Topic
Is every UL backpacker rich?
Forum Posting
A Membership is required to post in the forums. Login or become a member to post in the member forums!
Home › Forums › Gear Forums › Gear (General) › Is every UL backpacker rich?
- This topic has 119 replies, 57 voices, and was last updated 7 years ago by John Rowan.
-
AuthorPosts
-
Feb 17, 2017 at 5:26 pm #3451131
You can easily equip yourself with lightweight gear that will last years for about the same cost as a single holiday in a resort somewhere.
Feb 17, 2017 at 5:55 pm #3451141Winter = cabin fever = more time on BPL = GAS.
I think this is really key- I’ve been spending days thinking through shelter options for about 850-1000 miles worth of PCT that I’m slated to do this season (which basically boils down to a few flat tarp options and the MLD Grace). I have a good idea of what I want (something I can throw up during the occasional nights when I can’t cowboy), but I’ve been agonizing over the minutia of various smaller tarps because I don’t even have a backyard to fuss around in with the stuff that I have. It’s been helpful to take a step back and realize that I’m basically fine with my gear, that I’m familiar and comfortable with it, and that I need to take some time away from the spreadsheets and actually find somewhere to hike.
Feb 17, 2017 at 8:00 pm #3451162My household income is around 75-80k a year depending upon the year. That supports myself, my wife and our three kids. It’s average income for where we live and we’re anything but “rich”. I have plenty of UL gear and try to keep us all outfitted properly. The initial investment is fairly high but over time it’s not bad at all. I also have a fairly expensive mnt bike, several high end computers, etc in the home too but agian, I wouldn’t call us rich, we just allocate our resources different than many others. My wife drives a 2006 Caravan and will until the wheels fall off. I have an old jeep that I rarely drive and instead usually walk, ride a bike or carpool with the wife. We’re frugal in many ways so we can have nice toys and do fun trips. If we take family trips they rarely cost more than the price of gas and food.
I have friends and family who are into offroading with buggies, side by sides, dirt bikes, etc and between the toys, the trailer or toy hauler to put them in and a truck to pull them, you’re easily north of 50k and I know many that are 100k+. In comparison, even outfitting my family with mid to high end backpacking and camping gear is dirt cheap.
Feb 17, 2017 at 9:24 pm #3451178Rich, of course, means different things to different people. But when it comes to gear, I start reading about it, then I start thinking about it, then I start fantasizing about it, and then, well….
Feb 18, 2017 at 1:33 am #3451187With a cigarette in his mouth, dropping ash over her face ?????
Feb 18, 2017 at 7:54 am #3451202probably marijuana?
Feb 18, 2017 at 8:54 am #3451211Jezebel.
Feb 18, 2017 at 9:08 am #3451212Is Every UL backpacker rich?
Some might say I have done very, very well.
This is where I like to plan my trips, browse maps, and peruse classics like The Complete Walker and Beyond Backpacking. Gear storage is in the East Wing.
Feb 18, 2017 at 9:17 am #3451214The world is Craig’s
thats just how i imagined your house, too?
Notice how the woman is reaching for Dougs neck
Feb 18, 2017 at 9:41 am #3451223“Notice how the woman is reaching for Dougs neck”
I noticed her dress strap.
Feb 18, 2017 at 10:16 am #3451233Let’s say one spends $1500 on UL gear for a solid kit. That gear probably averages 10 years of use, or $150/year.
Compared to nearly any other hobby, this is incredibly inexpensive.
Compared to a vacation, it’s even cheaper as the average cost of a vacation is over $1185/person in the US and that’s for just 1 week whereas that would last most backpackers over a month!
Feb 18, 2017 at 12:55 pm #3451268I am able to cover the cost of new expensive UL gear by skipping the annual Christmas bonus I would otherwise give to my servants.
Feb 18, 2017 at 3:00 pm #3451291Wow my post just disappeared. Weird.
Feb 18, 2017 at 3:23 pm #3451296KATHARINA wrote (this is a repost):
I guess there are only a couple of us then.
I don’t own it but get to live here and have the biggest most beautiful playground as my backyard. No signed agreements/leases ; just an understanding between people whose word mean something. It will end one day but till then I am grateful every single day we get to live here. Libby will always remember these years in the most beautiful cabin in the woods.
