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Brian - <BR>
The main reasons for hiking together are for safety in bear country or because you just like <BR>
hiking together or for navigation purposes (4 eyes are better than 2 eyes). Being joined at the <BR>
hip is a good idea if you're a married couple or looking for "safety" in "bear country" or partners <BR>
who want to hike together, because there are a number of places where a wrong turn could <BR>
send you in different directions and leave one or both of you kinda "floating in never-never land". <BR>
<BR>
Note please that hiking "together" in bear country means EXACTLY that. It doesn't mean hiking <BR>
5 minutes - or even 30 seconds apart. If you're that far apart, the bear considers you to be alone. <BR>
And you are. <IMG style="BORDER-BOTTOM-STYLE: none; BORDER-RIGHT-STYLE: none; BORDER-TOP-STYLE: none; VERTICAL-ALIGN: text-bottom; BORDER-LEFT-STYLE: none" title=Smile alt=Smile src="http://gfx1.hotmail.com/mail/w4/pr04/ltr/emo/smile.gif" width=19 height=19><BR>
<BR>
Truth is that "bear country" generally isn't nearly as dangerous as most people think. But I don't <BR>
try to convince people of that - they have to discover it for themselves. Just keep in mind the rules <BR>
for not irritating (or attracting) the bears and don't get overconfident. <BR>
<BR>
But if you want to hike together sometimes, and apart other times, I'd suggest hiking out of <BR>
town together, separating at some point on the trail and then meeting at the next town. You'd <BR>
probably want to decide on a specific motel or restaurant for your rally point in that next town. <BR>
Our website generally doesn't give that kind of information, but Yogi's book probably does. <BR>
<BR>
You could, of course, hike part of the day together and part alone. Just don't count on sharing <BR>
gear or food in that case because then getting separated leaves on of you a little short of ....<BR>
something, be it food, water, shelter, fire.....whatever. Keep in mind the words to the song - <BR>
God bless the child who's got his own. <BR>
<BR>
Have a great hike,<BR>
Jim<BR>
<BR><A href="http://www.spiriteaglehome.com/">http://www.spiriteaglehome.com/</A><BR>
<BR><BR><BR> <BR>
> From: brianle@nwlink.com<BR>> To: Cdt-l@backcountry.net<BR>> Date: Fri, 26 Nov 2010 13:41:29 -0800<BR>> Subject: [Cdt-l] trail partnership: all or nothing?<BR>> <BR>> Consensus is that if you don't want to hike the CDT literally alone, you<BR>> start with one or more partners and you stay close together the whole time.<BR>> I like the fellow that I plan to hike with a lot, but I've also quite<BR>> enjoyed weeks of hiking alone on both PCT and AT, and even when hiking with<BR>> one or more partners I've often hiked much of a given day alone, joining<BR>> back up at lunch and at night. I realize that the CDT is different in this<BR>> way, that you have to stay close to stay together at all, but the idea of<BR>> being joined at the hip to anyone for months of hiking concerns me a little.<BR>> <BR>> What I've not seen anyone suggest is the idea of periodically splitting up<BR>> for a while and agreeing to meet back up at or near a particular trail town.<BR>> This seems like it would be a good compromise on the CDT to me, i.e., have a<BR>> trail partnership, but have some significant "alone time" stretches. I<BR>> suspect that both of us would appreciate some time apart, and enjoy each<BR>> other's company that much more when we reconnected.<BR>> <BR>> The only downside I can see would be if one person ended up waiting quite a<BR>> while for the other, and perhaps not being 100% certain that (for whatever<BR>> reason) they're actually going to show up. I suppose another downside is<BR>> the risk that, for whatever reason, the designated reunion spot wouldn't be<BR>> a good/pleasant/safe/whatever place to hang out for the needed amount of<BR>> time. Have any past CDT thru-hikers tried this approach ("meet you at<BR>> this particular motel in a week or so"), and any observations if so?<BR>> <BR>> TIA ---<BR>> <BR>> <BR>> Brian Lewis / Gadget<BR>> http://www.postholer.com/brianle<BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> _______________________________________________<BR>> Cdt-l mailing list<BR>> Cdt-l@backcountry.net<BR>> http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/cdt-l<BR> </body>
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