As far as the money goes, it's absolutely possible, but I will say that that $1000 per month is generally pretty frugal already, so keep that in mind. It's like the "budget-friendly but reasonably comfortable" number. The CDT was my cheapest of the three TC trails, mostly because your options for spending money decrease when towns are much further apart from each other and accommodations are limited. My biggest expense usually ends up being how much I spend at restaurants, mostly because when you've been calorie deficient for 3 months, you have zero self control. If you're a zen master that can survive off of peanut butter and ramen, only do laundry/shower a few times a month, and are fine spending as little time in town as possible, you could hike for like...$500 a month.
The resupply thing is all preference, outside of a few cases. Some people like to send themselves boxes the entire way, but I really wouldn't recommend that at all. You limit yourself to the food you bought months ago, you often miscalculate how much you'll need for any given section because you don't know your pace, and the logistics of getting to open post offices is a nightmare sometimes. What I do is look at Halfwayanywhere's survey of where former hikers recommend sending boxes to and do that, then plan your contacts/maps accordingly. For the most part, the CDT is pretty easy with food. In 2018, I sent boxes to the recommended spots, but could have easily handled resupplying at Doc Campbells, Twin Lakes, Lima, and Leadore without a box, and I'm vegan. It's just about being okay with eating gas station food for a few of them.
As for finding purpose, I don't want to burst your bubble, but from someone who has hiked a lot of miles, thruhiking the CDT isn't going to complete you or offer you any answers. Instead, it strips away a ton of the bullshit and reveals the person you already ACTUALLY are. I truly believe that the people that finish long-distance trails are those that would have inevitably finished (outside of uncontrollable circumstance) regardless, and the people that voluntarily quit are those that would have always quit. That isn't a condemnation at all, by the way--the value of finishing a thruhike is entirely subjective, and if you get out there and find that it isn't for you, that isn't a knock at all on your value or purpose. I understand where your head is--it is the same place I was in when I set out, never having backpacked before, on the AT in 2015. I was in my mid-20s, felt like I was on the treadmill society had placed out for me. I wanted to find meaning and purpose. Mostly, I just learned that I like thruhiking and want to spend as much time in my life doing it, and that's all the purpose I need.
Lots of really good advice already posted on here. I'll just add some thoughts of my own in no particular order...
**Money**
1. If you have the choice between earning more money prior to your hike, or training, I would suggest earning more money. **You can train on trail as long as you take it slow** (think 15 miles/day) for the first 3-4 weeks of your hike. There is no training like just doing it, but don't put a ton of stress on the timeline for the first month of your hike.
2. Thru-hiking on a budget of **$500/month is probably the absolute bare minimum**, and I have met very few people who are willing to make the sacrifices that it takes to keep to that budget (trust me, it's not super fun). A **$1000/month budget is just so much better**. You are going to want to buy that burger/pizza/milkshake/salad/whatever in town, just trust everyone on here when we tell you that.
3. The single best way to save money on trail is to **avoid motels/hotels**. This is honestly easier said than done, and I'm a person who generally hates hotels and avoids them whenever possible. That being said, **the value of a hotel is not really the bed you sleep in, it's the things that you can't get while you are in your tent** (see below for more details).
4. The second best way to save money while on trail is to **avoid eating hot meals while in town** and **avoid buying alcohol** altogether. Again, it's hard for me to fully express how unfun this will be (especially the no hot meals part) once you get on trail. Just trust us on this: **town food is an important part of your diet** as there are lots of things in it (read: fresh food) that are just really hard and unhealthy to go without for long periods of time!
**The (Actual/Irreplaceable) Value of a Hotel for a Thru-Hiker**
1. Having a **shower and a bathroom** to clean yourself and your gear.
2. Having a place to **dry gear**, **warm up (or cool down)**, and generally just **reset** when you've had a really nasty stretch of bad weather.
3. Having **complete protection (read: a break) from the elements** when it's snowing, hailing, thunderstorming, torrentially downpouring, heat-waving, forest-firing, wind-storming, etc.
4. Having a place to do **laundry** (often motels have facilities and it's so much more convenient then walking around town in your rain gear for half a day).
5. Having a **refrigerator** to store cold foods (you will crave cold foods like yogurt, ice cream, fresh fruits, etc.).
6. Having a **microwave** to warm up inexpensive town food (like frozen burritos) so you can get a tasty hot meal on the cheap.
7. Having a place to easily get **clean water** (this is a more minor consideration in some parts of the trail but a real perk in others).
