Day 100 : The halfway headache

29th July 2013
Mile 1332 to mile 1335 : Soldier Creek to Highway 36
Mileage : 3

Today was not about hiking, it was about celebrating the achievement of hiking halfway to Canada from Mexico, and about some hard truths about the miles to come. I had made it to the raod by 8am, and thanks to Ned, my ride for the day, into Chester by 9am where I met up with Dr Slosh, Smiles, Rocky and T-Rex for some celebratory breakfast calories.At first conversation was centered on congratulating ourselves for how far we had come literally and figuratively, but soon we started thinking about half far we still had to go. 1330 miles is a long way to have come, but 1330 miles is a long way to go, especially when the time element is considered. It has taken me 99 days to cover the first 1330 miles, averaging just 13.4 miles per day when zeros are included. Given that my goal is to finish at the end of September, including a 10-12 day break, it means my average daily mileage for the 52 days i reckon i have left on the trail has be 25. That is a big number. I'm not sure just how achievable that is, but starting tomorrow when i leave Chester I'm going to give it a go. The only things that will stop as I've previously said are a family emergency, or an injury, and my personal belief is that an injury can best be avoided by keeping the weight on. In VVR several weeks ago, and in Sierra City several days ago I weighed myself, and doubted the result both times, but have managed to do it third time and now believe the previous scales report on my weight. I started the trail weighing 86 kilos and in the last 100 days have lost only an implausible 4 kilos to take me to 82kgs. The reason I say this is implausible is that every other thru-hiker I have met, male or female, has lost considerably more than that. Shady Acres for example, who is roughly equal to me in height, build and hiking ability, has lost over 16 kilos since the start. I know that muscle is more dense than fat, and that I have no doubt that a have transferred a good deal of muscle from my upper to lower body, but a loss of only 4 kilos is improbably small. I think this is accomplishment about which i most pleased given how far i have come physically and mentally in the last 100 days, and i intend to try and keep this weight up if I can. There is a current myth going around the hiker that the second half of the trail is easier than the first, and that consequently we cover the miles quicker. I am skeptical about such assertions. Perhaps the conditions on the trail are marginally easier, but this is offset by the fact that the average mileage has to almost double for most hikers, and I definitely fall into this category. There is often talk about the fact that as we can cover ground more quickly we can carry substantially less food between trail towns, i personally think this is a big mistake. Up til now my calorie intake has been largely based around taking on 1000 calories 3 times a day and then at least 1000 calories worth of snacks between these meals. As I have been losing fat, I must be consuming more than I'm eating, even with trail town splurges, but given my relative lack of weight loss I can't be too far from correctly assessing my daily calorific requirements. The danger for the future is, in my view, to continue this strategy as i massively increase my average daily mileage. To counter this I have decided to change my calorie intake strategy to one based round miles and not days. A healthy average male is supposed to consume about 2500 calories per day, so this is my base. On top of this, I am going to attempt to eat 100 calories per mile while on the trail. As my 25 miles per day estimation includes any zeros i might take from here on, my aim for a daily mileage is going to be 30, resulting in an average daily calorie requirement of 5500. All in all, this means that, where other hikers are finding they are carrying less, I might actually end up carrying more, but I feel this is the right way to go. There is a well known hiker crash point at the end of Oregon, where hikers realize they pushed too hard through Northern California and Oregon and no longer have the strength to continue through Washington. I personally feel that a crash at this point is self inflected due to an insufficient calorie intake regime, and I am determined for that not to be me. On that note, it is time for resupply.