[pct-l] Break Strategies

[Ned Tibbits]

Wow! Excellent advice, Diane!

For both my PCT and CDT hikes, I planned low-mileage days so that I could do 
other things during the day like fishing, exploring, tree-climbing, 
photographic wanderings, mid-day naps, and so forth, but like Diane said, 
once the body was tuned up, strong, and running well, you just keep going. 
Swinging the feet is simple, rhythmical, and healing. Bugs and cold keep you 
going, too.

I, also, structured in a zero per week, just in case I needed to catch up or 
got caught in a storm and had to stay in the tent all day. In 1974 I didn't 
see another hiker on the trail, so the social detours into towns so common 
today didn't tempt me to add breaks to where I might have fallen behind 
schedule.

If Mountain Education, these days, is running a real mellow trip like 8 or 
10 miles per day on and off snow, we'll have many stops for food and play 
(no bugs, bears, or dirt to worry about) because that's why we're out there, 
to take it all in!

Your "strategy" regarding if and when to take breaks during your daily or 
weekly thru hike should be based, I would think, on what you want to 
accomplish while you're out there. Only you can know that one!



Ned Tibbits, Director
Mountain Education
www.mountaineducation.org
-----Original Message----- 
From: Diane Soini
Sent: Thursday, November 21, 2013 5:57 PM
To: pct-l at backcountry.net
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Break Strategies

The best break strategy is the one that works for you.

I rarely took a break. I don't know why I felt so driven, but at
first in So Cal with so many others on the trail, I hated having
people get away from me. I wanted to know where everybody I knew was
so as long as I didn't take breaks, I knew everybody was behind me
and then I was in control of seeing them again. Just wait for them to
catch up in town. I know that's weird.

Later on, I didn't take breaks because I felt great and couldn't get
enough. What's around the next corner? What's around that one? I'll
take a break when I get to the next water/next whatever.

Even later on, in Oregon, I wouldn't even stop for lunch because I
would be eaten alive by mosquitoes. So I started carrying portable
food. I can actually remember the times I stopped for lunch in Oregon
because they were so few.

In Washington at first it was cold and rainy and I was underdressed.
Stop and I would get dangerously cold. So I kept moving. Later I got
tired of the rain so I kept moving to chew up the miles to the next
warm bed. Later I was tired of hiking so I just kept moving. I wanted
to go home.

Nowadays when I go I want to take a lot of breaks. On a long hike you
get so used to being on trail and being as greedy eating up the miles
as you want that you forget how precious it is to be out there. Now I
want to take breaks and enjoy. Swim in a lake, perhaps, or pick
berries or wash my legs or just sit at the summit and enjoy the view.
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