Finances for the Colorado Trail

One of the biggest questions I had when I started thru-hiking was about expenses. How much was this walk in the woods going to cost me? It’s a pretty valid question. For better or worse, money is important in our lives. And, if you work a traditional job and won’t be generating any income during your hike, you sort of need to know how much you’re going to spend.

I wrote a finances post after my PCT thru-hike in 2018, and I honestly thought that my expenses on the CT would be pretty similar to an average month on the PCT. But, I actually spent more than I anticipated. I’m going to break down what I spent by category on this hike down below.

The Disclaimers

Ok, here’s where the “fine print” comes in.

First, this post will only be highlighting actual on-trail expenses. I am not going to talk about my gear and the cost of that since a lot of it is just stuff I’ve accumulated over the years. I’m also not going to talk about transportation costs to/from the trail. I did fly into Denver and stay with my tramily from the PCT, and they also brought me to the trailhead in Littleton. In Durango, my parents picked me up during their road trip and brought me home.

Second, I was still employed on this hike. I was on a personal Leave of Absence from my job, and still maintained my health insurance through them. So, I didn’t have any health insurance costs beyond my usual expenses, and I did have some incoming cash flow from using vacation days.

Third, other “life” costs are left out of this. I don’t pay rent, I still paid my car insurance, etc.

Fourth, I don’t hold back when I’m in town and when I buy resupply. I’m going to get the foods I crave. I always try to stay at cheaper lodging when possible, but on the food front, I’m trying to eat well and stay happy.

Fifth, this hike took me 33 days to complete, including my trail zeros. I took 4 zeros on the trail.

Sixth, this hike took place in the year 2021. If you found this in the distant future… idk what to tell you because who knows what money is doing nowadays! I can say though that we were in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, that inflation was on the rise, and that small towns were more impacted by these things. For example, I paid $19 for a bowl of pho in Breckenridge. I mean, it’s Breck, so yeah, it’s expensive, but I could find a bowl of pho in the very expensive Bay Area for less than $15 in 2021.

CT Expenses

Grand Total: $1,655.92

Let’s break it down a little more…

Resupply Costs: $539.50

Resupply encompasses everything I spent in town for the purposes of consuming during the next section of trail. Basically, groceries. Maybe a new sunscreen or something. What this sadly does not include are grocery costs of my first stretch from Denver to Breckenridge. I think I lost that receipt, but let’s hazard a guess and throw on another $60 to the groceries budget.

Town Food Costs: $408

Like I said above, I like to treat myself in town. I’m paying for the over-priced burger and milkshake, you know? Because it will make me happy. I actually don’t think this is too bad considering I took 4 zeros and stopped in 6 towns.

Lodging: $433

As I keep saying, I took 4 zeros on this trail, which is about what I expected to take. But what I didn’t expect is that I would take them in the two most expensive trail towns on the hike: Breckenridge and Salida. Luckily, I did go for the least expensive options here: hostels that were designed with hikers in mind. I shared a bunk room all nights with other hikers, so that kept expenses down a bit. In Breckenridge, I stayed 4 nights in town (I slack-packed Breck - Copper Mtn. with a friend in the area), and in Salida I spent 3 nights in town, mainly because I decided I really wanted my stove, the gear shop in town was sold out, and I waited for my mom to overnight my stove (which was another $80 expense - yikes!). So, wanting my stove probably cost me $130, but I can tell you… It was worth it for my happiness in the second half of the trail.

Gear: $109.04

A Melanzana purchase was the big ticket item in the gear here. Moving on…

Donations: $10

A trail angel drove me and a few hikers back to the trail from Salida, which is what this donation was for. I think I was the only one who gave her some money. Hikers, please donate to your trail angels! Gas money is expensive. Not everyone will accept, but some will appreciate the effort. $10 isn’t even a huge donation - I felt a little cheap with that $10 being all I had on me. Other hitchhikes and shuttles I took refused money.

Misc.: $156

In this category, I have shipping costs, an RX for Diamox, and laundry expenses.

Now, expenses by Trail Town!

Jefferson: $11.87

Breckenridge: $404.69

Leadville: $92.66

Twin Lakes: $46.76

Salida: $715.00

Lake City: $213.55

Silverton: $198.37

As you can see based on this compilation of data, towns are super expensive. Especially towns that you take zero days in *cough* Breck & Salida…

If you are trying to hike on a budget, my biggest advice is to avoid zero days as much as possible, and if you need to take one, take it in a cheaper location.

So, there were definitely some expenses I couldn’t locate in my expense tracker app (that’s what happens when you decide to procrastinate and write a blog post about expenses 1.5 years after your hike), but I think you get the gist of the overall expenses of this trip. I would say that budgeting $2,000 for the on-trail expenses part of your trip will be a conservative estimate, but also leaves you wiggle room for any unexpected expenses that come up during your hike.