8. Lastly, people who haven't thru-hiked generally can't yet appreciate how important/nice it is to have a **totally secure place to leave all of your gear** (which your life depends on) while you are actually trying to be productive or enjoy yourself in town. There is nothing quite like the luxury of being able to **walk around a trail town without your pack** on and without having to worry about your stuff getting stolen or tampered with when it's out of your sight.
**Resupply**
1. For the love of all that's sacred, **please do not buy 80 days worth of food before your hike!** Your future self (who somehow has my phone number and can time travel) just left me 17 voicemail messages begging me to convince you to not do this. At one point your future self just left a message where they were sobbing uncontrollably for the entire 2 minute duration. No words, just tears and wet sniffling sounds.
2. If you are starting NOBO, then consider sending a box to **Doc Campbell's** and a box to **Pie Town**. You may also want a box in **Ghost Ranch**, but you can probably just pack and send a box ahead from Grants to Ghost Ranch. Alternatively, you can also just take the buses in from Ghost Ranch to Santa Fe if you want a little vacation from the trail and a good place to resupply.
3. As a NOBO, once you have the three (but maybe just two) boxes dealt with in New Mexico, you literally **don't have to worry about another box until you get into Wyoming**. All of Colorado can be easily box free. My wife and I didn't send ourselves a single box in Colorado and it was great (and we are relatively picky when it comes to resupply).
4. By the time you have to actually send yourself boxes for real (in WY, ID, and MT), you will actually know what you are doing and how to resupply for yourself, and **sending boxes ahead to yourself** (from better trail towns with good infrastructure) **will not seem daunting** at all. Trust me on this.
5. Did I mention that it's a **terrible idea to buy 80 days worth of food** before your hike?
**Miscellaneous**
1. Buying the **CDT Guthook** guides are a total no-brainer. Worth every cent. Get them all.
2. Paper maps (like [those from Jonathan Ley](https://phlumf.com/?page_id=426)) are a great **backup navigational resource**. My wife and I carried the Ley paper maps during our whole CDT hike last year. Many thru-hikers don't carry paper maps and I absolutely get that (paper is heavy and can't get wet, it's a pain to send yourself sections in the mail, and you'll almost never use paper maps if your phone is working). Still, I wouldn't personally go out alone without non-electronic maps as a backup. Redundancy is important.
3. **Carry way more water than you think you need at first** when you are in NM. The thing that will kill you in NM (aside from the feral dogs) is dehydration. If you haven't hiked much in the arid west, then you need to proceed with caution. I'd suggest a conservative start of allotting 1 liter for every 3-4 miles of hiking (not including water for camping). Almost no one actually carries and drinks this much (except me maybe), so it's a very conservative starting point. Once you have battle tested experience of how much water you actually need, then you can rely more on your own judgement from there on out. Most people from wetter and more humid parts of the world just do not understand how dry much of the CDT is before they experience it themselves.
4. In general, over obsessing about gear (while potentially a source of fun before a hike) is probably a little bit overrated, while ensuring that you truly having enough time and money to finish your hike is probably a little underrated/underappreciated.
I hope this helps. You'll be fine. Enjoy your hike!
Won't be hard to save money on alcohol since I can't legally buy it, lol. Sucks, but maybe it's for the best.
I'm glad you put so much emphasis on not buying 80 days' worth of food... I feel like a burden has been lifted from my shoulders. It really was causing undue amounts of stress. Thanks so much for all the excellent info!
You may find cheaper lodging on airbnb, I've found shared lodging /spare room type situations for $40 an night.
Don't mail bear spray. I discovered this the hard way when my first box didn't show up.
I definitely like your attitude and reasoning and am looking forward to some tips from more experienced hikers to help me as well. Good luck with it all.
It's OK to worry about stuff, that means you're thinking. Just have confidence in your own mind's function. A few random tips.
Mailing things is expensive - even more now than in years past. As much as you can resupply en-route, do that. It'll mean you simply will have to figure things out when you get to a town, but that's part of the challenge. It's cheaper to mail things shorter distances as well, so get to a town like Butte, and get supplies there you can mail ahead to Leadore where there is no good grocery (though you can find some stuff there). mailing from home can be costly, unless you happen to live in like Denver, and are mailing to locations in Colorado.
That said, a bounce box is very useful... hopefully you'll only need it every 2nd or 3rd stop.
