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Conclusion drawn: I'm entirely too fat and out of shape for this!

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    • hikerboy wrote:

      when i sectioned maine last year, i couldnt believe the difference in my fitness level, after doing 500 miles in the spring, had a tough time managing 10 mile days.(and i'm in pretty good shape for an old guy).


      After ft. Bastion you were lucky to be able to walk.
      Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.
      Dr. Seuss Cof123
    • Astro wrote:

      odd man out wrote:

      My plans came up short this summer too. I had planned 70 miles in 6 days (about 12 mpd), but each day, my right knee got worse. At the end of day 3, I was basically walking on one leg, but I had to get to the bottom of the mtn as I had to get to the creek for water. Fortunately there was a nice camping spot by the creek. There was a road there and if it had any traffic, I probably would have hitched out, but there wasn't, and I had met a guy earlier that day who had spent 1/2 a day trying to hitch with no luck down the road where there was a bit more traffic. So it seemed the best way out was hike 7 more miles the next day to the next road where there was a hostel and a gas station/mini mart. Then just to rub it in, the hiking gods sent a fit guy who was exactly my age doing 25 mpd cruising through the camp site. I was able to hike out the next day, just very slowly with lots of breaks. I took a zero on day 5 and then a day hike for day 6. I guess I need to work out more in the off season.


      OMO, I just missed you be a day this summer, but I think you left you knee problem behind for me. :(
      I would rather have gotten there a day or two earlier and met you.
      Seriously it was interesting to hear HM and Byron comparing his symptoms, with yours and mine. Naturally I can relate to your post.


      HM said that she thought the two of us really should get together. She's thought we would really get along. Maybe we will do a better job of coordinating hikes next time.
    • LIhikers wrote:

      Not only am I a member of the old, fat, and out of shape club, but I'm the President too!

      It usually takes me about a week to get my trail legs and for my daily mileage to begin to increase.
      By then it's time to go home, or have just a few days of good hiking before heading home.


      And thus the challenge of section hiking. But it still beats not going at all by a long shot. :)
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • LIhikers wrote:

      Not only am I a member of the old, fat, and out of shape club, but I'm the President too!

      It usually takes me about a week to get my trail legs and for my daily mileage to begin to increase.
      By then it's time to go home, or have just a few days of good hiking before heading home.


      Summer 2013 I tried to do a section hike when I hadn't hiked in a few months. Hey, I had been running and biking, how hard can it be? Yeah...it was bad.
      Lost in the right direction.
    • A.T.Lt wrote:

      Rasty wrote:

      I really only get to hike three times per year due to work. Usually a 100+ mile trip and two 40+ mile trips. I barely even day hike.

      Work is always getting in the way!! I tend to day hike often and do about 2-3 long weekends a year..retirement couldn't get here quicker!


      I can relate. My favorite thing about my birthdays now is that I am only x and a half years away from 59 1/2.
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • WiseOldOwl wrote:

      LIhikers wrote:

      Not only am I a member of the old, fat, and out of shape club, but I'm the President too!

      It usually takes me about a week to get my trail legs and for my daily mileage to begin to increase.
      By then it's time to go home, or have just a few days of good hiking before heading home.



      Do I qualify as your VP?


      If you want to be VP, your dues will be double what you're paying now! :P
    • I weigh more now than the last time I hiked... 228 instead of 180 pounds. But I'm older to. 70 is coming up strong, bugt its wheezing so I can hear it as it gets closer.

      My worst hike, no pack, was when we were on a small goat trail on the side of a hill in central Texas. We had set up camp and decided to look around the area as it was new to us. They forgot to yell back to me about the small barrel cactus just around a blind corner. I got about 5 spikes from it just below my right knee. I went 'Auuggh !'. And my buddies said, 'Oh yeah, look out for the cactus !'. I replied something about too late and my willingness to toss them off the hill, after I got the spines out of my knee. They had pliers and we took care of the spines after we got back to camp.

      Ah, the good old days... :!:
      --
      "What do you mean its sunrise already ?!", me.
    • I have previously reported on my aborted hike from last year. It seems to me there are two obvious solutions. One is get in better shape during the off season and two plan an easier hike. I of course opted for option two. Last year I successfully proved that 12 miles per day for six days in VA was too much (note the clever conversion of a failure into a success). So in Aug I will be hiking 10 miles per day for 4 days in Michigan on the lakeshore trail through Pictured Rocks Nat Lakeshore. Although there are cliffs along the lake, they are only a few hundred feet high at the most so even with a ton of PUDS I won't encounter anything close to the several thousand feet of elevation gain and loss I had every day in VA.

