[pct-l] Starting Slow

[jason moores]

> 1)April 25th Campo
>    June 15th Kennedy Meadows
> 
> 13.5 miles per day average

Joan,

I'm all for you hiking as many miles per day as you want. When I was planning my 2009 hike I had hoped to keep the mileage to 15 per day for the first 2-300miles. My hiking partner and I knew that we were not in good enough shape to handle 20 mile days back to back. Once on the trail these plans fell apart quickly. We found it easier to do more miles than to deal with the consequence of hiking slower. Here are a few of the reasons why you may find 13.5mpd difficult to stick to.

Weight- there are a couple 100 mile stretches without easy resupply, and within these areas a few 30 mile waterless stretches. This could mean 6 days of food and 3+ gal. of water. You'll also need to carry a more substantial pack to accommodate this load, adding 2-3lbs. That's about 40lbs on top of your base weight.

Time- even if you sleep in, hike slowly and take multiple brakes you'll still be in camp by say 3:00pm. This leaves about 5-6 hours a day of down time before sunset. This is a lot of time to be sitting around in the hot sand, waiting to walk more miles. This is a backpacking pace not a thru-hike one. You'll end up carrying books and such to fill the time. Add a few more pounds.

I think that it is reasonable to plan on hiking less than 20 miles a day for the first few weeks on the trail. But, once on the trail it is more important to be flexible than to stick to any plan. We found that by carrying less food and water the miles came much easier. We didn't need to be in incredible shape to do 20 miles. We got up at 5:00am and traveled until 7 or 8pm most days. We made 20 miles without even trying. We took breaks every hour, at least two long hour plus breaks a day and tried hard not to push it. Within two weeks we considered a twenty mile day a lite one.

This year we are training much harder than we did last year and hope to be in good enough shape to do twenty plus a day when we reach the border. Once on the trail we'll listen to our bodies. If twenty a day is hurting us and therefore our whole trip; we'll slow down a bit, eat better, drink more water and take more zeros. By traveling lite and planning a moderate hiking pace the miles add up. Hiking only 13.5mpd all of the way to KM just seems harder than doing twenty once your body is ready for it, and your body will be ready for it way before KM.

Jason M. Moores




> Date: Thu, 4 Feb 2010 21:00:48 -0500
> From: joan.henriksen at gmail.com
> To: pct-l at backcountry.net
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] Starting Slow
> 
> Paul in response to your post, I am not advocating against pre-hike
> conditioning.  I think you are right to encourage everyone to get off their
> butts.   I am active now and I going to backpack for a few weeks on the AT
> in March as a shakedown. However, I don't think that starting slow puts one
> in danger of a late finish.  My plan is to divide my hike into 3 stages and
> have seperate mileage goals for each.  Hopefully my math is right so I don't
> look silly :)
> 
> 1)April 25th Campo
>    June 15th Kennedy Meadows
> 
> 13.5 miles per day average
> 
> 2)June15th Kennedy Meadows
>    July 19th Belden
> 
> 17 miles per day average
> 
> 3)July 19th Belden
>    September 20th  Manning Park
> 
> 22 miles per day average
> 
> This does not factor in zero days. But I think that it is actually a
> conservative estimation. I really don't like zeros and generally employed
> neros on the AT to save money.  After Ned's snow clinic I may decide that I
> can hit the Sierras earlier and bump up my mileage in the beginning.  That
> would shave some days off the schedule.  I can do 20s on the AT so I am
> planning on 25s in Oregon and Washington.  So I should gain a few days there
> as well   Then if I take in take into account some unknown crisis like a
> week long case of giardia that still leaves me around September 20th.
> 
> Whoah this is quite the post  Thanks for bearing with me!
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