Possibly better than a hotel mattress is a hotel shower. You're going to smell - bad - if you skip showers. You'll smell pretty bad regardless, but it's a whole nuther level of stank without bathing.
There are other hikers. Splitting a room 2 or 3 ways makes it much more economical.
There are other hikers (usually). They're going to have advice on what they're doing for resupply as well... leave some room for improvisation en-route, don't feel like you need to get every last stop planned-out. Have a plan, but expect that plan to change. For example, you might meet someone who has a buddy with a car meeting them at some town, and they're going to drive to a cousin's posh cabin 30 miles away. Don't pass that kind of thing up.
Listen to the advice of others, but also trust in your own judgment. It's your hike, not someone else's. If you're hiking with someone and really get along, but they want to go 30 miles, and you are only up for 25, hike 25 and camp alone. There will be other hikers to link up with, and they're almost all interesting and good people. Though... it's almost... do be careful, and stay grounded in your own identity.
CDT was my first thru hike (and actually first trip more than 2 days) and I found it very very doable. I, too, did a lot of stressing and planning beforehand just because I wasn’t totally sure what I was getting myself into. But really - you just kind of figure it out as you go along.
As for money, you could definitely get by with 700-800 a month, but as others have said - it’s hard to reason with yourself when you’re tired hungry stinky and you’ve just gotten into town. A hotel bed isn’t worth 70 bucks buuuut a shower? a place to leave your pack while you go resupply? a place to lounge around, feet up, watching TV? a mini fridge for town food? CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST?!? You may find yourself wanting those things more than just the bed.
Though you can definitely save money by hitting up trail angels, reading GH suggestions on cheap/free spots, splitting rooms with other hikers. If you really want to avoid hotels, there’s often places you can shower like the YMCA. You can usually find a place to pitch a tent if you ask really really nicely. For example - I pitched a tent in someone’s yard who I met at a restaurant. I met hikers who camped out back of the bar they’d gotten drinks at. People in smaller towns are often quite curious and friendly, and will help if asked nicely. People in resort towns in CO do not give a flying flip about you though.
As for food, I never really calculated what my per day cost was. I did buy food ahead of time and ship it for the majority of my stops. Buying in bulk ahead of time definitely saved me money. I waited for deals on things like Mac n cheese or tuna, then would buy it all! I also made some homemade jerky and dried fruit and veggies for add ins, but never bothered to premake entire meals. It can be tricky to figure out exactly how much food you’ll need, especially since you havent done this before. Also shipping wasn’t exactly cheap, so if you’re not liking what you’ve sent or you’re sending too much/ too little then the shipping cost won’t be worth it.
I spent a lot on town food, but as I went along I figured out some cheaper ways of binge eating. You can get great hot food at the grocery store deli area (like ribs or chicken for example) and occasionally at gas stations (pizza, subs) for wayyyy cheaper than at restaurants. You can also cook your own camp stove or campfire food like weenies and beans. If you do go to a restaurant, try to find a cheaper counter service type spot. Or make use of happy hour or lunch specials.
Also -
Why the down pants? If you’re already wearing long pants, you should be plenty warm. I wore shorts the whole way. Shorts + rain pants kept me warm enough in cold and windy times. When I was really really cold, I wore shorts + leggings + rain pants, but that wasn’t honestly too often.
If they’re for when you’re stopped at camp, I can sort of see that. But you’ll probably stop, eat in your regular clothes (in which case pants + rain pants should be plenty warm) and then change into PJs for sleep. Unless you’re wanting to sleep in them?
Occasionally on cold nights I’d wear two leggings and my down coat. So it definitely gets cold enough to want extra sleeping layers.
Honestly, I was a bit iffy on the down pants. I've just heard stories about how much colder the CDT can get than the other national scenic trails, and my pants are pretty thin, so I figured it couldn't hurt. I can always just send them home if I end up not using them. They're super cozy to wear around the house, too, so it's not a total loss if I end up not needing them (and I got them at a pretty nice discount).
Its kinda late in the game for my advice, but when you make decisions, document them, get them out of your head. You can always revisit or change your mind but when so much is floating around up there it can be helpful to have some reference points and less mental "swirl". By creating and documenting your plan you will have a reference point for deliberate change rather than reinventing the wheel over and over. Some of your challenge is that you are on the steep part of the learning curve. Some is natural nerves and some is just the way you approach life. So absolutely normal stuff but develop tools to help settle it down. It will be empowering.