      The bad news is that this fall a good friend is starting grad school at Dartmouth so I'm I cloned to try part of the AT in NH. Is there a 4 day hike there that won't kill me?
    • odd man out wrote:

      I have previously reported on my aborted hike from last year. It seems to me there are two obvious solutions. One is get in better shape during the off season and two plan an easier hike. I of course opted for option two. Last year I successfully proved that 12 miles per day for six days in VA was too much (note the clever conversion of a failure into a success). So in Aug I will be hiking 10 miles per day for 4 days in Michigan on the lakeshore trail through Pictured Rocks Nat Lakeshore. Although there are cliffs along the lake, they are only a few hundred feet high at the most so even with a ton of PUDS I won't encounter anything close to the several thousand feet of elevation gain and loss I had every day in VA.

      The bad news is that this fall a good friend is starting grad school at Dartmouth so I'm I cloned to try part of the AT in NH. Is there a 4 day hike there that won't kill me?
      franconia notch to crawford.
      its all good
    • Now that my knee is back to about 80%, I look back on my section of a couple of weeks ago, and realize that I surprised myself. It was nearly 2pm before I was actually rolling on the first day. It was 36.8 miles and I figured that at my usial 8-12 mile-per-day pace it would be 3.5 days, and so I planned for that. (And I was a little nervous at committing to that pace, because I've hardly been out all spring.) I did it in 2.5 days (daily mileages 10.2, 12.2, 14.4) and the pace felt leisurely. I wouldn't want to push harder than that - after all, I did get hurt - but the whole of the last day was on the hurt knee. Obviously, I'm capable of an overall faster pace than I've been doing.

      I'm still not going out again until I can climb stairs without pain. Not quite there yet, but getting better slowly.
      I'm not lost. I know where I am. I'm right here.
    • JimBlue wrote:

      I weigh more now than the last time I hiked... 228 instead of 180 pounds. But I'm older to. 70 is coming up strong, bugt its wheezing so I can hear it as it gets closer.

      My worst hike, no pack, was when we were on a small goat trail on the side of a hill in central Texas. We had set up camp and decided to look around the area as it was new to us. They forgot to yell back to me about the small barrel cactus just around a blind corner. I got about 5 spikes from it just below my right knee. I went 'Auuggh !'. And my buddies said, 'Oh yeah, look out for the cactus !'. I replied something about too late and my willingness to toss them off the hill, after I got the spines out of my knee. They had pliers and we took care of the spines after we got back to camp.

      Ah, the good old days... :!:
      Hey, what are friends for? I was squirrel hunting and trying not to lose the spot in the leaves overhead where I knew he was, neck was getting tires so without taking my eyes off the spot I laid down on the ground so I could look up without the neck hurting, laid in a bed of cactus, those tinny little spines you feel but cant see, all over the back.
      I may grow old but I'll never grow up.
    • Drybones wrote:

      JimBlue wrote:

      I weigh more now than the last time I hiked... 228 instead of 180 pounds. But I'm older to. 70 is coming up strong, bugt its wheezing so I can hear it as it gets closer.

      My worst hike, no pack, was when we were on a small goat trail on the side of a hill in central Texas. We had set up camp and decided to look around the area as it was new to us. They forgot to yell back to me about the small barrel cactus just around a blind corner. I got about 5 spikes from it just below my right knee. I went 'Auuggh !'. And my buddies said, 'Oh yeah, look out for the cactus !'. I replied something about too late and my willingness to toss them off the hill, after I got the spines out of my knee. They had pliers and we took care of the spines after we got back to camp.

      Ah, the good old days... :!:
      Hey, what are friends for? I was squirrel hunting and trying not to lose the spot in the leaves overhead where I knew he was, neck was getting tires so without taking my eyes off the spot I laid down on the ground so I could look up without the neck hurting, laid in a bed of cactus, those tinny little spines you feel but cant see, all over the back.
      squirrel hunting? did you check the donald's head?
      its all good
    • hikerboy wrote:

      Drybones wrote:

      JimBlue wrote:

      I weigh more now than the last time I hiked... 228 instead of 180 pounds. But I'm older to. 70 is coming up strong, bugt its wheezing so I can hear it as it gets closer.

      My worst hike, no pack, was when we were on a small goat trail on the side of a hill in central Texas. We had set up camp and decided to look around the area as it was new to us. They forgot to yell back to me about the small barrel cactus just around a blind corner. I got about 5 spikes from it just below my right knee. I went 'Auuggh !'. And my buddies said, 'Oh yeah, look out for the cactus !'. I replied something about too late and my willingness to toss them off the hill, after I got the spines out of my knee. They had pliers and we took care of the spines after we got back to camp.

