[pct-l] hiking speed

[Ken Powers]

Sly, you can have the whiteouts. My memories of Washington in Sept are the incredible color. If I had finished in August I would have missed it. 

Ken
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Slyatpct at aol.com 
  To: pct-l at backcountry.net 
  Sent: Thursday, December 06, 2007 8:06 AM
  Subject: Re: [pct-l] hiking speed


  That's all nice and good but I never mentioned hiking slower.  I only pointed out if you hike faster, you're home quicker.  It's a simple concept and has nothing to do with crowds, taking zeros, bad weather or whethe you finish or not in a single year.

  Washington wasn't all that bad, even in foul weather.  Sure tthe rain got tiresome but I think my best days were in white outs and snow storms.

  Also, finishing before the bad weather or finishing in single year doesn't matter to me.  I'll just come back another day.  To me, and I assume you, it's all in the journey, not the destination.

  Sly


  In a message dated 12/6/2007 10:12:10 AM Eastern Standard Time, jeff.singewald at comcast.net writes:
    Like Sly says, hike slower on your PCT thru-hike and you will have a better chance to join the crowds that didn't have a chance to complete their thru-hike this year because they pushed the weather envelope to far before the bad weather hit the Cascades.  Additionally, if you hike "slower" you can spend more time hiking in the social packs that are quite common along the trail now days.  And lastly, if you hike "slower" you will likely have more zero days than some of the folks that finish in early September.

    In the years prior to my 2006 thru-hike I had been an avid reader of trail journals and one of the things I noticed is that many of the stories from Washington were of folks hiking for days on end through rain and foul weather.  Through this type of weather there is very little chance of seeing the incredible beauty of this section of trail.

    Sly, for some of us, it is not about how many days we spend on the trail, but the quality of the experience we have in the time we do spend on the trail.  How quality is defined is an individual measurement and we should not judge how others choose to hike and be so bold to suggest that our experience is better than someone elses experience because we chose to hike it differently.






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