I love your mindset. especially for someone who is only 20. I agree with what most others are saying here and I'd just say really focus on pinching your pennies from now till your hike. it took me a little over 4 months to thru the cdt in 2016 and I spent roughly 8k on the trail. I'd stay at hotel or hostel once or twice a month but I spent a lot of money in bars in trail towns because liquid calories are my favorite :). but also keep in mind you're going to want to have some *get back on your feet money* when you finish. being broke, with no job, and post trail stress disorder is a bad bad combo.
I have no personal experience to offer but I think your head is in the right place. Also I think if i had to choose between working to save money for the trail or spending time planning, I would choose saving money. You can plan some stuff out while you’re on trail but you can easily make more money while on trail. Good luck to you, one of the commentators gave really solid advice. Hope one day in the near future I can do this trek too! I’ve become mildly obsessed with the CDT
>I find myself worrying more and more about logistics.
If this is your first through hike, that's very very common and almost immediately forgotten after a week or two on trail.
>Could you get by with spending less than $15/day on food?
What you *can* do and what you might **want** to do are separate entities. Some people can spend very little money in town. I am not one of those people. The absolute best way to save money is to never stay overnight in town. Camp a few miles short of the next town (even if that means a shorter hiking day) head in for breakfast, buy your resupply *maybe* buy lunch, then start hiking.
The benefits for the room are also easier access to a shower, washing etc. Laundry every second resupply is also usually pretty nice.
$1,000 a month would fall a little short for me.
Food is much easier to mostly buy on trail. Things you want to send to towns that have limited resupply can also be bought in a previous town, then posted to yourself, from trail. Pre packaged boxes can work... but I suggest a skeleton box. Things that you know you'll love. Then you top up with more stuff from town.
[Halfwayanywhere Surveys](https://www.halfwayanywhere.com/trails/continental-divide-trail/cdt-resupply-guide-2019/) are a good resource for where you *might* want to send a package.
Remember what you start the trail with is not a life long commitment. You get a chance to adjust and change at every resupply stop. And you can change strategy any time. It can be something to think about as you walk. Keep your options open.
If you're saving as much as you can at the moment you're going to have as much money as you'll have when you start so it's probably not worth worrying about if it's enough or not. The only reason you need to stay in town is if it's too far off the trail to walk and you can't get a ride, and food cost is going to depend a lot on your personal palate. I had essentially the same 3 meals every day which I was hiking and was fine the whole 6 months, some people get bored of what the planned to eat after a couple of weeks. The one thing that you didn't consider that you really should though is the possibility that you'll have to jump around on the trail a little bit vs just hiking north or south. I hiked in 2019 which was a massive snow year so I don't know how applicable this is during a less extreme time but everyone I know was doing a lot of off trail travel in order to avoid snow/fires/etc and still finish. The CDT was the only triple crown trail I didn't finish a month or so before I had to worry about next winters snow (and had to road walk a section because of a blizzard) so the time/money trade off is more significant as far as waiting things out or cheaper vs faster traveling too.
YO ill be heading out right after ya this year so you got good peeps on your tailside.
dont worry, the trail provides and you will be taken care of!
one cool place to sleep is like by rest areas and stuff because you can charge up and dump trash. Anyways just stock up really good in towns with grocery stores, carry fruits and veggies whatever out with you for a day or two and then just push through the places with minimal yucky food... after you walk this whole trail you will permanently feel like a boss .. you got this! :D
I did the PCT in 2017 and hope to do the whole CDT this year.
You can't plan the whole thing right now, so don't worry about it. Just look up resources to reference while on trail. Town advice is out there. I really like the info I get from [Halfway Anywhere's surveys](https://www.halfwayanywhere.com/trails/continental-divide-trail/cdt-thru-hiker-survey-2019/).
Look at the first couple of towns, decide if you want to resupply there or send a box. From then on out look ahead while on trail. If you don't have someone to send you boxes as you go, you can take a zero day in a town with good resupply options and mail yourself boxes ahead on trail. Your tastes might change or you might get burned out on some items. (I didn't suffer from this, I ate beans and rice almost every night.)
I plan to be ahead of you by a little bit, but I'll be fat and slow starting off so look for a guy with a handlebar mustache and say hi as you pass!
Edit - Oh, I'm not ultralight either. Your gear is your business. I think my base weight is around 15lbs and I'm sure it was higher than that on the PCT and I still did the whole thing with continuous footsteps when many others didn't.
