Point-to-point hiking: budget your return from the finish

The finish is a departure point

The track spills you out at The Divide, and the car is 325 km away by road. ¹ The mountains behind you took two days on foot. The road around them is a different country: down one valley, along the lakes, up the next. New Zealand's Department of Conservation prints the distance on its own track page, with the plain consequence beside it, that transport is needed at each end. ¹

A linear route sells itself on that crossing. It also hands you a bill that loop walkers skip: the journey home from the finish, priced as its own trip, on a day when everyone is tired and the last bus has a time on it.

Start with the movements, in order.

• 1. Bed to the first trailhead.
• 2. The walk.
• 3. The last trailhead to the next bed.
• 4. The ride back to wherever you left the car.

Give each one a date, a place name and an operator. How to budget for a hiking trip covers the rest of the trip. This page prices the two ends.

How far apart are the two ends by road?

The walk is 33 km. The drive between the two ends is 325 km, and that is the distance you have to pay somebody to cover.

The Routeburn runs 33 km, walked over two or three days. ² The drive between its ends runs 325 km. ¹ The nearest towns sit on opposite sides of the range: Routeburn Shelter is 25 km from Glenorchy along a partly unsealed road, The Divide 85 km from Te Anau. ¹

So price the road, then get a quote for that exact pair of points. Te Anau Transfers publishes one: from NZD 795 for a private transfer straight between The Divide and Routeburn Shelter, either direction. ³ Tracknet sells the same problem as a pair of seats, NZD 169 per adult and NZD 107 per child, out to one trailhead and back from the other by way of Te Anau or Queenstown. ²

The same shape repeats wherever a trail crosses a range. A base town with several trailheads changes the arithmetic, because every transfer starts from the same door. Tbilisi as a mountain base prices that version.

What does a shuttle package actually include?

A package is several services wearing one price. Tracknet's standard Routeburn packages run NZD 169 an adult. Add a Milford Sound cruise leg and the same trail name costs NZD 395. ² One track, more than double the fare, because the second product is a sightseeing day with a trailhead attached.

Write the legs out under the package price and name who runs each one. West Coast Trail Express contracts its Nanaimo to Lake Cowichan leg to another shuttle company, runs it on set days and wants 48 hours' notice. ⁵ West Coast Trail Express also says a local group in Nitinaht Village meets its bus at Nitinaht Junction and charges CAD 20 cash a person for the 6 km in and out of the village. ⁵

• The legs. Ngāi Tahu Tourism's Hollyford Wilderness Experience prices coach transport from Queenstown or Te Anau, jet boat, helicopter and guiding inside one three-day figure, from NZD 4,395 a person off-peak and NZD 5,195 at peak. ⁷
• The gaps. Wilderness Scotland's self-guided West Highland Way package books the beds, moves one bag a person and supplies route notes, from GBP 1,495, about USD 2,022 at the Federal Reserve's 11 September 2026 rate. Lunches, dinners and the Glasgow to Milngavie train that starts the walk sit outside it, the train about GBP 5 on the day. ^{8, 9}
• The currency. Macs Adventure prices the same trail to US buyers in dollars, from USD 1,210 for its shortest itinerary to USD 2,425 for its gentlest 11-day version. ¹⁰
• The tax. Tracknet's fares include GST and National Park concessions. West Coast Trail Express fares exclude GST and carry a 5% fuel surcharge for 2026, both added at booking. ^{11, 12}

Both ends of the West Highland Way sit outside that package, and the finish is the expensive one. The train home from Fort William to Glasgow Queen Street starts at USD 30.92 one way booked in advance, an advance adult single before the booking fee, priced by Trainline in US dollars. Six trains a day run it in 3 hours 43 minutes to 3 hours 56 minutes, with tickets on sale around 12 weeks ahead. ¹³

Park entry can sit outside the package too. National park passes works through whether an annual pass beats paying per visit.

Is the park shuttle the shuttle you need?

Zion runs two kinds of bus, and one of them goes nowhere near a wilderness trailhead.