      Ah, the good old days... :!:
      Hey, what are friends for? I was squirrel hunting and trying not to lose the spot in the leaves overhead where I knew he was, neck was getting tires so without taking my eyes off the spot I laid down on the ground so I could look up without the neck hurting, laid in a bed of cactus, those tinny little spines you feel but cant see, all over the back.
      squirrel hunting? did you check the donald's head?
      I believe that's macock.
    • odd man out wrote:

      I have previously reported on my aborted hike from last year. It seems to me there are two obvious solutions. One is get in better shape during the off season and two plan an easier hike. I of course opted for option two. Last year I successfully proved that 12 miles per day for six days in VA was too much (note the clever conversion of a failure into a success). So in Aug I will be hiking 10 miles per day for 4 days in Michigan on the lakeshore trail through Pictured Rocks Nat Lakeshore. Although there are cliffs along the lake, they are only a few hundred feet high at the most so even with a ton of PUDS I won't encounter anything close to the several thousand feet of elevation gain and loss I had every day in VA.The bad news is that this fall a good friend is starting grad school at Dartmouth so I'm I cloned to try part of the AT in NH. Is there a 4 day hike there that won't kill me?

      As I remember it the trail out of Hanover isn't too bad going either way.
      Of course memories are almost always easier than real life.
    • When frieds sy they are to old to hike I always think of a conversation I had with Brice. He's a double Triple Crowner. Hiked all three twice, I met him & hiked with him some on the PCT. Last time I saw him at an ALDHA-West meeting in OR I asked what he had hiked that summer. He told me what he did, & shrugge & said it really beat him up! He couldn't do any more long distanec hikes at his age. Nothing over 500 miles! I hope I can hike like him! He was 84 at the time!
    • hikerboy wrote:

      odd man out wrote:

      The bad news is that this fall a good friend is starting grad school at Dartmouth so I'm I inclined to try part of the AT in NH. Is there a 4 day hike there that won't kill me?
      franconia notch to crawford.
      I was checking that out. The huts are nicely spaced: FN to Greenleaf (7.5 mi) to Galehead (7.7 mi) to Zealand (7.0) to Crawford (7.7), but that would be an expensive hike with all the hut fees. The campsites and shelters are not so well spaced. My understanding that camping options outside the established (and fee collecting) spots is a challenge in the Whites. Is that true in this section? I suppose one could do this: FN to Liberty Springs (2.6 mi) to Garfield Ridge (7.7 mi) to Guyot (6.2 mi) to Ethan Pond (9.7 mi) to Crawford (2.9 mi).
    • Drybones wrote:

      JimBlue wrote:

      I weigh more now than the last time I hiked... 228 instead of 180 pounds. But I'm older to. 70 is coming up strong, bugt its wheezing so I can hear it as it gets closer.

      My worst hike, no pack, was when we were on a small goat trail on the side of a hill in central Texas. We had set up camp and decided to look around the area as it was new to us. They forgot to yell back to me about the small barrel cactus just around a blind corner. I got about 5 spikes from it just below my right knee. I went 'Auuggh !'. And my buddies said, 'Oh yeah, look out for the cactus !'. I replied something about too late and my willingness to toss them off the hill, after I got the spines out of my knee. They had pliers and we took care of the spines after we got back to camp.

      Ah, the good old days... :!:
      Hey, what are friends for? I was squirrel hunting and trying not to lose the spot in the leaves overhead where I knew he was, neck was getting tires so without taking my eyes off the spot I laid down on the ground so I could look up without the neck hurting, laid in a bed of cactus, those tinny little spines you feel but cant see, all over the back.

      Yikes. Those things are worse than a giant flock of no-seeums.
      --
      "What do you mean its sunrise already ?!", me.
    • odd man out wrote:

      hikerboy wrote:

      odd man out wrote:

      The bad news is that this fall a good friend is starting grad school at Dartmouth so I'm I inclined to try part of the AT in NH. Is there a 4 day hike there that won't kill me?
      franconia notch to crawford.
      I was checking that out. The huts are nicely spaced: FN to Greenleaf (7.5 mi) to Galehead (7.7 mi) to Zealand (7.0) to Crawford (7.7), but that would be an expensive hike with all the hut fees. The campsites and shelters are not so well spaced. My understanding that camping options outside the established (and fee collecting) spots is a challenge in the Whites. Is that true in this section? I suppose one could do this: FN to Liberty Springs (2.6 mi) to Garfield Ridge (7.7 mi) to Guyot (6.2 mi) to Ethan Pond (9.7 mi) to Crawford (2.9 mi).

