[pct-l] Slowest PCT Thru Hike -- sorry

[Jeffrey Olson]

Hey Nathan:

Your questions are what this listserv is all about.  Just ignore the 
tempestuous posts and borderline trolling.  For some reason negativity 
raises its head for a month, and then the negativity recedes and people 
get back on board and ask good questions. There is lots of wisdom here 
on the pct-listserv.  Ask your questions and ignore the cocka-doodle-doo 
or fragile-ego stuff...

I'm now 60.  I've walked numerous section hikes - up to 500 miles - over 
the last 35 years.  What I've found, which is different from someone who 
started and finished and has NO experience of starting the trail 
multiple times, is that depending on age and being-in-shapeness it takes 
two to six weeks to get to a point where 20 miles per day is done by 
3PM, and you wonder what to do now...

You have to trust that if you're on the trail this long you will work 
yourself into shape.

My last section hike was in 2005, when I was "only" 53.  I started out 
at Manning and headed south.  I started out doing about 8 miles a day 
for the first week, then up to 10 to 12 for the second and third, about 
15 for the fourth, and in the fifth, found myself able to hike the 20 
miles by 3PM.  I had enough money to spend two nights a week in a motel 
or condo.  I needed the down time to recover.  I started that trip 
totally out of shape.

If you spend the time, your slow walker knowledge will expand and if 
you're like me, you won't know quite how to deal with it.  It's a heady 
rush to reach the first 20, and then know you can do 25, but maybe not 
today.

Jeffrey Olson
Rapid City, SD


On 9/23/2012 8:20 PM, Nathan Dreon wrote:
> I didn't mean to offend anyone, denigrate anyone's accomplishments or question their worth as a human being.
>
> I've been reading the trail journals of past and current thru hikers and I find them fascinating.  They have left me wondering if I could do the PCT.  However, all of the journals I found on my own were written by folks who did the trial in less than 6 months.  I am not a great athlete so 25 miles of walking, with a pack, in a day, sounds rather intimidating.  However if I could start early and end late then perhaps I could walk fewer miles each day and be able to finish the trail.  So I am wondering what other slow walkers have done, one can learn a lot from people who have tested the limits, regardless of how it turned out for them.  I thought that the person who did it the slowest might have many helpful things to tell me.  If I know what is possible then I have a better idea of what I might be able to do.  So I asked.  Some responses have been funny, some have been helpful and some inspiring.  I know a bit more about the trail and its challenges and
>   how I might overcome them.  Funnybone's journal has been particularly informative, he is a strong athlete and found mid-March to be too early a start for a complete thru hike, that is useful to know.  I look forward to reading about how his late season hiking went.
>
> I also found this site:  www.mountaineducation.org, I probably wouldn't have noticed it had I not asked.  That looks like useful stuff for any thru hiker and especially for someone who might start early or end late.
>
> I'm sorry that I upset you, I was just looking for information.
>
> Nathan
>
>
> "I don't pay too much attention to the PCT-L postings but sometimes one of you takes my breath away.
>
> I've yet to do a thru-hike. But really who cares how short or long it takes? The length alone can't possibly indicate the worth of the human being accomplishing the deed. And it is an accomplishment in my mind."
> --Ann Marie
>
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