What Do You Really, Really, Really Want? Counting the Cost

What Do You Really, Really, Really Want? Counting the Cost

Picacho Peak, this morning, 3/19/16. Cost: waking up at five, 1 gallon of gas, fractional cost of annual state park permit. Back home by the time I would usually roll out of bed. 

I have been asked by a couple friends/readers the following questions: “How do you get the time to do all that stuff?” and “Did you win the lottery or something?” Thank you for reading, and thank you for asking. These are good questions, which I had up until this point failed to ask myself.  I have asked myself more existential questions about how I ended up spending my recourses (both time and money) and subjecting myself to variegated discomforts (early waking, heat, cold, fatigue, displacement of more sedentary enjoyments) (see the post: http://yourcameraisnotbigenough.blogspot.com/2015/08/irresistible-grace-or-hefty-bag-versus.html), but I have not really reflected on the practical. 

In this post I attempt to provide a time and expense analysis.

Reavis Ranch($25, one weekend) (see: http://yourcameraisnotbigenough.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2016-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2017-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=4).  This was a four hour drive from Tucson each way. Gas ~$25 at current prices. No permit required. We read about it in a book that cost about $15, but there is adequate information online which would have been free. We did this trip on a regular weekend, so I did not cost any PTO or time that we would have used to do much else (shopping, movies, washing cars, eating out).

Baboquivari ($20, 1 day) (see: http://yourcameraisnotbigenough.blogspot.com/2016/01/spooky-baboquivari.html). This was about a two hour drive (4WD required) plus a day hike, out and back on a Saturday. Gas ~$20. Plus, we visited my stepdad immediately after which is something we would have done anyway.

Joshua Tree, Salton Sea, Anza Barrego ($500, 5 days) (see: http://yourcameraisnotbigenough.blogspot.com/2016/01/watching-ball-drop-ryan-mountain-versus.html). This was a five day total trip. We drove about 20 hours total. We stayed four nights in hotels (gas ~$100, hotels ~$350). It was over a holiday weekend, but did require three additional days PTO for a total of five days. During these five days, we did four hikes in Joshua tree, checked out the Salton Sea, and did a couple really cool, and a couple so-so hikes in Anza Barrego. We did not have to pay for entry into either park (we are annual passholders, which costs $80/year but we use this pass almost weekly, so the prorated cost to us is probably about $2 per use in Federal Lands (all national parks and national forests). Total cost for this trip was about $500 and five days time (three of which were already a holiday weekend we might have used to watch some TV and do some landscaping).

Piestewa Peak (free, 2 hours) (see: http://yourcameraisnotbigenough.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-51-piestewa-peak.html). We did this hike on the way back from a work conference. It was a Saturday, and it was about 10 minutes from the route we were taking anyway. I don’t think it took more than two hours, and there were no permits required (this was essentially free and took less than 2 hours).

Hualapai Mountain Loop ($10, 4 hours) (see: http://yourcameraisnotbigenough.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2015-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2016-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=26) . This was also added on to a Saturday work outing.  The drive was about one hour extra, and the hike was about three (four hours total). Admission was about $10. No hotel or gas required, since this was a part of a trip that needed to be made for other reasons. I had a cold when we did this one. Also, we got home a little late, yet I survived. So, $10/4 hours. 

Tucson area day hikes ( ½ a tank of gas, 2000 additional calories of food per person and the fractional cost of annual permits ($5-$35), 2 hours to a full day). (see: http://yourcameraisnotbigenough.blogspot.com/2015/07/in-your-own-backyard.html , http://yourcameraisnotbigenough.blogspot.com/2015/07/cactus-over-clouds.html , http://yourcameraisnotbigenough.blogspot.com/2015_10_01_archive.html , http://yourcameraisnotbigenough.blogspot.com/2015/08/great-night-for-hike.html , http://yourcameraisnotbigenough.blogspot.com/2015/08/just-cant-help-myself-and-another-snake.html, http://yourcameraisnotbigenough.blogspot.com/2015/07/belated-birthday-or-after-rain.html , http://yourcameraisnotbigenough.blogspot.com/2015/07/javelina-cantina.html , http://yourcameraisnotbigenough.blogspot.com/2015/07/birthday-bookends.html ,  http://yourcameraisnotbigenough.blogspot.com/2015_08_01_archive.html ) I lump these together, but the point is this: I don’t often dedicate an entire day to hiking. There is plenty of time to shop, do yard work, cook, go to church, sleep, and binge watch favorite Nexflix series. For example, it is 8:30 AM as I write this post, after having returned from an early morning hike to watch the sunrise from the summit of Picacho Peak.  I will need to go to bed earlier tonight to make up for my 5 AM start, but I will sleep better anyway.

