[pct-l] Rest Periods During A Thru-Hike

[Hillary Schwirtlich]

For us:

SoCal breaks:
*When we were tired
*At 1 when it was just too hot to keep going until 4

Sierra breaks:
*When we were tired
*When we were like, "holy @$&!, we have to do that next?"
*At tops of passes
*At lakes

After Sierra schedule (this was our GROOVE):
*start 6-7 am
*walk til 10ish
*30 min break
*walk til lunch (between 12 and 1)
*1-1.5 hour lunch break, nap optional
*walk for at least 2 hours
*15 minute break
*walk at least 2 more hours
*15 minute break
*continue until 7-8 pm
*eat, sleep, hangout, repeat

Everybody has their own groove. Most people started earlier than us and
stopped for their morning break before us, which was nice because we would
run into people while they were breaking. Some people didn't take breaks at
all, even when eating, they just walked slow so they could keep going all
day. That worked for them, wouldn't work for me.

A couple of tips:
1. Good things happen at roads.
2. Take your shoes off at breaks. Don't be lazy. Take care of your feet.

On Tue, Jan 24, 2012 at 6:36 PM, Charles Williams <charlesnolie at yahoo.com>wrote:

> Yea, what he said...good answer.
>
> Charles Williams
>
> --- On Tue, 1/24/12, Eric Lee <saintgimp at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> From: Eric Lee <saintgimp at hotmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] Rest Periods During A Thru-Hike
> To: "'mark utzman'" <blackbelthiker at gmail.com>, pct-l at backcountry.net
> Date: Tuesday, January 24, 2012, 5:23 PM
>
>
> Mark wrote:
> >
> How often do you, on average, take breaks from walking? Every hour, every
> two hours, etc.  If I was to, lets say, walk for 2 hours, then take a 10 or
> 15 minute break, and do that every 2 hours, is that reasonable?
> >
>
> Different people prefer different strategies here.  I'm not sure it's
> possible to call out a "normal" way of doing it, but some people like the
> discipline of a set pattern (one hour on, 5 minutes off, or maybe two hours
> on, 20 minutes off, etc.) while other people hate that and want to be able
> to stop and enjoy any interesting location they happen to come across.  I
> guess the majority of folks fall somewhere in the middle.
>
> Be aware that as a newbie starting a long-distance hike, you'll want to
> take
> care of your body (especially your feet!) and that will probably require a
> slower pace and more frequent rest stops than you'd expect to have later in
> the hike.  If at all possible, arrange your schedule so that you don't have
> a lot of pressure to make miles for the first week or two so you can find
> your own personal groove.
>
> My own personal style is that when I'm actually walking I can average about
> 3.5 miles per hour (3 if I'm tired, 4 if I'm motivated) but over the course
> of a day, including rests, photo ops, etc., I average just a little over 2
> mph.  I don't stick to a rigid schedule during the day but pretty much all
> of my days work out that way in the end with a combination of my usual
> walking pace plus short stops to admire views, take pictures, get water,
> etc., plus long stops to eat meals, take naps, go swimming, or whatever.
>
> Eric
>
>
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