LlamaBikes

Warmshowers, Free Camping, Make all your own food. $15/day in Canada is very doable. Also, cycling with one or two others can reduce costs significantly, as sharing things helps a lot.

Aerohip

$15/day....I'm planning $30, and I thought that was low. I will wild Camp and use WS as much as possible, but I do like to eat!

jrickards

@Jaywalk3r camped out in a lot of church lots and this might be something to consider, many church members also offered him food too which is a nice bonus. I'm going to keep that in mind.

Crown land is public land, owned by the Province.

Leebo

I like oatmeal for breakfast and tea, packs light and cheap. I usually buy a sandwich for lunch ( 5-6 $) and some meat for dinner to go with some kind of grain I'm cooking. Ever forage? Here in New England summer and fall are great for apples and road side fruit. Blueberries, blackberries etc. I have also fished for dinner. Collect crab or mussels at low tide? Nature can provide a bounty for eating if you just look around.

bikenh

Dumbness on my part. I should have though of crown as in royalty then I wouldn't have even said anything in that regards. I'm not sure what the conflict of interest is in Canada, separation of church and state, hence why I like using churches as much as possible during the weekdays here in the states. There isn't much the cops can do unless they have been contacted directly by the church or you can nail them with separation of church and state.

Like I said the number of places you can stay for free are so incredible, practically anywhere in the world, paying to camp out is quite frankly the biggest waste of money you could ever have.

Remember one thing and it will change your focus on how you camp. How long do you want to wait in the morning or spend in the afternoon letting things dry out due to dew...or rain for that matter. I always camp on pavement/concrete as it doesn't collect the dew like grass does. I have very comfortable nights of sleep and I don't spend any time during the day letting things dry out and I'm typically out of camp at sunrise. At the same time I can camp out under a church overhang and stay completely dry when it rains overnight. If I know rain is in the forecast for the night I'll do, either or, depending on what I see might be available ahead of me...I may shorten the day or lengthen the day to find someplace with an overhang/pavillon/baseball dugout, etc anything that will give me full cover overnight so I stay high and dry. Granted right now the tent I was using this summer needs the seams resealed as the tent leaks. If the tent never gets wet then I don't have to worry about whether it leaks or not and I don't have to pack away anything wet or let it dry out the next morning. There isn't that much of a difference between pine needles and cement in comfort levels for sleeping...I've been on both. I'll take the high and dry cement.

andrewclaus

My last 4500 mile tour cost across the US cost me $25/day, and I splurged at least weekly on a motel room and nice meals. Food alone was about half that cost. I'd have a hard time going less, but I'm a middle-aged retired guy with a credit card and didn't really have any budget constraints. I'm just frugal by nature.

I rode a while with a guy who'd been living on his bike for years, riding about 7000 miles per year, for an average yearly cost of about $5000, well under $10/day. And he was happy, well fed, healthy, and had good gear. He engaged in a bit of "freganism," and even ate fresh road kill once or twice if all his stories were credible and I think they were. He was not a freeloader, and used warmshowers.org very sparingly from what I could see. He'd rather stealth camp than be in someone else's house.

I once went on a 5-day, 400 mile loop from my house for a total cost of a $5 deli sandwich during a rainstorm one day. I packed food from home, and scored a couple of extra meals from car campers.

Depending on your trip length and difficulty and traveling style, I think $15/day is not impossible. It's definitely at the far low end and I wouldn't do it long-term, but some can.

hilltowner

Switch to a hammock you can't get much higher or drier than that.

MassiveD

https://www.ontario.ca/environment-a...ing-crown-land


Apparently Europe on 5 dollars a day is now closer to 5 dollars an hour, at least if you take the path through cities therein described.

Travelling in Ontario is not cheap. Prices are high here compared to the US. The bike shop as an example pays probably about 1/3rd more for everything, and there aren't any cheap 24 hour supply stores, Harbour Freights, MSCs, or Encos to deal with for random stuff like hand cleaner or basic shop supplies. I buy just about everything from the US. This is necessary both to get prices, but most importantly to have access to products at all. For instance I can't find quality epoxy around here for less than about 120 a gallon while I can get it from the US for about 60.

Stealth camping is largely illegal in southern ontario, not that that means much. Landowner rights changed about 20 years ago, but that doesn't mean all landowners are concerned about stuff they don't know is happening on their land, and presents no threat and causes no damage. Comaparatively you should hear them on hunting. During the hunting season a lot of hunters just help themselves to the land, and in some areas it would take full time security to keep them at bay. I'm pro hunting and guns, but having uninvited newbies discharging firearms on your property and tramping around is no joke.

I'm sure someone is turning a profit daily while bike touring, but sometimes the best deal is one that you pay for as it frees you up to do what you want rather than spending most of your time scheming. It also pays to go with the flow. Ontario rivers are full of routes one can travel by canoe, largely without impediment, and largely for free. Sometimes the bike isn't the best option.

