How I Backpacked Across America for Three Months While Making Money from My Phone

I have long dreamed of spending months touring the most beautiful places in the country. Unfortunately things always got in the way. Things like jobs, family reunions, school, and more. That didn't stop me from planning, though. I spent hours looking at pictures of national parks, lakes, waterfalls, caves, and other natural beauties scattered across America. 

Photo: Dustin Landon

My favorite place? Utah. The state is teeming with everything an outdoorsman could possibly imagine. I started in southern Utah, coming up for Havasupai and working my way up through Lake Powell. I thought the lake, built into red rock, complete with cliff jumping, narrows hiking, and beautiful sunrises, was the perfect place. As I went more north I ran into Zion and Arches National Parks and developed an even greater appreciation for the state. 

As it turns out, the northern half of Utah is completely different. Beautiful tall pines, hiking through the Uinta and Wasatch mountains. Dozen of lakes, scattered across the hike made me never want to leave. I did a lot of this in April, which left lots of snow capped mountains to see, even letting me climb a glacier for awhile. 

Photo: Jacob Moon

I did all this while making money from my phone. After learning of recurring incomes and ways investors made money, I realized I could spend the rest of my life doing what I loved, while still making a reasonable income. Backpacking is pretty cheap once you have the equipment. I only need to make about $10 a day to survive the entire trip. Enough to pay for food, and the occasional hostel when I was in a city instead of the wild. 

I read books about technical analysis for months, while working to save enough money. After doing my research I found out that if I could make 2-3% a week trading stocks, with a $10,000 investment, I could backpack across the nation all I wanted, and never lose any of my original capital. It was a wonderful realization. 

So that is what I did. Some days I lost $10, but other days I made $20, and on average, I made enough to survive. I was able to go weeks and weeks traveling, without cutting into my meager savings ever. I traded straight from my smartphone on a TD Ameritrade app. It was incredible.

If I can do something like this, then just about anyone can. I didn't know what I was doing at the beginning, but I spent the time and worked it out. After my trip I started planning the next one. I firmly believe that everyone should spend at least a few months off in their adult life touring and enjoying the world.