[at-l] Speed Hiking

[sloetoe@yahoo.com (Sloetoe)]

--- Gary Buffington <gbuffmd@bigfoot.com> wrote:
> Before everyone gets all uptight about speed hiking, I say
> hike your own hike.  Sweet Pea and I hiked GA>ME, 2000, all
out as fast as we could go, and I suspect so did most all the
hikers we know.  It took us 6.75 months.
> Bear Bag

### And they were accompanied at the start and the finish by an
ebbulent David Horton. Why? Because of their long past
association with ultra-marathons (the special idiocy of races
over 26.2 miles). Because one *can* go faster, or *appreciates*
a faster hike -- it does not necessarily follow that enjoyment
of a slower pace is somehow stilted. (Elsewise, what parent
would ever hike with young children? You want fun? Woo!)

### And before anyone gets the wrong idea about hiking with
children being a "slow" project, a special memory from this past
summer's Long Trail hike was burning down the north side of
Glastonbury Mtn, me and the SmallBoys going as fast as we could
(just cuz!), when *behind* us appear Andy Whitney(?) "Whitney(?)
Express" -- he and a bud fastpacking the AT. The boys and I were
just doing a *surge* -- these guys whole HIKE was faster!!!
Well, as Whitney approaches ConnorBug the Pokey, Connor slips
and does a minor fall into the brush. Quick as a wink, Whitney
slows, lifts Connor by his elbow, looks Connor up and down, and
with the two of them satisfied that no bleeding wounds appeared,
announces "No worse for wear!" and marches off. The five of us,
barely breaking stride, stayed together for maybe a couple of
minutes more, and then they left us in the dirt, amazed at their
athleticism on such bouldery "technical" trail. A joy to watch
and follow, and especially so considering how fast we were going
before those two joined us. (And just BTW, the only other time
we really "cranked" like that was in climbing Camel's Hump --
where the boys trotted up laughing and smiling. Yowie. Not
something you do every day, but fun when you want it.)

### Here's something to consider: why is it that you never hear
someone who covers the ground faster criticising them as cover
the ground slower?

### Why is it that when I'm running trail, I *always* see hikers
before they see me? And animals galore!!! Flowers! Changes in
rock formations! Yummy! Etc.etc.etc.

### In the past 18 months, I have covered ground at the rate of
5 miles per day, 10 m.p.d., 15 miles per day, and 50 miles per
day. Which one was most like my 6 month throughhike? The 50
miles in 9 hours.

Okey-dokie,
Sloetoe

=====
Spatior, Nitor, Nitor, In Nitor!

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Great stuff seeking new owners in Yahoo! Auctions! 
http://auctions.yahoo.com