The Zion Canyon and Springdale shuttles are free, and they board with no ticket, permit or reservation. ¹⁴ They serve the scenic drive. The trailheads a through-hiker starts from are a commercial booking at a published price, and the National Park Service requires every taxi and shuttle working them to hold a current Commercial Use Authorization. ¹⁵

The Park Service also gives through-hikers a direct recommendation: ride a service to your starting point, then walk back to your car. ¹⁵ That puts the fixed appointment at the beginning of the day, where a slow afternoon costs you nothing.

Chamberlain's Ranch shows why the commercial seat exists. It is a private ranch outside the park, a 1.5-hour drive on paved and dirt roads, passable for a normal car when dry, impassable even in four-wheel drive when wet, and closed by snow in winter. ¹⁵

Does a bigger group make it cheaper?

A private vehicle splits. A shuttle seat holds its price. Te Anau Transfers' NZD 795 direct transfer divided across four walkers comes to NZD 198.75 a head. ³ Four Tracknet seats at NZD 169 come to NZD 676, and each seat carries both legs, so that total lands NZD 119 under the private transfer. ^{2, 3}

Only a party with its own vehicle gets to choose between these two. Leave the car in town and buy the seats, or drive it to a trailhead and buy the run back to it. A party that arrived by bus has just the first option, and a party whose car is already at a trailhead has just the second.

Tracknet starts and finishes in town, so it suits a party arriving by bus or leaving a car at a hotel. The transfer drives trailhead to trailhead in one run, which is what a party with a car at a trailhead needs. At Zion the question closes early: four seats cost USD 220, and the fifth walker adds another USD 55. ⁴

• Four walkers or fewer, with the car in town: take the seats. Four Tracknet seats come to NZD 676 against the transfer's NZD 795 from-price, and you leave no vehicle behind to collect. ^{2, 3}
• Five or more, or an hour the timetable ignores: get the private quote in writing, with the vehicle's passenger and pack capacity on it, then compare the two totals.
• A trailhead a normal car cannot reach: the commercial shuttle is the answer, at Zion USD 55 or USD 60 a person. ^{4, 16}

Nights change the arithmetic as much as heads do. Camping vs huts sets out how the sleeping choice moves the days between your two transfers.

The West Coast Trail, priced end to end

One trail that charges for both ends separately, with the fee stack under the transport written out.

Here is the whole problem in one booking. The West Coast Trail runs 75 km from Pachena Bay to Gordon River on Vancouver Island, in the traditional territories of the Huu-ay-aht, Ditidaht and Pacheedaht First Nations. ¹⁸ West Coast Trail Express charges CAD 120 from Victoria to Pachena Bay and CAD 60 from Gordon River back to Victoria: CAD 180 across two different journeys. ¹²

Underneath the transport sits a fee stack the permit price hides. Parks Canada charges CAD 184.75 for the Backcountry Use Permit, CAD 23.75 for the orientation, CAD 28.00 for each of the two ferry crossings and CAD 11.50 to reserve online, CAD 13.50 by phone. That comes to CAD 276.00 a person before any bus. ⁶

Parks Canada's regular fees applied again from 8 September 2026, after 7 September closed the Canada Strong Pass free period. ¹⁸ The two ferry crossings are a service provided by the Ditidaht and Pacheedaht First Nations. The Gordon River ferry runs seven crossings daily from 1 May to 7 October, 8:45 a.m. to a last run at 3:30 p.m.; the Nitinaht Narrows ferry works 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. as needed. ¹⁸

Hikers enter or leave at Pachena Bay, Balaats'adt at Nitinaht Village, or Gordon River, and nowhere else outside an evacuation. ¹⁸ Balaats'adt is the mid-point, which turns the 75 km into two shorter linear walks with their own transport. The water taxi between the village and the trail costs CAD 70 one way, cash preferred, one run a day. ¹⁷

