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  1. #41
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    I did try the PCT (1000 miles of it) but found it less appealing than the AT. And I have done the Key West to FT road walk which I found so distasteful. The Florida Trail may get finished this winter before I go to the AT again. For me, the biggest advantage of the AT is that I know so many people along the way, it is nice to renew past friendships. I do not think 'going slow' is best for everyone at all, just for me this time. HYOH

  2. #42
    Getting out as much as I can..which is never enough. :) Mags's Avatar
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    My three rules for the outdoors:

    1) Be safe
    2) Have fun
    3) Make sure your fun does not impede on someone else's fun

    Everything else is just details.

    There is no such thing as the "best" way to hike.
    Paul "Mags" Magnanti
    http://pmags.com
    Twitter: @pmagsco
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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

  3. #43
    Super Moderator Marta's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mags View Post
    There is no such thing as the "best" way to hike.
    I'm crushed that you would say this. Over the weekend I was telling my friends they need to order copies of "Hike My Hike Dammit" so they could learn how to hike according to the rules.
    If not NOW, then WHEN?

    ME>GA 2006
    http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?trailname=3277

    Instagram hiking photos: five.leafed.clover

  4. #44

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    Quote Originally Posted by Marta View Post
    I'm crushed that you would say this. Over the weekend I was telling my friends they need to order copies of "Hike My Hike Dammit" so they could learn how to hike according to the rules.
    This is Gumby's second book, much better than his first one.

  5. #45
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    Nuts, now we have to read books AND hike it? This is getting way too complex for me.

  6. #46

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bare Bear View Post
    I did try the PCT (1000 miles of it) but found it less appealing than the AT. And I have done the Key West to FT road walk which I found so distasteful. The Florida Trail may get finished this winter before I go to the AT again. For me, the biggest advantage of the AT is that I know so many people along the way, it is nice to renew past friendships. I do not think 'going slow' is best for everyone at all, just for me this time. HYOH
    SO, SO TRUE!
    I also did 1000 miles of PCT...my first time out west and although the Sierras blew me away, I didn't care for the trail that much. I do want to go back out west and see what I missed but I'll probably do it from the seat of my motorcycle. Thru hiked the AT twice and can't wait to do it again.
    I used to hike fast and take alot of zero days and that was the best system for me. Now I'm a little old fat man and hike slow and take alot of zeros. The key for me isn't longer days or miles...its MORE DAYS!
    BTW, I always thought that I got to see everything even though I hiked fast because I was not against stopping for awhile everytime that I saw a beautiful place but I found that I was wrong...you miss the little things along the way also. I could not believe how many more snakes that I saw once I slowed down! but you also notice things like those pretty little yellow flowers now have other really cool colors thrown in. Definitely HYOH...what ever trail, speed, distance or direction that you want but make sure you are smiling out there because if not...you may as well go home.

    geek

  7. #47
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    I've met a couple folks that hike slower than my 2 mph.
    They are few and far between. On the other hand I get to meet a whole lot of folks as they pass me everyday! And since I still go 15 miles per day I'll still see most of em at the camp that night anyway. I start earlier than most and just go until I get there. For me I am sure it will be more comfortable to just keep the mileage down. when I did more than 15 it started hurrting more, and by 17 miles I was wishing I could stop. This time I will stop after 15 or less if it feels like it. Maybe I am listening to my body better now. GEEK, come out and meet me in Pa........I'll be the guy complaining about the rocks, again.

  8. #48
    Registered User bach2112's Avatar
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    Slow is good. I say this and I'm going to be a fast thru hiker. I wish I could just slow down and enjoy it to it's fullest extent, but I will still enjoy it all the more. But I agree with you 100%.

  9. #49
    1000+ miles down, 1000+ miles to go
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    Default Slow is good, but......

    ....you might want to rethink stopping to smell the roses.

    http://www.chron.com/apps/comics/sho...n_Sequitur_pan

    (See Sept. 19th)
    "When a man sits with a pretty girl for an hour, it seems like a minute.
    But let him sit on a hot stove for a minute--and it's longer than any hour.
    That's relativity." --Albert Einstein--

  10. #50
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    Dont forget to add in zero days, towns are fun! Slow and steady, enjoy your hike !

  11. #51
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    Zero days and motels are what cost me so much last time
    Of course it was 100F for about two weeks so we were all desparate to get any relief we could at night.

  12. #52
    Registered User SunnyWalker's Avatar
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    I have done both: "fast" and "slow". I have always regreted hiking "fast". I have arrived at the place where I am going take time to smell the roses. However, there may be days when I go fast (hee, hee). Like make it to a food drop or something. But honestly, just go and have fun. And the concept about "fastness" is really a mirage. 15 vs 25 or 30 when you have 2000+ miles to go and you are walking?!?!?!? It's ALL slow.
    "Something hidden. Go and find it. Go, and look behind the Ranges. Something lost behind the Ranges. Lost and waiting for you . . . Go!" (Rudyard Kipling)
    From SunnyWalker, SOBO CDT hiker starting June 2014.
    Please visit: SunnyWalker.Net

  13. #53
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    I only wish I had the time to do it at any speed. If I had even 30 days though, I would go at my own pace, whatever that was, and just stop when the time was up. Everyones legs should be just long enough to reach the ground, and everyone pace should be just long enough to get them to where-ever they end up, and no further in my opinion.

