[pct-l] Worst parts of the trail and ways to get though them

[Eric Lee]

Steel-Eye wrote:
>
I will offer some advice which you probably will not like to hear, and which
you are very unlikely to heed:  Assuming that the love of your life
-- the "she" to which you refer -- isn't the furry, four-legged type, I
recommend that you each carry complete, stand-alone gear and food.
>

I kind of agree with this.  I guess it just depends on your hiking style and
your goals as a couple.  I've seen many couples that do, in fact, hike in
lock-step pretty much the whole way so they're not likely to get separated,
and they usually split the gear load.  If that's the way you want to do it,
then fine.

Other couples like a little more individual flexibility and if you lean in
that direction, you'll definitely want to take Steel-Eye's advice and make
sure that you're each equipped to spend a day or two without your partner if
things work out that way.  If you're ever out of shouting distance of each
other, it's easy to miscommunicate about when and where you'll meet up
again.

Another aspect is that you and your partner should have a frank discussion
about what's going to happen if one of you has to get off the trail for
physical or mental reasons.  Does the other one continue on alone or must
they go home too?  That can be an agonizing choice and it's best that you
start that discussion when you can be objective about it.  If you decide to
share gear but also figure that one person might continue on alone if the
other has to get off the trail, then you'll want some stuff on standby to
convert your gear to a single-person load (i.e. smaller tent, smaller
cookset, etc.).

Eric