update: starting January 1

Cross-posted to Cowgirl in New England


I'm not sure how many people are in on this -- November was a bad time to suggest starting, what with NaNoWriMo and all. And now the holidays are upon us.

But we did decide that instead of keeping separate tallies, we're going to count as a group. So each person's individual daily total will be added to collective mileage. This will accomplish two things:

1. Make it possible to finish the Pacific Crest trail in only a year or two

2. Make sure the slower walkers don't get left behind to straggle in by themselves. I know this discouraged several people last time.

2a. Also, people will be able to join whenever they want to.

I need to track down maps and locate or write an appropriate widget. Shouldn't be too much work if I can find time to do it in the next couple of weeks.

Day 30

I haven't calibrated the pedometer for distance yet, so I've been tracking steps. Average stay-around-the-house days are about 3,300; days when I run errands are between 5,000 and 6,000 steps. (And I typed "words" first instead of "steps." Talk about dreaming!)

I was going to set a goal for myself for December of 6,000 steps a day -- a bit more than my max, but doable, without too much stress, and because I do have so many stay at home days, a definite net increase in activity. My bout with bronchitis is making that take a back seat -- I might aim to start around December 15, but we'll see how I'm feeling.

Sometime this week, I'll total active vs. passive days and post my best guess for mileage so far.

Day 17

I'm at 32 miles for the month. I'm pretty sure I have more than that but I forgot to write down a couple of days. Oh well.

I looked at options for making a trail map for us, but haven't had time to work on it yet. Maybe after NaNo.

Day 7 -- how are we doing?

I'm at 16.2 miles for the first week. How's everybody else?

different way to count?

I had an idea the other day.

One of the problems we ran into with the AT is that we all have significantly different paces, from at least two people who had to really work to get a mile, to people knocking off 6 or 7 miles a day easily. So I was wondering whether it would work better to total everybody's mileage and move ourselves along the trail at a collective pace? We'd still keep track of our individual miles however we wanted to, but the group would all stay together.

What do you think?

Day 4, and I hope others are off to a better start

Day 1 was spent between my sewing machine and my computer -- and no matter how much I use my foot pedal for sewing, I don't think that counts for walking. Distance: 0

Day 2, I dug out my pedometer and clipped it to my waistband. Despite the fact that I made a trip to the store, at the end of the day, it said I'd only done about 150 steps -- which is equal to 5 trips up and down our staircase. Hmm. Distance: 0.5 mile

Day 3, I tried the pedometer on a different pair of pants -- and lost it. No clue where it got to. Had to do a couple of errands, so I know I got off my duff, anyway. Distance: 0.25 mile

Day 4, still no idea where the pedometer is. Walking limited to up and down the stairs and out to the mailbox. Got a decent word count, though. Distance: 0

I have to go to the store tomorrow anyway. Maybe I'll see whether they have pedometers.

How's everyone else doing?

Hey walkers! Let's get to walking again!

We'll be starting a new round on November 1, hiking Vermont's 273-mile Long Trail. This will give us time to get into shape while we decide on a longer trail. I was thinking of the the Pacific Crest Trail -- any other suggestions? Something in another country would be cool.

The Green Mountain Club website describes the Long Trail this way:

"Hiking the entire 273 miles of the Long Trail from the Massachusetts to the Canadian border, is a unique and wonderful experience. People of all ages and backgrounds can be found amongst the list of Long Trail end to enders. Many do it in one hike, taking anywhere from 20 to 30 days. Still others take 20 years to complete the 273 mile trek. Most hikers hike from shelter to shelter stringing together many hiking days at a time. Others complete the trail by taking only day hikes. There is no prescribed mode for doing it, only that you cover the entire length of the trail on foot."

Here's a pointer to a map from 1917 :) I hope I can find a better one, or at least a description with mileage!