[pct-l] Starting Slow

[Ernie Castillo]

>From a Class of 1980 hiker who shopped extensively at REI and didn't count grams.

I trained for months, trying at age 26 to regain the fitness level I had as a high school cross country runner. A 1-week trip through the backcountry of Yosemite was the only trail exposure my hiking mates and I had in the year before we tackled the PCT. Main reason: we had jobs and needed to work to save enough money to take 6 months off from civilization. In the summer of 1979, I gave up driving to work, as much to train for the PCT as to refrain from sitting in gas lines. (For those of "mature" age, remember the gas crisis of 1979?) I bought a bike and only used my car for work-related travel. I biked everywhere and in the final months before the hike, I started walking to work -- in my new hiking boots -- instead of biking.

 

I thought I was in great shape but our plan always was to start off slowly. And we were glad we did. After our first day, we weren't so much suffering from mileage but from blisters.

 

I am not the least bit embarrssed to tell you how slowly slowly was. By design, we made Mount Laguna (25.9 miles from Camp according to my faded Xeroxed copy of "The GMC Expedition" plan. It was 7 days to Warner Springs, by design.

 

And do you know what? It worked out for us. It's also why we started on March 16.

 

Eventually, when I was hiking solo in Northern California, I picked up the pace. Still, my peak was only 55 miles in 2 days, mainly because I was running low on food, the days were long, and I was trying to catch Beth and Eli.

 

I guess the point I am trying to make is this.

Train.

Train.

Train.

Hike at whatever pace suits you at the beginning. Whatever mileage you make on day 1 still leaves you more than 2,600 away from Canada.

It's a long, long, long trail.

 

Oh, and don't forget to pack moleskin.,

Ernie Castillo
erniec01 at hotmail.com
248 884 5201



 
> Date: Thu, 4 Feb 2010 20:01:27 -0500
> From: joan.henriksen at gmail.com
> To: pct-l at backcountry.net
> Subject: [pct-l] Starting Slow
> 
> The "fit for a thru-hike thread" made me wonder what the opinion was on
> starting with lower mileages. I am starting after Kick-Off and my plan is
> just to carry a lot of water and go at my own pace. It seemed like from
> previous threads that other hikers feel like they need to hike 20s right out
> of the gate. I started off really slow when I did the AT (3 miles, 5
> miles, 7 miles, 10 miles), and I found it helpful mentally and physically.
> It not that I *can't *hike a 20 the first day I just don't really *want*to.
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