The unique model of this text appeared on ExplorersWeb.
The 2024 Pacific Crest Path hiker survey is out, and its knowledge will curiosity long-distance backpackers.
Midway Anyplace, a weblog run by long-distance athlete Tyler Fox, compiles the annual survey (now in its eleventh 12 months). It’s an in-depth have a look at a bunch of metrics from age and ethnicity to cash spent and expertise used on the Pacific Crest Path (PCT).
This 12 months, 764 thru-hikers accomplished the survey. That’s solely about 9.5% of the 8,000 long-distance permits issued on common annually by the Pacific Crest Path Affiliation. So, whereas the survey is way from complete, it’s however an honest pattern measurement.
Let’s have a look.
The Price of Journey
On common, thru-hikers paid $1,708 for gear in 2024. That’s up from the early years of the survey by nearly $500. Hikers spent a median of $10,149 on the journey final 12 months, together with the preliminary value of substances.
The survey didn’t start asking hikers about complete journey value till 2019. In that 12 months, hikers spent a median of $6,561, or $38.68 a day, in comparison with $71 a day in 2024. So the price has risen 55% in simply 5 years. Inflation (notably with meals) is definitely an element right here, in addition to an growing curiosity in ultralight backpacking, which tends to make use of gear manufactured from high-end, costly supplies.
You would possibly assume {that a} larger proportion of first-time thru-hikers could possibly be driving up these numbers. Novice thru-hikers have to spend extra on gear and may also be extra prone to splurge on hostels and transportation. However because it seems, it’s simply the alternative.
In 2019, 67.6% of survey responders had been on their first long-distance thru-hike. In 2024, that quantity had dropped to 50.2%. Via-hiking as an entire has grow to be more and more fashionable by way of books and movies like Wild and A Stroll within the Woods, and the Appalachian Path, moderately than the PCT, is usually seen as extra beginner-friendly. Many thru-hikers deal with the Appalachian Path first, then the PCT, then the Continental Divide Path.
These trails have additionally seen giant will increase in reported prices. A 2024 survey of the Appalachian Path by The Trek discovered that hikers spent $10,500 on common final 12 months, a rise of $500 from 2023. As for the Continental Divide Path, the common value of your complete hike was about $8,900 in 2023, in keeping with Midway Nowhere. The 2024 survey of the CDT isn’t but accessible.
Some Unsurprising Findings
General, 55% of the survey respondents had been male, 40% had been feminine, and 1% recognized as non-binary. Just below half of the thru-hikers had been between the ages of 25 and 34, and nearly 90% of them had been white. None of that’s shocking, given the final breakdown of out of doors sports activities.
One encouraging statistic is that the proportion of feminine thru-hikers rose 3.5% from final 12 months. When the survey started in 2013, 35% of the hikers had been feminine.
The general public who took the survey hail from western U.S. states, so it’s additionally not stunning that over 5.4% of them listed “software program engineer” as their occupation. And provided that the PCT is a summer season path, it additionally tracks that educators had been well-represented at 6.6% and college students at 4%.
White-collar jobs like engineer, scientist, mechanical engineer, marketing consultant, and IT skilled additionally made the highest ranks of professions for PCT thru-hikers. Seasonal employees made the highest 10, however curiously, they comprised solely 3.5% of the hikers who accomplished the survey.
Apps and Maps
Gone are the times when long-distance mountaineering meant a break from trendy expertise.
In 2024, 99% of the surveyed thru-hikers used some sort of telephone app, usually for navigation. FarOut Guides (previously GutHook) was by far the preferred, with 96% of hikers selecting it for its capacity to inform you your actual distance from any given level on the path. FarOut additionally contains real-time, crowd-sourced data on vital issues like water ranges at river crossings.
Hikers additionally used apps that supplied extra detailed topographical data, like GIA GPS (33.9%) and CalTopo (12.3%). Word that the usage of one app doesn’t preclude the usage of one other.
You will discover the entire 2024 Pacific Crest Path Hiker Survey right here. It’s value spending just a few hours digging into — particularly in case your sights are set on a 2025 allow.
