Thanks for the comments. I wouldn't say I'm too worried, I expect it to be relatively expensive. Heck, it's probably cheaper than the boating hobby I do now. I'd say in the neighborhood of $10,000 to get a license is reasonable, but I don't know about attainable.
However, I'm thinking cost post-license. Is it reasonable to spend weekends doing what I suggested, or for the cost of a plane rental, could you fly commercial?
You can definitely save money flying commercial.
The closest and cheapest way to fly like a bird is with paragliding. A brand new unpowered paraglider aircraft of your own with all the equipment costs about $4,000. Still the risk of injury is high, about 10 times the risk of motorcycle riding. What isn’t commonly known is that flying small airplanes has a similar fatality rate as motorcycle riding from the perspective of hours spent in travel. From the perspective of miles traveled GA is much safer, but from hours spent flying the fatality rate is about the same. If you’re at all accident prone or a don’t like to follow all the rules, it’s not the best hobby choice.
If you own the plane and go Sports Pilot, cut that cost down to about $1,500.00 at the most. That includes the check ride.