[pct-l] poor old Ray

[stillroaming at lycos.com (Scott Parks)]

What a great thread!

Refreshing first hand experiences from people who 
"Get It". I'll bet each of you, Dude, Jim & Ginny, et 
al, started your hiking careers with heavy packs and
'saw the light'.

As far as feet being the primary show stopper, I
disagree as well. When  I consistently do big miles, around 30 a day, my feet change. Yes, they're generally
sore, sometimes they downright hurt. I get blisters which turn to calouses, which blister, turn to calouses, etc. Eventually, this stops. I achieve my
'30 feet'. This is wearing trail runners and with
liners or dress socks.

Filtering water, taking breaks, chatting with people
are all things I do. Like Dude suggests, starting
just before sunrise and ending around sunset is the
way I get my miles. If you average around 2.3 mph it's
easy to get those miles.

Caveat, in my opinion, doing that day after day, week
after week, month after month is no way to hike. It's 
not enjoyable. HYOH.

Scott Parks

>>
I agree with Jim.  
I never thought I'd actually hike as many miles in a day as I eventually 
did.  Most hikers don't start off doing 25 miles a day unless you've 
been doing 25 miles day hikes with a pack as training hikes.
 
My advice is: don't get hung up on the miles, do what you can do, 
and soon you'll find yourself putting in more and more miles. At 
the beginning, do what your feet can handle, pushing yourself to 
do 25 miles/day will ruin your feet in the desert. Enjoy your trip. 
Its not a race, the only prize for finishing first is going back to work first.
 
I feel sorry for the section hikers when it comes to miles.  They 
have to re-condition their bodies for every section, just when they 
start getting used to it, they have to stop.  In this way its much easier to do a thru-hike.
 
Warning- after the hike getting out of shape happens just as quickly.
 
Vivek
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