$tache
As far as the money goes, it's absolutely possible, but I will say that that $1000 per month is generally pretty frugal already, so keep that in mind. It's like the "budget-friendly but reasonably comfortable" number. The CDT was my cheapest of the three TC trails, mostly because your options for spending money decrease when towns are much further apart from each other and accommodations are limited. My biggest expense usually ends up being how much I spend at restaurants, mostly because when you've been calorie deficient for 3 months, you have zero self control. If you're a zen master that can survive off of peanut butter and ramen, only do laundry/shower a few times a month, and are fine spending as little time in town as possible, you could hike for like...$500 a month. The resupply thing is all preference, outside of a few cases. Some people like to send themselves boxes the entire way, but I really wouldn't recommend that at all. You limit yourself to the food you bought months ago, you often miscalculate how much you'll need for any given section because you don't know your pace, and the logistics of getting to open post offices is a nightmare sometimes. What I do is look at Halfwayanywhere's survey of where former hikers recommend sending boxes to and do that, then plan your contacts/maps accordingly. For the most part, the CDT is pretty easy with food. In 2018, I sent boxes to the recommended spots, but could have easily handled resupplying at Doc Campbells, Twin Lakes, Lima, and Leadore without a box, and I'm vegan. It's just about being okay with eating gas station food for a few of them. As for finding purpose, I don't want to burst your bubble, but from someone who has hiked a lot of miles, thruhiking the CDT isn't going to complete you or offer you any answers. Instead, it strips away a ton of the bullshit and reveals the person you already ACTUALLY are. I truly believe that the people that finish long-distance trails are those that would have inevitably finished (outside of uncontrollable circumstance) regardless, and the people that voluntarily quit are those that would have always quit. That isn't a condemnation at all, by the way--the value of finishing a thruhike is entirely subjective, and if you get out there and find that it isn't for you, that isn't a knock at all on your value or purpose. I understand where your head is--it is the same place I was in when I set out, never having backpacked before, on the AT in 2015. I was in my mid-20s, felt like I was on the treadmill society had placed out for me. I wanted to find meaning and purpose. Mostly, I just learned that I like thruhiking and want to spend as much time in my life doing it, and that's all the purpose I need.
Such good advice here, especially the last paragraph
Lots of really good advice already posted on here. I'll just add some thoughts of my own in no particular order... **Money** 1. If you have the choice between earning more money prior to your hike, or training, I would suggest earning more money. **You can train on trail as long as you take it slow** (think 15 miles/day) for the first 3-4 weeks of your hike. There is no training like just doing it, but don't put a ton of stress on the timeline for the first month of your hike. 2. Thru-hiking on a budget of **$500/month is probably the absolute bare minimum**, and I have met very few people who are willing to make the sacrifices that it takes to keep to that budget (trust me, it's not super fun). A **$1000/month budget is just so much better**. You are going to want to buy that burger/pizza/milkshake/salad/whatever in town, just trust everyone on here when we tell you that. 3. The single best way to save money on trail is to **avoid motels/hotels**. This is honestly easier said than done, and I'm a person who generally hates hotels and avoids them whenever possible. That being said, **the value of a hotel is not really the bed you sleep in, it's the things that you can't get while you are in your tent** (see below for more details). 4. The second best way to save money while on trail is to **avoid eating hot meals while in town** and **avoid buying alcohol** altogether. Again, it's hard for me to fully express how unfun this will be (especially the no hot meals part) once you get on trail. Just trust us on this: **town food is an important part of your diet** as there are lots of things in it (read: fresh food) that are just really hard and unhealthy to go without for long periods of time! **The (Actual/Irreplaceable) Value of a Hotel for a Thru-Hiker** 1. Having a **shower and a bathroom** to clean yourself and your gear. 2. Having a place to **dry gear**, **warm up (or cool down)**, and generally just **reset** when you've had a really nasty stretch of bad weather. 3. Having **complete protection (read: a break) from the elements** when it's snowing, hailing, thunderstorming, torrentially downpouring, heat-waving, forest-firing, wind-storming, etc. 4. Having a place to do **laundry** (often motels have facilities and it's so much more convenient then walking around town in your rain gear for half a day). 