The cost of hiking

Yesterday after work, BF and I went to MEC. I hate going to MEC because I always “find” things that I need, and spend way more than I had anticipated.

This time, I had a plan. I knew what I wanted to buy, and ended up spending $149.

• Sports bra. I contemplated getting the $50 Patagonia bra, but ended up getting the $25 MEC brand instead. I couldn’t justify spending $50 on the girls. Perhaps near the end of the summer when BF and I go down to Washington, I can check out the bras at REI . MEC is the equivalent of REI here in Canada, but REI seems to have more clothing options.
• Hiking shorts. MEC brand. It’s not often I find hiking shorts that fit me properly (usually they’re loose on my waist, and tight on my thighs).
• MSR water bladder. The cheaper bladder that I bought last year has a leak in it.
• 2 x hiking socks. Um, so why are hiking socks so freaking expensive? I’ve been experimenting with different brands and thicknesses of socks, because I seem to be quite blister-proned.
• 1 x sock liner. Supposed to help control blisters.
• Ombrelle SPF 30 sunscreen. BF has SPF 50, but I can’t deal with sunscreen that thick.
• Afterbite. Mosquitoes love me for some reason. I always get bitten alive when we hike – bites everywhere, even on my arms, legs, ears, eyelids – wherever I have exposed flesh. Meanwhile, BF never gets a single bite. What’s up with that?
  

So, not bad. I got a lot of things that I needed. Like SP at Stacking Pennies, I’ve invested so much money into this hobby. I have thousands of dollars worth of gear. Thankfully BF gets a discount on some of the stuff that I’ve purchased (some he’s bought me too), but mostly I’ve had to fork over cold, hard cash. And it’s all necessary gear too. Hiking and camping are definitely cheap activities to do, but only once you’ve invested the money in getting proper high quality gear.

For example, if you spend $3,000 on good hiking gear (sleeping bag, waterproof backpack, tent, boots, technical clothing, accessories, etc.), that’s a sizable investment. You could go on 2 all-inclusive vacations for that kind of money. But in the future, hiking and camping are FREE activities to do – of course you’ll have to buy food and gas money depending on where you’re going. But this 5-day trip, everything included, should cost each of us less than $150 each. So for an initial up-front cost, we’re going to have cheap vacations for years and years to come. Of course, spending a vacation in a tent, without showering, might not appeal to everyone. :)

Anyway, tomorrow we’re leaving at 6am! :) We’ll drive for about 3 hours to get to Cathedral Park. Then to get to where we want to camp for the night, we have to drive 40km up a gravel road, then spend the rest of the day hiking in. The next day, BF said that we’ll have to climb a few smaller peaks to get to the top of Grimface Mountain (2,635 m or 8,645 ft). And then after that, we’re just going to hang out in the mountains, exploring and rock climbing … until we have to come back down on Wednesday.