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Re: [at-l] reading list
Andrew Berzanskis wrote:
>
> This isn't a crucial question, but out of curiousity, how much (or how
> little) reading does one do on thru-hikes? Or any long hikes, in your
> experience?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Andrew
Depends on whether I'm alone or not. If I'm with people I usually
prefer to talk with them, but if I'm alone, I like to carry a book. When
I started my thruhike, I found that I was usually with others, so didn't
get much alone time to read, and I was usually busy with the Trail
Registers, my journal and the guidebooks, so it took a long time to
finish a book, but when the days got longer, I enjoyed reading in the
afternoons. I rarely hiked more than 8 hours a day, and I was up for
about 12-15, so there was time, either at lunchtime or after dinner if
the shelter wasn't too crowded. When I hiked the John Muir Trail I was
alone, and determined to stretch out my vacation. I finished my 12
miles a day by about 1:00, so I had a lot of time to read.
Unfortunately, I only had one book with me - Michener's Alaska. I had to
limit myself to 100 pages a day, which I burned every evening. (Sorry
Charlie!) Every afternoon I sat under my tarp watching the
thunderstorms roll by, with a pot of tea and my book. Life was good.
These days I only bring a book if I know we are taking it easy, but
somehow it seems we rarely do that. We usually end up arriving too tired
and too late to really take it easy. It's easy to forget we aren't
thruhikers any more. (Well, once a thruhiker always a thruhiker -but our
bodies seem to have forgotten that.)
Ginny Owen
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