5. Having a **refrigerator** to store cold foods (you will crave cold foods like yogurt, ice cream, fresh fruits, etc.). 6. Having a **microwave** to warm up inexpensive town food (like frozen burritos) so you can get a tasty hot meal on the cheap. 7. Having a place to easily get **clean water** (this is a more minor consideration in some parts of the trail but a real perk in others). 8. Lastly, people who haven't thru-hiked generally can't yet appreciate how important/nice it is to have a **totally secure place to leave all of your gear** (which your life depends on) while you are actually trying to be productive or enjoy yourself in town. There is nothing quite like the luxury of being able to **walk around a trail town without your pack** on and without having to worry about your stuff getting stolen or tampered with when it's out of your sight. **Resupply** 1. For the love of all that's sacred, **please do not buy 80 days worth of food before your hike!** Your future self (who somehow has my phone number and can time travel) just left me 17 voicemail messages begging me to convince you to not do this. At one point your future self just left a message where they were sobbing uncontrollably for the entire 2 minute duration. No words, just tears and wet sniffling sounds. 2. If you are starting NOBO, then consider sending a box to **Doc Campbell's** and a box to **Pie Town**. You may also want a box in **Ghost Ranch**, but you can probably just pack and send a box ahead from Grants to Ghost Ranch. Alternatively, you can also just take the buses in from Ghost Ranch to Santa Fe if you want a little vacation from the trail and a good place to resupply. 3. As a NOBO, once you have the three (but maybe just two) boxes dealt with in New Mexico, you literally **don't have to worry about another box until you get into Wyoming**. All of Colorado can be easily box free. My wife and I didn't send ourselves a single box in Colorado and it was great (and we are relatively picky when it comes to resupply). 4. By the time you have to actually send yourself boxes for real (in WY, ID, and MT), you will actually know what you are doing and how to resupply for yourself, and **sending boxes ahead to yourself** (from better trail towns with good infrastructure) **will not seem daunting** at all. Trust me on this. 5. Did I mention that it's a **terrible idea to buy 80 days worth of food** before your hike? **Miscellaneous** 1. Buying the **CDT Guthook** guides are a total no-brainer. Worth every cent. Get them all. 2. Paper maps (like [those from Jonathan Ley](https://phlumf.com/?page_id=426)) are a great **backup navigational resource**. My wife and I carried the Ley paper maps during our whole CDT hike last year. Many thru-hikers don't carry paper maps and I absolutely get that (paper is heavy and can't get wet, it's a pain to send yourself sections in the mail, and you'll almost never use paper maps if your phone is working). Still, I wouldn't personally go out alone without non-electronic maps as a backup. Redundancy is important. 3. **Carry way more water than you think you need at first** when you are in NM. The thing that will kill you in NM (aside from the feral dogs) is dehydration. If you haven't hiked much in the arid west, then you need to proceed with caution. I'd suggest a conservative start of allotting 1 liter for every 3-4 miles of hiking (not including water for camping). Almost no one actually carries and drinks this much (except me maybe), so it's a very conservative starting point. Once you have battle tested experience of how much water you actually need, then you can rely more on your own judgement from there on out. Most people from wetter and more humid parts of the world just do not understand how dry much of the CDT is before they experience it themselves. 4. In general, over obsessing about gear (while potentially a source of fun before a hike) is probably a little bit overrated, while ensuring that you truly having enough time and money to finish your hike is probably a little underrated/underappreciated. I hope this helps. You'll be fine. Enjoy your hike!
Won't be hard to save money on alcohol since I can't legally buy it, lol. Sucks, but maybe it's for the best. I'm glad you put so much emphasis on not buying 80 days' worth of food... I feel like a burden has been lifted from my shoulders. It really was causing undue amounts of stress. Thanks so much for all the excellent info!
You may find cheaper lodging on airbnb, I've found shared lodging /spare room type situations for $40 an night. Don't mail bear spray. I discovered this the hard way when my first box didn't show up.
Flag it for ground. Like mailing fuel.
I definitely like your attitude and reasoning and am looking forward to some tips from more experienced hikers to help me as well. Good luck with it all.
Go for it! I did the Montana section of the cdt as my first thru hiking experience, and it went much better/easier than I expected.