900 square feet so well laid out it feels big and open and lacks nothing. Every piece of furniture came either from the flea market or craigslist or I made it. To have things like this available at such little cost is a luxury, for real.
Libby’s room is as big as a closet, through that door to the right of the bed. The door won’t latch and can’t be slammed ;) and when we moved here 8 years ago she called it a palace even though there were a couple banana slugs in her room.I need to work a lot to afford it, trust me, and in so many ways I am very thrifty….but that I can swing this and transportation, insurance, good healthy food, hobbies and even going back to Switzerland every couple of years…..To want more would be greed; this is already ridiculous.
If it comes across as bragging that’s too bad; I am just aware and thankful for what I have. I could make a list of sacrifices and things that are not quite right, but in most ways I am living a dream even if it means long days and tired hands.
—-
reposted by Roger with picsFeb 18, 2017 at 3:36 pm #3451298Thanks Roger, will do :)
Feb 18, 2017 at 3:50 pm #3451299That was beautifully written Katharina and certainly rises above. Pics will be great to see but I feel you’ve already drawn one for us. Very well said.
Feb 18, 2017 at 4:41 pm #3451303Thanks Chad.
I am sorry I hijacked the thread to make a point that is really a bit different than the original post, I am aware of that, but in my opinion it is related . Mine certainly is more “chaffy”..
Switch “rich” for “well off” and that should fix it.
Feb 18, 2017 at 9:47 pm #3451355Hmmm…I’ve been sub-15lbs BPW since 1999. Sub-10lbs since 2004.
My current salary would be considered good in most markets, but it certainly was not in 1999 when I was 25! :)
Rather, I went light by what I did *not* take..not so much what I bought.
Minimalism, making do with what I have and making sure the tools I had worked well for the job? That’s more a tribute to the culture I was brought up in than my so-called “professional” level job that I have currently.
Now gear collecting as a hobby? That’s another ball of wax… And I would argue that is not ultralight backpacking. That’s ultralight gear collecting…
Feb 19, 2017 at 3:59 pm #3451452You can put together a decent backpacking kit (albeit not UL), for well under $500 just by quickly scanning, Sierra Trading Post, AliExpress, Amazon, REI Outlet etc.
Or you could put together a top of the line UL Kit for $2000.
Or you could buy an iPhone 7 for $600
Or you could buy a new Macbook Pro for $2000
While backpacking gear is not necessarily “cheap” I do think it is relatively accessible, and by no means do you need to be rich to afford it.
Feb 19, 2017 at 4:22 pm #3451459I’m currently supporting a family of three on a graduate school stipend (which is actually under the poverty line for three).
It’s doable. One just has to be frugal and resist the temptation to impulse buy. I recently went on a mini splurge, but I sold off quite a few of my no-longer-used belongings to support it.
Honestly, you can learn a lot about oneself and one’s hobbies on a very limited income.
Feb 19, 2017 at 6:05 pm #3451482DancingBear took the words out of my mouth. I also do the $100 hotel night calculation. If I spend N x $100 at the beginning of spring, I damn well better spend at least N nights in the backcountry that year.
The thing about backpacking that makes it different than some other hobbies is you need to get a full kit together somehow or other before the very first night out! You can’t just say: OK, I’ll start out this time with a tarp tent and next time I”ll add the quilt and after that a pad! So for newbies there is a big sticker shock.
Feb 19, 2017 at 6:53 pm #3451493Also, not only is the cost of entry a bit on the high side for the hobby in general (even with cheap but acceptable gear from Amazon, my first trip probably still had $400+ish worth of gear for an overnight, virtually none of which I used later on), but the first few years of backpacking had a lot of trial and error to it that had additional costs. In a lot of cases, the outlay for fiddling around to figure out what you like can easily be more than what you paid to start out, especially as a lot of more expensive pieces have either an actual or at least a perceived learning curve associated with them.
