[pct-l] Rest Periods During A Thru-Hike

[Charles Williams]

Yea, what he said...good answer.
 
Charles Williams

--- On Tue, 1/24/12, Eric Lee <saintgimp at hotmail.com> wrote:


From: Eric Lee <saintgimp at hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Rest Periods During A Thru-Hike
To: "'mark utzman'" <blackbelthiker at gmail.com>, pct-l at backcountry.net
Date: Tuesday, January 24, 2012, 5:23 PM


Mark wrote:
>
How often do you, on average, take breaks from walking? Every hour, every
two hours, etc.  If I was to, lets say, walk for 2 hours, then take a 10 or
15 minute break, and do that every 2 hours, is that reasonable?
>

Different people prefer different strategies here.  I'm not sure it's
possible to call out a "normal" way of doing it, but some people like the
discipline of a set pattern (one hour on, 5 minutes off, or maybe two hours
on, 20 minutes off, etc.) while other people hate that and want to be able
to stop and enjoy any interesting location they happen to come across.  I
guess the majority of folks fall somewhere in the middle.

Be aware that as a newbie starting a long-distance hike, you'll want to take
care of your body (especially your feet!) and that will probably require a
slower pace and more frequent rest stops than you'd expect to have later in
the hike.  If at all possible, arrange your schedule so that you don't have
a lot of pressure to make miles for the first week or two so you can find
your own personal groove.

My own personal style is that when I'm actually walking I can average about
3.5 miles per hour (3 if I'm tired, 4 if I'm motivated) but over the course
of a day, including rests, photo ops, etc., I average just a little over 2
mph.  I don't stick to a rigid schedule during the day but pretty much all
of my days work out that way in the end with a combination of my usual
walking pace plus short stops to admire views, take pictures, get water,
etc., plus long stops to eat meals, take naps, go swimming, or whatever.

Eric


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