[BULK] - [pct-l] Pre-training

[pmags at yahoo.com (Paul Magnanti)]

--- Mike Saenz <msaenz@mve-architects.com> wrote:

> What kind of "mental" training could be recommended?
>

Ah! Mike hit the nail on the end. The PHYSICAL part of
training is easy. THe mental part? Quite difficult.

How do you prepare for:
 
> Long days of walking.
> A lot of solo time.
> Eating food you'll most likely get rather sick of
> after the first couple
> months.
> Accepting a different standard of personal
> hygiene...
> Cold, heat, wind, rain (and now snow for Scott!)
> 
> Could you train for this?

What I do STRONGLY suggest is doing a smaller trail in
preperation for a larger trail. When I was thinking of
doing the AT, did a hike of the Long Trail. Though I
was "only" out for three weeks, hiking end to end on
this Vermont classic let me have a taste of the
thru-hiking experience. What it is what like to
re-supply, pushing myself through cold and rainy
weaather. Dealing with being tired at the end of the
day, etc.  

For hiking the PCT, doing the John Muir Trail may not
be a bad way to go. As with my Long Trail hike in 1997
prior to my AT hike in 1998, doing the JMT prior to
the PCT will give a person a taste of what a thru-hike
is all about. It will let you be better prepared
mentally for the big enchilada. Hiking 2-3 days for a
weekend is nothing like hiking 2-3 weeks. As a
thru-hike is essentially a series of 5-7 day hikes
strung together, the JMT is a good prep hike for the
PCT.


> I suspect it's more of a character trait you're born
> with.
>

That is probably true. Thru-hikers tend to have a
strange mixture of stubborness and flexibility.
Stuborness is needed to want tohike 2700 miles.
Flexibility is needed to deal with what happens during
those 2700 miles.
 
Some evolutionary biologists posulate a "novelty
gene";  a trait people are literally born with to seek
out new adventures,explore and push the envelope. What
made our distant ancestors move out of Africa to
explore the less forgiving environments? Why did the
Polynedisans go to such distant places as Easter
Island, Hawaii, etc?

But that is another whole discussion. :D

http://rae.tnir.org/cryonics/breakthrough/2.html




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The true harvest of my life is intangible.... a little stardust caught, a portion of the rainbow I have clutched
--Thoreau
http://www.magnanti.com