Rowan

BINGO! We have a winner!

It boils down to budget and tailoring your objectives for a tour to what makes it comfortable and enjoyable within that budget.

andrewclaus

You mean, you don't enjoy dumpster-diving and scraping road kill into a pot, or camping inside a HomeDepot tool shed and getting up at zero-dark-thirty to evade notice? (We must be getting old.)

bikenh

You have one small problem, rain. When it rains and I'm under a nice overhang I pack everything up in the morning nice and dry. I don't have to wait around and let things dry out or waste time during the day to let things dry out. I do sleep in a hammock 7 days a week at home. It's the best nights sleep you could ever find. it just has too many limitations when it comes to travelling on the bike, especially if you are west of the Mississippi River. Here in the east it isn't bad. I actually used it on a winter hikes many years ago and stayed nice and warm and didn't have an underquilt.

bikenh

That or the US dollar is still excepted by everybody. When your money becomes worthless you'll learn to appreciate the simpler way of life...you'll have no other choice.

Walter S

+1. Don't need a flat surface. Wet is no problem with a rain fly. No need to clear a site. Sleep like a baby.

Walter S

I have a big rain fly that's the first thing up at my camp. It ends up covering my hammock, bicycle and gear, cooking and sitting area. Then with the fly up, the rest of it gets unpacked in the dry. I've setup camp in a full on downpour and kept everything pretty dry.

Rowan

Yeah... I think those days are behind me.

Despite one poster's attempts to set himself apart through his austere outlook, I think the old hands here have done all the things he's done, either on a bike or hiking.

We've just moved on to a bit higher plane -- financially and comfort-wise.

boomhauer

You have just clipped the last little bit of idealistic thread of self perception that I've been clinging to desperately.
I can now admit to myself that I spend $12 per night camping just to be in proximity of a beer source and a shower.
The modern world is not so bad. I'm not 22 anymore.

Cyclebum

With discipline, one can tour for the cost of 4000 cals/day. A jar of peanut butter and a couple of Snicker bars. Throw in a bottle of V-8 for balance. What's that? $8? Look bummed out enough and ppl will donate. Look spiffy enough, and they'll invite you home.

More than once, I've parked my tent just outside a state/federal park and paid the small day use fee for use of facilities. Free camping anywhere is mostly a matter of making the decision to do so. Behind rural churches is good.

Been there and done all the above. Challenge met. Now, $50/day is more my preference.

indyfabz

What will you do without your beloved McDonald's?

indyfabz

+2. Personally, I have no problem staying somewhere like a city park where I know camping is allowed. But that last thing I want to do at the end of the day (especially a long, hard day) is to have to search for and/or ask around about places to camp, water and rest room access. If it costs money to avoid that, I am happy to pay, whether that means a private campground or somewhere like a state park, BLM or U.S.F.S. campground.

mdilthey

Fixed!

Don't be passive-aggressive. The OP asked if it's possible, so I answered with a definitive yes. If you can't tour without a hotel room anymore, that's your perogative. It's possible to have a great tour without it, and not everyone has money to blow.

Lone

i've done all-McDonalds, but then i discovered the cheap boxes of breakfast bars, that are also light-weight.
you sound like you haven't thought about calories yet. mcdonalds pancake breakfast combo has 1000 calories, so its a great deal in the morning.
you could also try nuts. i recently read about how you can eat a ketogenic diet Ketogenic diet - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia , and nuts have have something to do with that.

indyfabz

Who is "you?"

My McDonald's comment was directed towards someone who talks about living "the simpler way of life" yet routinely patronizes a large, fast food chain which, the last time I checked, still requires you to pay for your meals with money, and takes advantage of their free wifi in the process so he can stay connected.

staehpj1

Some of us can afford it and still choose to go really frugal. I know I can afford to go more posh and and still go pretty cheaply on some tours at least.

Heck, even on tours where I do get rooms fairly often and eat more restaurant meals I still keep costs pretty low overall. I haven't kept track of costs on all my tours, but I know I have gone at least as cheap as $15 per day and probably have never gone much above $30 as a trip average.

Rowan

I wasn't referring to you. But imposing yourself on a conversation is nothing new, is it?

If you also had read what I said, I have done what you and the other character do, and probably more of it, and enjoyed all of it. Most of us old hands have. What you do is nothing new or revealing.

I can still do it if I choose. I simply don't choose to do so right now because my personal resources are greater.

MassiveD

There is often this tension suggested between going freeish or spending money, as though they are opposites. I think the dichotomy is wrong. Being able to survive on nothing, or knowing how to make and spend money are skilled states. Being unable to make money, or know how best to spend it, or live for free, are unskilled states.

Staying in the best accommodations is a great pleasure. Sometimes they are hotels sometimes they are camp sites.