I have always told people that I wanted to hike the Pacific Crest Trail up California, Oregon, and Washington, when I'm 75. (It was almost entirely routed by the USFS, who are *renowned* for turning any decent trail into an unpaved interstate highway... Grrrr.) Before I do that, there's the Continental Divide Trail -- a goodly portion of which does not even *have* a recognizable route. (It's more a "braid" -- a general idea -- a solid notion...) While all this is going on? Passivvvvvvvvvve income, baby. My expenses will be bad-for-me food, a multi-vitamin, and good socks. (Oh, and the occasional shower, heh.) Once a year, maybe: a good sleeping bag or three, to rotate through some post offices -- figure $1000. You get the idea.
If I can die on a mountainside? Have coyotes gnaw my bones? Fertilize next year's edelweiss? I could think of worse things....