Book the beds at each end while you book the transport. Nitinat Wilderness Charters rents cabins at the Narrows from CAD 160 a night, sleeping one to eight people, and tent-deck space from CAD 40. ¹⁷

At the northern trailhead, Pachena Bay Campground is part of the Huu-ay-aht Group of Businesses, owned by the Huu-ay-aht First Nations, a self-governing modern treaty Nation and one of five signatories to the Maa-nulth Final Agreement, the first modern-day treaty completed on Vancouver Island. The campground closes for winter after 15 November and takes email inquiries after that. ¹⁹

At the southern trailhead, West Coast Trail Express lists the Pacheedaht First Nations Campground at San Juan Beach, beside the West Coast Trail office and the Gordon River ferry. ⁵

What happens if you miss your pickup?

Every operator has already written the answer down, and the terms vary further than the fares do. Read the deadline before you read the price. A NZD 169 seat you forfeit is about USD 98. Miss the Parks Canada deadline and the CAD 184.75 permit goes with the CAD 23.75 orientation fee, about USD 150 between them. ^{2, 6, 9}

The Havasupai Tribe describes itself as a federally recognized Indian tribe with sovereign immunity. ²⁰ Native American visitors with a Tribal enrollment card or a Certificate of Indian Blood book and pay for the campground permit in full, show their own documentation at check-in, and the Tribe reimburses the permit to the original card, which can take several weeks. The reimbursement covers campground permits; lodge permits and pack mule bookings sit outside it. ²⁰

The Tribe sells a way out of the canyon as well. A same-day helicopter between Hualapai Hilltop and Supai Village costs USD 300 a person, paid by card or cash at the landing zone. ²⁰

Two official pages disagree, too. Parks Canada's Balaats'adt page puts the water taxi's return from the trail at 4:30 p.m. Nitinat Wilderness Charters puts it at 5:30 p.m. ^{18, 17} An hour decides whether the day works, so call the operator and plan on the earlier time until they say otherwise.

Permits carry their own exposure. A date-locked permit you forfeit costs more than the seat you missed, and trekking permits sets out how to check fees and reservation rules before you commit.

Book in the order the scarce thing decides

One link in the chain has the fewest seats. Start there. On the West Coast Trail it is the permit: Parks Canada opened the 2026 season at 8 a.m. Pacific on 5 February 2026 and takes bookings up to 2 days before departure. ¹⁸ The bus runs every day from 1 May to 30 September, so the trail date leads and the bus follows. ²¹

1. 01

   Fix the dates the land manager controls

   The West Coast Trail takes overnight hikers from 1 May to 30 September, maximum group 10, and closes 7 October to 30 April for heavy rain, wind, high tides and short days. ¹⁸ The first week of October falls between those two published dates, while the ferries run to 7 October, so ask the park what a start after 30 September means. ¹⁸ The Routeburn's Great Walks season runs 1 November 2026 to 30 April 2027, bookings required. ¹

2. 02

   Check the transport season against those dates

   Check the bus timetable against the hut season; each keeps its own dates. Zion's canyon shuttle runs daily March through November and pauses for most of December. ¹⁴ Outside the Great Walks season, DOC warns that Routeburn operators require minimum numbers and skip days, and asks walkers to agree an alternative with the operator before setting out. ¹

3. 03

   Get the finish leg in writing before you pay for the start

   Name the exact trailhead, the date, the party size, the number of packs, the meeting point and the local departure time. Add the cancellation deadline and the phone number that changes a booking. Keep the sheet usable by somebody else in the party.

4. 04

   Then book the beds and the bag

   DOC charges NZD 88 a night for a Routeburn hut for a New Zealand resident and NZD 132 for an international visitor in summer, NZD 30 flat in winter and NZD 35 in the May and June shoulder. ²² Hut-to-hut hiking costs prices the nights that sit between your two transfers.

A loop or an out-and-back removes the problem and changes the walk. Weigh what you give up against what the transfer costs, because the crossing is often the reason for the trip. And look at what carries you off the hill: some routes finish at a lift or a boat that keeps a last departure of its own.