Advice from failed attempts?

[Seatbelt]

Just how short are you, Mags? I'm convinced that being short is not necessarily a good attribute for long-distance hiking, but your example would put the lie to that notion. I think I topped out at 5'5" or so... have lost a bit since then.

One advantage of being short is a lower center of gravity. Short powerful legs might mean lower chance of injury, but also a shorter stride.

I can think of a few advantages to being shorter; It takes less energy to hike because of less weight(as a rule), less food to consume to provide lesser amount of energy required.
I could be wrong, just my opinion........

[rafe]

I can think of a few advantages to being shorter; It takes less energy to hike because of less weight(as a rule), less food to consume to provide lesser amount of energy required.
I could be wrong, just my opinion........

Most everything scales. It may take "less energy to hike" but with smaller size and mass there is less energy to give, and more effort to carry a similar weight. Short stride doesn't help for making miles, but it may help for avoiding injury. It is a fact that height (size) generally tracks career and financial success but that's a whole 'nother matter.

[Mags]

Just how short are you, Mags? I'm convinced that being short is not necessarily a good attribute for long-distance hiking, but your example would put the lie to that notion. I think I topped out at 5'5" or so... have lost a bit since then.

Exactly 5'6". Think Gimili more than Frodo, though. So, pretty strong for my height and blessed with good endurance.

[Another Kevin]

I aborted a thru-hike of the 132-mile Northville-Placid Trail within the last few days, so let me offer a few comments on this one.

The hike was very much at the boundary of the season. It snowed on the last day of my trip, and many local businesses were shuttered for the winter by the time I got off trail. So it was "high risk" in that anything that put me off schedule would likely end the hike. And it was worse weather than snow for a lot of the trip - cold rain and sleet, perfect hypothermia weather.

The hike was actually higher risk than I should have taken on. I was going solo, and wound up falling - in the late afternoon of the first day - into freezing-cold whitewater maybe 150 yards upstream of a waterfall with nobody to help me out. I got myself out, got a fire going fast, and was able to warm up and continue. But it was way too near a thing. Going solo on the A-T in high summer is one thing. But there were twice on this trip that I went 48 hours without seeing anyone at all.

On the morning of the fourth day, I woke up at 0300 or so coughing my head off and knew that I would need to take a day or two off to feel better. I managed to stumble about eight miles to a town, and accounted myself that I wasn't 20 miles from the nearest road (as I had been on the start of the previous day).

Even after I got off trail (after 37-38 miles in 4 days), I felt the need to "get back on the horse", so after I went back home and recuperated some, I leapfrogged forward and did the last 28 miles of the trail, so that I've got over half of it done. But I don't have the vacation time to finish it up, and the weather is getting very dodgy.

So, I'll call the 3- and 4-day sections "long weekends," call the 65 miles or so that I did a couple of successful short sections, and be relieved that I get to stay a "clueless weekender."

It was fun. I'll be back to do the rest.