This is a part of this blog I wanted to have done a long time ago but other things just kept having higher priority. As a result, I don't even have time to edit the things I wrote, let alone complete the portions I never started. So this is still very raw. But there is some good information in here and I am hoping some people find it useful.

There are a lot of things a hiker can do to make things more comfortable when hiking distances they may have never hiked before. The tips listed below can make all the difference in the world. They can be the difference between hiking a long ways in agony or doing the exact same hike in a way that doesn't feel much worse than your average hike. We first noticed people doing this type of hiking in Montana. Loop trails that we thought needed to be done backpacking three days were being done in a single day. We are talking about 20 to 30 miles per day in somewhat rugged terrain and over two or three tall passes. While it is true that people backpacking the Pacific Crest Trail get to the point of hiking this distance over the course of a month or so, your average day hiker cannot because they are not hiking every single day with nothing else to do. So how do these day hikers turn in mileages like this? Some of it is conditioning. They hike a lot and some also cross train in a very specific way. But conditioning alone usually isn't enough. That's where strategies like we have listed below come in. You don't need to do all of them because almost every strategy listed will produce noticeable improvement in your hiking. But it is also true that the more of these strategies you master, the more you will surprise yourself by what you are able to do. Still, you can't get there all at once because these techniques need to become second nature to you to have their maximum effect. So work on a few at a time and add in more only when you are certain that the techniques already learned are pretty much in place for good.

We can't even begin to tell you how amazing it is to be able to cover this amount of ground on a day hike and the be able to go out the next day and do another amazing hike. As you'll see, you are absolutely not rushing when you hike this way. If anything, you are more relaxed, comfortable, and observant. You will be able to enjoy the whole hiking experience even more than you always do while not paying a heavy price. For many, distance hiking changes everything and raises their passion to whole new level.

All information copyright (c) Bill Smith 2013

Friday, March 29, 2013

Avoid paved surfaces

I supposed if you walked on pavement all day, it wouldn't be too bad if you were wearing a good pair of running shoes. But I still think you are better off on a dirt trail. The dirt is softer, and your feet slide a bit, making it easier on your feet. You may be thinking, "Why are we even discussing this? I don't know of many paved trails that are long enough for distance hiking." Setting Pilot Butte aside for a minute, the issue does indeed come up now and then. The best example I know of is a little short to be called distance hiking, but it illustrates the point so well that I have to use it. In Silver Falls State Park there is an extremely popular loop trail that is about seven miles long. Over half a million people walk some portion of that trail every year.  As you get close to the end of the loop, you cross over a paved bike trail about half a mile from the end of the loop. After 6.5 miles on a dirt trail, that paved trail looks very inviting. Lots of people take it and most of them pay a high price. Why? The human foot has 26 bones, 33 joints, 107 ligaments, 19 muscles and tendons. That's just one foot! All of these things are getting tired and sore, but they are used to hiking on the dirt trail. Start pounding the pavement with them and you will know soon enough how bad the idea was to take the bike trail. At Silver Falls, you can sit at the end of the loop trail and you can easily tell who opted for the pavement. I've had people come back and report that their feet were sore for a week or more after only half a mile of hiking on the pavement. Like I said, this issue does come up occasionally. Sometimes your trail will empty out on a road that is somewhat close to your starting point. Believe me, after 20 miles on the trail, the last thing you want to do is walk even 100 yards on a road. You will feel the pain almost immediately and it will just keep getting worse the further you go. Pilot Butte is obviously a very unusual situation for distance hiking. There are no long trails, so you have to repeat trails over and over to cover any distance. There is also pavement that can be hard to avoid. If you are going to the top a couple of times, the pavement won't be much of a problem. If you are going up top 10 times, you definitely will be better off staying off the pavement as much as possible. The only place where you might HAVE TO walk on pavement is the top and, even there, a lot of pavement can be avoided. But it is just so easy to get onto pavement that it will serve you well if you pay attention to this issue. You will be better off hiking slower behind someone than you will be passing people on pavement if you are trying for a lot of miles.
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