[at-l] planning

[hudsom@us.ibm.com (Mark Hudson)]

Just some things that work for my own planning.
1 - It's a lot nicer to plan 2 ten mile days, then have a nice day where
you're feeling good, hit easy trail and nice weather all at the same time
and pull off the twenty. I've planned twentys, due to water or supply
situations, but they tend to be just mileage days. They're much more
enjoyable if they just "happen". This also gives you a whole 'nother days
worth of food to plow through <g>. It's amazing how many times I've gone
through 5 days worth of food in 4 days...
2 - If I've got to work with a schedule, I'd rather plan a "slack" one and
be ahead of it, than be running late.
I find some of my favorite register entries over in Conn, when the
mid-August thru-hikers leave entries like "Man, I spent too much time
partying in Virginia and Penn, and now I've got to catch up on my
schedule". Gee, and you only have Vt, NH, and Maine in front of you to help
you make up time <vbg>. Besides, I saved a lot of 10 mile days for Maine,
and really enjoyed them, even tho I still finished "ahead of schedule". To
me that beat racing through Maine trying to beat the snow.
3 - And the best part is.... that once I'm ahead of schedule... I burn
it... <g>

skeeter