  14. #54
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    After two long weekends of hiking this summer I am more convinced than ever to slow down and enjoy it more. The few days we did 11 mile days around Clingmans (Sugarland Trail) were a little more than out-of-shape Bear wanted to do. It was easy for me to realize that 8 mile days would have been better but bear activity had closed too many camps so we had to go further than desired.

  15. #55
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    Quote Originally Posted by wrongway_08 View Post
    Dont forget to add in zero days, towns are fun! Slow and steady, enjoy your hike !
    Yup. I zeroed in every town except maybe 4 or 5 up to the MD/PA border. Then I pushed through PA with one zero and went back to zeroing in every town again. Plus I took about 10-20 zeroes in the woods, and about 30 neros. 7 months and 1 day to thru hike, yet I average 3-5 miles an hour when I actually do hike. I love being lazy out there, and will try to be lazier on my thru next year.

  16. #56
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    ah nest, you have caught the bug as well...the second time around comes at you from a different direction...this year, just cause i knew how cool it was gonna be, stayed in roan (which i didn't do last year) and then did the 10 to big hump and cowboyed up there (definitely didn't do that last year)...it was awesome...

    anyway, there's a time to move and a time to relax...a good thru hike has both in moderation...unless you want to "live the dream" (which i highly recommend)...then you're talkin' about something a little different...

  17. #57
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    Quote Originally Posted by Serial 07 View Post
    ah nest, you have caught the bug as well...the second time around comes at you from a different direction...this year, just cause i knew how cool it was gonna be, stayed in roan (which i didn't do last year) and then did the 10 to big hump and cowboyed up there (definitely didn't do that last year)...it was awesome...

    anyway, there's a time to move and a time to relax...a good thru hike has both in moderation...unless you want to "live the dream" (which i highly recommend)...then you're talkin' about something a little different...
    I don't know if it's possible to slack off anymore than I did this year, but I will try. Now I know where to go and what to do. Little things like if two towns are just a day apart carry a really good meal and eat like a king that night.

    Another nice thing to do on the trail is take side trips. You walk near all kinds of great places, so why not check them out. I went to Asheville, Wachington DC, Montreal Canada, Burlington VT, and dozens of random little towns. Hitch hiked over 4000 miles this year on side trips. Didn't get to go to NYC this year, so that's on the list for next year.

  18. #58
    Section Hiker - 339.8 miles - I'm gettin' there! papa john's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by max patch View Post
    So lets recap.

    The OP sets up camp at 5:00 and then then chitchats with other hikers and sits on his a$$ the rest of the evening.

    I don't stop at 5:00 but instead hike til dusk -- lets say 8:00ish although its later in June -- and then set up camp.

    I really don't care what the OP does, but I don't understand why he thinks his way is "better." To each his own.

    Quite frankly, if I stopped at 5:00 I wouldn't know what to do with myself.
    Better for him, not necessarily for everyone.

  19. #59
    Garlic
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    I think we tend to see the extremes. The hikers who like the longer days see the folks huddled in the corner of a dark, infested shelter for 16 hours and wonder why. The hikers enjoying a comfortable camp see the folks rushing by with no time to talk and wonder why. There are perfectly sane moderates, like those who will steadily walk 2 mph for 14 hours a day with few zeros and finish the AT in 100 days, then go on to hike more fine trails that year (Pickle, age 63, has over 3000 miles this year, and counting, planning another AZT section next month). And there are those who make the most of a seven- or eight-month hiking season on the AT and really enjoy every day on one trail.

    What's the problem with either way? Why is slow better?
    "Throw a loaf of bread and a pound of tea in an old sack and jump over the back fence." John Muir on expedition planning

  20. #60
    Super Moderator Marta's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by garlic08 View Post
    I think we tend to see the extremes. The hikers who like the longer days see the folks huddled in the corner of a dark, infested shelter for 16 hours and wonder why. The hikers enjoying a comfortable camp see the folks rushing by with no time to talk and wonder why. There are perfectly sane moderates, like those who will steadily walk 2 mph for 14 hours a day with few zeros and finish the AT in 100 days, then go on to hike more fine trails that year (Pickle, age 63, has over 3000 miles this year, and counting, planning another AZT section next month). And there are those who make the most of a seven- or eight-month hiking season on the AT and really enjoy every day on one trail.

    What's the problem with either way? Why is slow better?
    Very true. Even funnier...both extremes can be done by the same person.

    Good ole Stumpknocker has done a 3-month hike, and he's spent most of a year doing a hike.

    Both extremes can be done by the same person on the same hike! My shortest hiking day in '06 was .3 miles; my longest day was 30.4 miles.

    As they are saying on the blue-blazing thread...just hike so you won't have any regrets afterwards.
    If not NOW, then WHEN?

    ME>GA 2006
    http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?trailname=3277

    Instagram hiking photos: five.leafed.clover

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