[at-l] OT -- "Survivor" / AT hiker's Bio

[rafeb@adelphia.net (rafeb@adelphia.net)]

On 15 Mar 2002 at 23:25, DTimm65344@aol.com wrote:


> I'm 44, and on tender quads I was passing college kids out there last week. I think it has to do 
> with whether or not one has done even limited training by putting on their pack weight and boots 
> and walked around a bit before hitting Springer (or Katahdin). Lots of nice, new shiny equipment 
> out there and a lot of puzzled looks trying to set up stoves, etc. Aw, to be young and ...... again.
> 
> Black&blue
> 
> In a message dated 03/15/02 11:15:46 PM Eastern Standard Time, rafeb@adelphia.net writes:
> 
> 
>     Dunno bout you but I was 38 yrs old on my thru' 
>     attempt in '90. If I were half that age, 17 mpd might 
>     not seem so outrageous.
> 

One thing I know about youngsters is that they've got lots 
of energy but aren't always that smart about conserving it.
We old farts are smarter about the conservation part because 
we have less of it to waste.

I've seen this "truth" played out many times, and not simply in 
the context of hiking.  Time and again I'd run into fellow hikers 
who'd just completed a marathon 30 mile day -- and were 
completely ruined for hiking on the next day.

It ought not be a race.  When I read the diary I kept in '90, it's 
clear that I was thinking of it as a race the whole time, and 
(in hindsight) that thinking was a large part of why my hike 
eventually fizzled.

In reference to your point, B&B, my training for my '90 hike 
was to hike most of the AT in the Whites, with a full pack, 
over the 9 or 10 months before departing for GA.  Certainly 
helpful and useful, but by itself, not enough.  I didn't fail 
for want of gear or lack of practice.


rafe b.
aka terrapin