      While in NH, each time we needed a place to camp but didn't know of one, we'd stop in a hut we were passing and ask. In each case the crew told us of a legal place to camp, just outside the 1/4 mile "no camping" zone that surrounds each hut.
    • Mountain-Mike wrote:

      Your fee campsite is a very plasible route, Many have great sunrise/sunset great pic potential. I'll PM ypu a link to legal stealh sites. They are few and far between in the Whites unless yo speend some time searchinhg


      Got that doc MM. Thanks. Was using the discriptions to find spots on topo maps. Looks promising. Don't mind paying for camp sites. But I do worry about limping in late only to be told they're full. And as an out of shape sporadic section hiker, it's a pain to try and predict exactly when and where you will be so you can make advanced reservations. I was reading the document on camping restrictions in the Whites and found it pretty much incomprehensible
    • odd man out wrote:

      Mountain-Mike wrote:

      Your fee campsite is a very plasible route, Many have great sunrise/sunset great pic potential. I'll PM ypu a link to legal stealh sites. They are few and far between in the Whites unless yo speend some time searchinhg

      Got that doc MM. Thanks. Was using the discriptions to find spots on topo maps. Looks promising. Don't mind paying for camp sites. But I do worry about limping in late only to be told they're full. And as an out of shape sporadic section hiker, it's a pain to try and predict exactly when and where you will be so you can make advanced reservations. I was reading the document on camping restrictions in the Whites and found it pretty much incomprehensible

      Yeah, and the author of that probably believes its easy to read and understand.
      --
      "What do you mean its sunrise already ?!", me.
    • Drybones wrote:

      JimBlue wrote:

      I weigh more now than the last time I hiked... 228 instead of 180 pounds. But I'm older to. 70 is coming up strong, bugt its wheezing so I can hear it as it gets closer.

      My worst hike, no pack, was when we were on a small goat trail on the side of a hill in central Texas. We had set up camp and decided to look around the area as it was new to us. They forgot to yell back to me about the small barrel cactus just around a blind corner. I got about 5 spikes from it just below my right knee. I went 'Auuggh !'. And my buddies said, 'Oh yeah, look out for the cactus !'. I replied something about too late and my willingness to toss them off the hill, after I got the spines out of my knee. They had pliers and we took care of the spines after we got back to camp.

      Ah, the good old days... :!:
      Hey, what are friends for? I was squirrel hunting and trying not to lose the spot in the leaves overhead where I knew he was, neck was getting tires so without taking my eyes off the spot I laid down on the ground so I could look up without the neck hurting, laid in a bed of cactus, those tinny little spines you feel but cant see, all over the back.
      Duct tape works well for the spines one can't easily extract with pliers.

      Lest we forget.....



      SSgt Ray Rangel - USAF
      SrA Elizabeth Loncki - USAF
      PFC Adam Harris - USA
      MSgt Eden Pearl - USMC
    • Happy Belated Astro!

      So, I scrolled up to the top of the page just to see if I had missed anything from before Coach's post on Friday and was kind of saddened to see how many posters don't appear to haven't posted in over a year. The first one was hikerboy and of course, except for one sort of recent post, he hasn't posted in a number of years. The others were:
      A.T. Lt
      JimBlue
      Another Kevin
      Socks
      Dan76

      I know I didn't post or even visit for awhile after my section in May and lately I've only been on an average of about once a week, mostly viewing and occasionally posting. I'm sorry that our community seems to be dwindling a bit. These people added a lot of good content and seemed like genuinely good people.

      And to fit in with the topic, yes, I've gained some weight over the years and generally work on taking it off in the winter and spring before my section hike. On June 29, I broke my "this little piggy had a hotdog (or none)" toe and it took a long time to heal so consequently, not only was I not hiking or even walking much, I wasn't going to the Fitness Center either and put on more than usual weight. So, after our vacation at the cottage where the meals were a bit on the decadent indulgent side, I have given up desserts, drinking my favorite Orange Cappuccino and most products with more than just a tad of sugar. It's been 3 weeks and I'm doing pretty good so far. Yesterday I saw Brittany Runs a Marathon and it was very inspirational so I'm doubling my efforts to work out, walk and hike! (But not run, I have less than zero intention to run, much less a marathon)

      The post was edited 1 time, last by Trillium ().

    • i wonder if anyone from whiteblaze is lamenting my absence. :)

      one of my favorite cafe members -- and fellow thruhiker -- hasn't posted in a couple years. although she snuck in about a year ago and didn't think anyone saw her. she's got a good excuse, though...

      congrats!

      [IMG:https://scontent.fatl1-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-1/c0.5.960.960a/p960x960/57441691_10218843065849754_4381017382387187712_o.jpg?_nc_cat=103&_nc_oc=AQkm0GvgU0ViFWWkW9ARcm63jlHKdlHzy-MvkW5u_Qy9Q95gky9UuW3X4ESnr-iC-EZWZRtQxnW7kLKyKwZQeBzR&_nc_ht=scontent.fatl1-2.fna&oh=24d93a18ae9a98fb8a94b85e45e88192&oe=5E0D5F1C]
      2,000 miler

      The post was edited 1 time, last by max.patch ().