For me when I was getting started, when I would buy something that’s definitely upper-tier “good” gear, like a TT Contrail (turns out I hate front entry tents and had a hard time keeping it clean in wet, sandy soil environments), an EE quilt (I move too much), a WM mummy bag (also move too much for mummy bags), those items didn’t necessarily work for me. They might have been sound purchases and good gear “investments,” but there was ultimately a pretty heavy financial outlay for gear that didn’t work for me personally. I recouped some of those costs by reselling, and could often sell them for enough that the remaining costs could be justified as a “rental” of sorts (I.e. selling a $350 Summerlite for $250, thus essentially paying $100 or so to have it for the season), but the amount of money I’ve laid out over the years as I’ve dialed in my kit and gone from a newbie to a person with a few thousand trail mails hasn’t been cheap.
I think 2014 was really the first time I had a set of gear that I was more or less happy with and didn’t really feel compelled to replace anything out of necessity. I’ve still managed to wind up with a pretty substantially rebuilt kit for this year, but this is the first year that my revamp has been an extension of the skills I’ve learned- moving from a Gatewood Cape to a smaller flat tarp and being comfortable with it, dropping down from a Circuit to a Burn, etc. 2017 is going to be the first year where my kit is an extension of what I’ve learned (or a representation of what I’m trying to learn), rather than a reaction to things I didn’t like or haven’t figured out yet. Interestingly enough, it’s also going to be one of the years where I’ve managed to make some of the most significant changes for the least amount of money.
Feb 19, 2017 at 6:56 pm #3451494AnonymousInactiveI’m not rich or well off by American standards at least. I live paycheck to paycheck. I’ve probably spent too much money on backpacking stuff. A good percentage that I’ve bought though, has either been bought used, clearance, sale, or I made it myself.
I got into making gear partly because I couldn’t afford some of the nicer stuff. Â One of my favorite pieces of gear, is my odd MYOG WPB poncho/rain gear system. Not because I made it, or that it was quite inexpensive to make, but because it works pretty well.
Most of my money, besides bills, goes to good/healthier foods, and because my spouse is a travel addict–to traveling. She has her summers off and I have part of my summer off, and we usually go somewhere for it. Â Thankfully at least, she is very good at finding good deals, and roughing it if necessary. This last summer, we somehow were able to get into the same grant program, which payed for a good portion of the entire 1.5 month trip.
I’m in my late 30’s now, and just recently put together my first good sounding stereo system (all budget oriented though), after I got some X-Mass and b-day money (I’ve ended up spending a bit of my own too). Â Despite that music is one of my few material loves/strong attachments. Â I’m just not much of a materialist all in all. I figured out a long while back, that stuff and things, etc don’t really facilitate true/deeper happiness (but, I’m human and so am sometimes tempted here and there).
Of late, I spend very little time thinking about gear. Once in awhile, an idea will pop into my head regarding an interesting MYOG concept/idea, but I haven’t even put any energy/time into that either. Â I have my stuff dialed in and am content with what I have. Â There are a couple of little projects I still need to get around to though. Like putting some silicone on the outside of the cuben fiber MLD Solomid that I bought used.
If I had access to corporation level resources and connections, there would be some projects I would be very interested in working on, but that’s not likely to ever be in the cards.
Feb 19, 2017 at 9:01 pm #3451517I enjoy wine fine and there are similar discussions in those social circles. Then someone compares it to the art collecting. Everything is relative. The truth is, however, that you can spend several times what is necessary to achieve about 25% under an average “ultralight” base weight. This has been stated previously in this thread. Some of the value of the more specialized items lies in their unique function, not just their weight. This can relate to added comfort and even safety. Base weight in itself doesn’t always tell the whole story.
Feb 20, 2017 at 10:58 am #3451582I am without a doubt one of the richest people that have ever walked the planet. Â I have eight kids (seven adopted), a wonderful wife and live a blessed life.
I’d say everyone reading this forum is in the top 1% who has ever lived. Â Thank God for it and appreciate every day!
-
AuthorPosts
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Forum Posting
A Membership is required to post in the forums. Login or become a member to post in the member forums!
Our Community Posts are Moderated
Backpacking Light community posts are moderated and here to foster helpful and positive discussions about lightweight backpacking. Please be mindful of our values and boundaries and review our Community Guidelines prior to posting.
Get the Newsletter
Gear Research & Discovery Tools
- Browse our curated Gear Shop
- See the latest Gear Deals and Sales
- Our Recommendations
- Search for Gear on Sale with the Gear Finder
- Used Gear Swap
- Member Gear Reviews and BPL Gear Review Articles
- Browse by Gear Type or Brand.