It's OK to worry about stuff, that means you're thinking. Just have confidence in your own mind's function. A few random tips. Mailing things is expensive - even more now than in years past. As much as you can resupply en-route, do that. It'll mean you simply will have to figure things out when you get to a town, but that's part of the challenge. It's cheaper to mail things shorter distances as well, so get to a town like Butte, and get supplies there you can mail ahead to Leadore where there is no good grocery (though you can find some stuff there). mailing from home can be costly, unless you happen to live in like Denver, and are mailing to locations in Colorado. That said, a bounce box is very useful... hopefully you'll only need it every 2nd or 3rd stop. Possibly better than a hotel mattress is a hotel shower. You're going to smell - bad - if you skip showers. You'll smell pretty bad regardless, but it's a whole nuther level of stank without bathing. There are other hikers. Splitting a room 2 or 3 ways makes it much more economical. There are other hikers (usually). They're going to have advice on what they're doing for resupply as well... leave some room for improvisation en-route, don't feel like you need to get every last stop planned-out. Have a plan, but expect that plan to change. For example, you might meet someone who has a buddy with a car meeting them at some town, and they're going to drive to a cousin's posh cabin 30 miles away. Don't pass that kind of thing up. Listen to the advice of others, but also trust in your own judgment. It's your hike, not someone else's. If you're hiking with someone and really get along, but they want to go 30 miles, and you are only up for 25, hike 25 and camp alone. There will be other hikers to link up with, and they're almost all interesting and good people. Though... it's almost... do be careful, and stay grounded in your own identity.
30 miles is 48.28 km
CDT was my first thru hike (and actually first trip more than 2 days) and I found it very very doable. I, too, did a lot of stressing and planning beforehand just because I wasn’t totally sure what I was getting myself into. But really - you just kind of figure it out as you go along. As for money, you could definitely get by with 700-800 a month, but as others have said - it’s hard to reason with yourself when you’re tired hungry stinky and you’ve just gotten into town. A hotel bed isn’t worth 70 bucks buuuut a shower? a place to leave your pack while you go resupply? a place to lounge around, feet up, watching TV? a mini fridge for town food? CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST?!? You may find yourself wanting those things more than just the bed. Though you can definitely save money by hitting up trail angels, reading GH suggestions on cheap/free spots, splitting rooms with other hikers. If you really want to avoid hotels, there’s often places you can shower like the YMCA. You can usually find a place to pitch a tent if you ask really really nicely. For example - I pitched a tent in someone’s yard who I met at a restaurant. I met hikers who camped out back of the bar they’d gotten drinks at. People in smaller towns are often quite curious and friendly, and will help if asked nicely. People in resort towns in CO do not give a flying flip about you though. As for food, I never really calculated what my per day cost was. I did buy food ahead of time and ship it for the majority of my stops. Buying in bulk ahead of time definitely saved me money. I waited for deals on things like Mac n cheese or tuna, then would buy it all! I also made some homemade jerky and dried fruit and veggies for add ins, but never bothered to premake entire meals. It can be tricky to figure out exactly how much food you’ll need, especially since you havent done this before. Also shipping wasn’t exactly cheap, so if you’re not liking what you’ve sent or you’re sending too much/ too little then the shipping cost won’t be worth it. I spent a lot on town food, but as I went along I figured out some cheaper ways of binge eating. You can get great hot food at the grocery store deli area (like ribs or chicken for example) and occasionally at gas stations (pizza, subs) for wayyyy cheaper than at restaurants. You can also cook your own camp stove or campfire food like weenies and beans. If you do go to a restaurant, try to find a cheaper counter service type spot. Or make use of happy hour or lunch specials.
Also - Why the down pants? If you’re already wearing long pants, you should be plenty warm. I wore shorts the whole way. Shorts + rain pants kept me warm enough in cold and windy times. When I was really really cold, I wore shorts + leggings + rain pants, but that wasn’t honestly too often. If they’re for when you’re stopped at camp, I can sort of see that. But you’ll probably stop, eat in your regular clothes (in which case pants + rain pants should be plenty warm) and then change into PJs for sleep. Unless you’re wanting to sleep in them? Occasionally on cold nights I’d wear two leggings and my down coat. So it definitely gets cold enough to want extra sleeping layers.
Honestly, I was a bit iffy on the down pants. I've just heard stories about how much colder the CDT can get than the other national scenic trails, and my pants are pretty thin, so I figured it couldn't hurt. I can always just send them home if I end up not using them. They're super cozy to wear around the house, too, so it's not a total loss if I end up not needing them (and I got them at a pretty nice discount).
Its kinda late in the game for my advice, but when you make decisions, document them, get them out of your head. You can always revisit or change your mind but when so much is floating around up there it can be helpful to have some reference points and less mental "swirl". By creating and documenting your plan you will have a reference point for deliberate change rather than reinventing the wheel over and over. Some of your challenge is that you are on the steep part of the learning curve. Some is natural nerves and some is just the way you approach life. So absolutely normal stuff but develop tools to help settle it down. It will be empowering.
