[at-l] Normal Recovery Time, Generally Speaking

[AThiker at smithville.net (Felix)]

Adkhiker2003@wmconnect.com wrote:

>I have not hiked the entire AT,  But I am an avid section hiker and I fully 
>agree with Grey Owl that planning, transportation, explaining why you are using 
>up all your vacation to hike instead of spending with family, then coming 
>back and starting it all over again is tough.    Section hiking is just as much a 
>commitment as hiking the AT all in one season.
>

As a section hiker who has thru-hiked, I think I can say that I agree, 
on many levels, with this. There is much more time spent planning, much 
more energy spent on getting there, finding a place to park, getting 
shuttles and then getting back home. I know that I spent far, far more 
time planning 25 mile section hikes than I did planning my thru-hike. It 
is so much easier to 'just wing it' on a thru-hike than a section hike. 
If you have to drive 8 or more hours to get to the trail (like I do, at 
a minimum), you don't want to have things go wrong. You want to get some 
miles in. On a thru-hike, if you want to do a couple of 8 mile 
days...you can. You just make up for it with a couple of 24 mile days if 
you need to. There is as much, or more, of a commitment to section 
hike...it's just different. (and, as always...everything is different 
for everybody...)

-- 
Felix J.
ME-->GA '98
"Your Move"
ALT '03 KT '03
http://Felixhikes.tripod.com/