After Denver, I am spending the night at a Gatlingburg condo (my fourth visit this year). I'm going to bed early to get a headstart for climbing Mt LeConte tomorrow via The Boulevard. I have lost count how often I hike The Smokeys, but it has to be in the triple digits by now. Hikes have been one to seven days, although the typical is just two days... a weekend.
I began walking mountains before age 10, and hiking in earnest in college... car camping and short hikes mostly, with a few backpacking trips for semester breaks. I enjoy it, which is why I do it. I prefer the woods but also hike the desert and above treeline too. I learned by doing: In 1969 I learned that a tent keeps bugs away and sleep is better; and in Christmas 1971 I learned not to set up tent atop snow. Now we read mags and Google for anything.
I also have gotten both soft and hard: Soft because I've learned to use slackpack "luxury" hut accommodations on-trail (lodge, hostel or wilderness hut). Hard because I regularly train with long miles... longer, faster and more frequent than I did as a young man.
My goal is to enjoy life.
- © 2012 by Willy
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