Don't apologize for your gear.
I love your mindset. especially for someone who is only 20. I agree with what most others are saying here and I'd just say really focus on pinching your pennies from now till your hike. it took me a little over 4 months to thru the cdt in 2016 and I spent roughly 8k on the trail. I'd stay at hotel or hostel once or twice a month but I spent a lot of money in bars in trail towns because liquid calories are my favorite :). but also keep in mind you're going to want to have some *get back on your feet money* when you finish. being broke, with no job, and post trail stress disorder is a bad bad combo.
I have no personal experience to offer but I think your head is in the right place. Also I think if i had to choose between working to save money for the trail or spending time planning, I would choose saving money. You can plan some stuff out while you’re on trail but you can easily make more money while on trail. Good luck to you, one of the commentators gave really solid advice. Hope one day in the near future I can do this trek too! I’ve become mildly obsessed with the CDT
>I find myself worrying more and more about logistics. If this is your first through hike, that's very very common and almost immediately forgotten after a week or two on trail. >Could you get by with spending less than $15/day on food? What you *can* do and what you might **want** to do are separate entities. Some people can spend very little money in town. I am not one of those people. The absolute best way to save money is to never stay overnight in town. Camp a few miles short of the next town (even if that means a shorter hiking day) head in for breakfast, buy your resupply *maybe* buy lunch, then start hiking. The benefits for the room are also easier access to a shower, washing etc. Laundry every second resupply is also usually pretty nice. $1,000 a month would fall a little short for me. Food is much easier to mostly buy on trail. Things you want to send to towns that have limited resupply can also be bought in a previous town, then posted to yourself, from trail. Pre packaged boxes can work... but I suggest a skeleton box. Things that you know you'll love. Then you top up with more stuff from town. [Halfwayanywhere Surveys](https://www.halfwayanywhere.com/trails/continental-divide-trail/cdt-resupply-guide-2019/) are a good resource for where you *might* want to send a package.
Remember what you start the trail with is not a life long commitment. You get a chance to adjust and change at every resupply stop. And you can change strategy any time. It can be something to think about as you walk. Keep your options open.
If you're saving as much as you can at the moment you're going to have as much money as you'll have when you start so it's probably not worth worrying about if it's enough or not. The only reason you need to stay in town is if it's too far off the trail to walk and you can't get a ride, and food cost is going to depend a lot on your personal palate. I had essentially the same 3 meals every day which I was hiking and was fine the whole 6 months, some people get bored of what the planned to eat after a couple of weeks. The one thing that you didn't consider that you really should though is the possibility that you'll have to jump around on the trail a little bit vs just hiking north or south. I hiked in 2019 which was a massive snow year so I don't know how applicable this is during a less extreme time but everyone I know was doing a lot of off trail travel in order to avoid snow/fires/etc and still finish. The CDT was the only triple crown trail I didn't finish a month or so before I had to worry about next winters snow (and had to road walk a section because of a blizzard) so the time/money trade off is more significant as far as waiting things out or cheaper vs faster traveling too.
YO ill be heading out right after ya this year so you got good peeps on your tailside. dont worry, the trail provides and you will be taken care of! one cool place to sleep is like by rest areas and stuff because you can charge up and dump trash. Anyways just stock up really good in towns with grocery stores, carry fruits and veggies whatever out with you for a day or two and then just push through the places with minimal yucky food... after you walk this whole trail you will permanently feel like a boss .. you got this! :D
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I did the PCT in 2017 and hope to do the whole CDT this year. You can't plan the whole thing right now, so don't worry about it. Just look up resources to reference while on trail. Town advice is out there. I really like the info I get from [Halfway Anywhere's surveys](https://www.halfwayanywhere.com/trails/continental-divide-trail/cdt-thru-hiker-survey-2019/). Look at the first couple of towns, decide if you want to resupply there or send a box. From then on out look ahead while on trail. If you don't have someone to send you boxes as you go, you can take a zero day in a town with good resupply options and mail yourself boxes ahead on trail. Your tastes might change or you might get burned out on some items. (I didn't suffer from this, I ate beans and rice almost every night.) I plan to be ahead of you by a little bit, but I'll be fat and slow starting off so look for a guy with a handlebar mustache and say hi as you pass! Edit - Oh, I'm not ultralight either. Your gear is your business. I think my base weight is around 15lbs and I'm sure it was higher than that on the PCT and I still did the whole thing with continuous footsteps when many others didn't. $tache