you just know that all three will happen. And you have no idea how many restaurants you will eat in, or what food will cost along the trail.
Conventional wisdom right now is that the average hiker spends $1000 a month on the trail. That means a minimum of 6k, on top of bills.
I’m estimating, with bills, trail costs and gear, I’m going to spend close to $10,000 dollars for this adventure of mine. Worth every penny, but hard to come up with all at once.
Again, I’m buying gear slowly and waiting for sales, so that’s helping. I’m sacrificing low weight for affordable gear… for example my tent weighs five pounds. I could have spent three times as much as I did to get one that weighs 2 pounds, but why?
I have the money saved up for my bills, and I’m going to raid my little retirement fund for the money I need on the trail. It’s almost enough.
I have lined up both a work from home job and a summer class to help add more money to the coffers.
Adding in the amount I have available in credit cards, I’m getting close to my number. But I’m not quite there.
That’s where I hope you can give me advice. I’ve been looking at crowdfunding sites… Kickstarter, GoFundMe and Patreon, especially.
I worked up a list of rewards for Kickstarter, I can take my blog private for Patreon, or I can just flat out ask for money with GoFundMe. I’m just not sure what direction to go.
The end goal is to use my blogs and trail journal to write a book about doing something awesome with the challenges of your daily life. My challenges, for example, are being diabetic and having bipolar disorder. I haven’t read a trail book yet that addressed either of those issues, and I’ve read a lot.
So, I’m going to ask you. Which approach do you feel might be most sucessful? If you could comment here or on Facebook under this post, I would truly appreciate the feedback.
Visible Echoes 
Wait until you can finance your own adventure even if it means waiting another year. See Artemis on the Trail’s fail for an example as to why you should just do your own thing and quit trying to monetize the trail.
okay, I’ve just done some research into Artemis, and I see what you mean. I don’t really want to monetize anything. The book is because I’ve always wanted to write a book and this is a missing link in the literature. People like me should know that they can do awesome things too. My intention has never been to monetize it, just to find financing for the last little bit. I don’t want a youtube channel or to be the next big internet sensation. I am just looking for a little help to reach my goals.
I can’t put it off another year. I’ve already made arrangements with my job and my family. It’s not like I am not willing to work for it. I’ve scrimped and saved for two years and I’m contemplating a third job for the summer to add more to what I have.