Canadian Rockies ( ~$2,500, 9 days) (see: http://yourcameraisnotbigenough.blogspot.com/2015_09_01_archive.html , http://yourcameraisnotbigenough.blogspot.com/2015/09/global-warming-on-iceline.html , http://yourcameraisnotbigenough.blogspot.com/2015/09/blown-off-saddle-just-east-of-great.html , http://yourcameraisnotbigenough.blogspot.com/2015/09/nick-and-grizzly-bear.html ). This one cost some money: $650 airfare (for 2 people), $500 rental car, $250 petrol , $300 for backcountry lodge with breakfast, dinner, and sack lunch included on the Skyline, $300 for 2 nights in Jasper, ~$400 for week in timeshare in Canmore (fractional cost of monthly dues applied to 7 night stay), $90 permit, $60 for two cans of bear spray which we had to leave behind). So, about $2500 not including food.  We ate mostly food purchased as groceries and cooked, but had dinner out one night. In perspective, this was a major, week and a half long vacation, so the price of $2500 is not too high for a comparable, non outdoors oriented vacation). We were able to experience almost 100 miles of the backcountry, plus drove the entire length of this beautiful area. Plus, we didn’t spend a single night in a tent, which is a luxury. This trip could have been done for about $1000 if we had backpacked or camped.

Mount Whitney and 5 day trip in the high sierra ($425 , one week) (see: http://yourcameraisnotbigenough.blogspot.com/2015/07/onion-valley-to-mount-whitney-day-1.html , http://yourcameraisnotbigenough.blogspot.com/2015/07/onion-valley-to-mount-whitney-day-2.html , http://yourcameraisnotbigenough.blogspot.com/2015/07/onion-valley-to-mount-whitney-day-3.html , http://yourcameraisnotbigenough.blogspot.com/2015/07/onion-valley-to-mount-whitney-day-four.html , http://yourcameraisnotbigenough.blogspot.com/2015/07/onion-valley-to-mount-whitney-day-five.html ): We stayed one night in lone pine ($100), shuttle service between trailheads ($125), and fuel in our own car  ($200). Permit ($15). One week time off.

Other costs:

Time/energy: To be able to experience and enjoy the big trips, you need to train. For backpacking, you need practice/experience. The more time you spend doing a thing, the less time it takes to plan and prepare. Hiking is basically a weekly thing for us, and we often hike more than once a week. This may be excessive, but training is not our primary purpose in most cases. Still, the bigger trips are not things that I would be able to just do, because I was not in good enough shape to complete them or enjoy them before getting into this stuff. It is hard to measure exactly how much time goes into this. I also exercise a few days per week, and at least 50% of my motivation for this is to keep my ability up for upcoming adventures.

Gear: Gear is mostly luxury. We started hiking in old Nikes and worn out casual cloths with a school backpack rigged with a clipboard as a frame, and went almost exclusively to trailheads with no entry fee. We did buy poles early on to protect our joints, which we sill have 10 years later and cost about $100. We did backpack the Grand Canyon, Kalalau/ Nopali Coast in Kuai, and Havasupai with rental gear. This costs about $50 /person, per trip on average. More recently, we have the luxury of being able to buy lightweight fancy crap that no one really needs, but does make life easier. I see hardcore people out there all the time with very low cost, low tech stuff, and they do just fine. I would not disclose the amount I have spent out of shame and deliberate ignorance, but consider most of it unnecessary. If one were to shop sales and buy mid grade stuff, and avoid unnecessary things, I think it reasonable to spend about $500 on complete set of backpacking gear.

Footwear: This is the most significant regular cost.  Most other gear is a one – time purchase, but if you hike a lot, you will go through a lot of footwear for two reasons. One is obvious, it wears out. Half of the garbage that passes for outdoor gear at REI is a complete joke – you would be better off with a pair of $30 workboots from Walmart than 2/3 of the footwear pushed for $150 a pair or more at REI. Even a really good pair of heavy hikers will last a weekend warrior anywhere from 3 to 8 months. The other is this: fit and comfort. Some shoes just don’t work out. This is a huge waste of money. They change models every year, so even if you have a shoe you like, the next year, it is almost guaranteed to not have the same fit that works for you. I would say that I spend about $250-500/year on footwear, but I am big and have mediocre to bad feet, and hike 10-20 miles per week. Half of this has been spent on shoes that take me less than 100 miles. For these reasons, I just purchased three pairs of Asolos at $225/pair (on clearance from regular price of $300/pair). OUCH.

Food: Hiking burns calories. I thought it would help me lose weight, but mostly, I just eat more. The food is not highly expensive. For example, peanut butter and honey sandwiches are a staple. But we ate three loves of bread, two jars of honey, and two jars of peanut butter, in addition to about 10 candy bars and a bunch of other stuff in our week in Canada. I’m not sure how much this costs. I did a year of costs analysis of food and Lori and I spent about $8000 on all food last year. If we hiked an average of 4 miles per day and you burn 200 calories per mile, then we ate an additional 800 calories per day, per person. If our basal metabolic rate is about 2000 calories, then this is about a 40% increase. So, one could say that 40% of our $8000 spent on food last year was replacing calories burned hiking. This is $3,200/year for two people or $1,600/per person/per year, at 10-20 miles per week average. Now, backpacking food is really cheap (don’t waste your money on the dehydrated mountain meals, mac and cheese and vacuum sealed tuna works just fine, and we are surrounded by dehydrated, highly caloric, cheap foods ). Most trail food is too, so I don’t know how to factor  that in. Also, I tend to over eat anyway, so I might have eaten just as much, but be heavier. Finally, we don’t have time to eat out often, so this is a huge savings.

Bottom line: outdoor adventure can take over all your time and money. But, for the average person, it is cheap and accessible.  I would argue that I have saved more than I have spent by displacement of other, more expensive and time consuming hobbies. I have also discovered that footwear is my biggest expense.