Date: 2012-02-06
To: Can You Over Plan and Over Prepare?
Miles today: 0.0

OVER PLANNING ¢ WILL TOO MUCH INFORMATION OR TOO MUCH PREPAREDNESS TAKE YOU OFF-TRAIL? Ok ¢¦ are there situations in life where one can have so much information available that the very nature of the availability of the resources can cause the situation to fail? Well, I suspect there are many issues, topics and situations in life where this concept will apply and I think hiking the AT may be one of them. In my earlier journals, I have this impulse or need to preface my text by saying in part, do what you want ¢¦ or not. This is because at some point on the trail, you will experience first hand how very true this is. When providing any kind of advice, you open yourself to others who seem to feel the need to convince you (or themselves) that their way is the right way. In reading advice from other experienced hikers I came across an entry that obviously has experience hiking and knowing what the AT is about. It can be found at www.whiteblaze.net/forum/content.php?36 There are 18+ paragraphs of a well worded preface prior to actually giving any advice or offering an OPINION on the topic itself. That¢s right, not a fact, not the gospel, not a thesis that needs to be defended ¢¦ just an OPINION. Take this at heart as you prepare for your hike. Read the above forum information. There is a lot that can be gained just by understanding what the preface is saying. Then you can even read the context and learn even more about the topic discussed.So, again, I ask the question, can you be over prepared to hike the AT? Is there such a thing as having too much information or preparedness? I think the answer is that it is not the amount of information there is to be taken in, because that is endless, but rather what you do with it. I think the best example is again reflected in ones pack weight. The trail story I want to share here is on top of Springer Mountain at the beginning of my 2010 hike. I stayed at the Hikers Hostel with my son. The two of us, in addition to 7 other hikers were taken in the passenger van by Josh to the base of Springer. My son and I were the third of the group to reach the first white blaze or the last blaze if you are a south bounder. On top, the hiker that reached the top first was already fussing in his pack and spreading his gear around. I noticed that he had an expedition sized pack that was stuffed to the brim. He had every side pouch filled and even had gear hanging off of it. Of course with my inquisitive nature and appreciation of the concept of a ¢Springer Mountain Madness Moment¢, I just had to ask. Although the size of his pack certainly supported his reply, I remain to this day simply in awe of what he said. Are you ready? No really ¢¦ are you ready? ¢¦.. 70 pounds. My back, legs, body and mind are in pain even today as I think of this pack weight. When a trained and well conditioned soldier goes into a combat zone their pack is something like 60-65 pounds of gear. Remember that a soldier¢s gear needs to contain everything needed to keep him alive and ready for anything that comes their way to STAY ALIVE FROM ARMED PEOPLE TRYING TO KILL THEM. In addition, they carry guns, ammunition, explosives and the like, to beat the enemy. And here, on top of Springer, a person who has come out to hike nearly 2200 miles is carrying more weight then a heavily armed, trained and well conditioned combat soldier. The hiker seemed, in effect, to be going to battle against the trail.As I started my inquiry, it became clear that I just shouldn¢t ask these questions anymore. One example of what he was carrying were two hip belts to his pack IN ADDITION to the belt that was already on the pack. I didn¢t even know a hip belt could contain so much padding and material. In all, he indicated that he was carrying over five pounds of pack hip belts. True. He indicated that with his research, he just wasn¢t sure what belt would work best, therefore, he thought he would bring all of them and try to determine which offered the best choice. Really? ¢¦ Really? Unfortunately, yes¢¦ really.Well, he was a younger guy that one would think could carry such an enormous pack weight. My son was hiking with me during his spring break so we were not in any hurry in reaching Neel¢s Gap where he would get off trail and head back to school. As such, we poked around for the day and stayed at Hawk Mountain Shelter on night one. At 7.8 miles it was not a large mile day and was fun. Mr. 70 pounder made it there about two hours after us. Not that it is a race but keep in mind my son and I were poking around all day. Mr. 70 pounder looked a bit stiff but made it none-the-less. The next day ¢¦ 7.3 miles to Gooch Mountain Shelter. Again, our theme for the day was just to have fun and take our time. Mr. 70 pounder made it to the shelter for the night. Next day ¢¦ Wood¢s Hole Shelter ¢¦ 27 miles in three days. Not bad but certainly not a big push. Again, Mr. 70 pounder made it to the shelter, but after day three he just was not in very good shape. Stiff, sore and a bit broken, on day three, he was already starting to show signs of just not enjoying his experience and despite his seemingly being well prepared for the hike he was questioning being on the trail. The next morning he decided to take a zero day in the shelter. Day three, 27 miles into the hike and his mind game was already beaten down because of his physical situation which was as a result of the pack weight that would, at least in theory, would offer an answer to any trail condition. Well, to make a long story short, I never heard a word about him again. I think he got off-trail when he hit Neel¢s Gap. Did his ¢high¢ level of preparedness cause him to get off-trail?Well, here, I think this is a very good example of how being too prepared for every option will cause you not to finish. He simply looked at everything that he thought could go wrong and carried all the options to get him through it. Unfortunately, by taking the action steps to carry everything he needed to get through everything, by preparing for every variable, the very nature of his preparedness caused him to get off-trail after only 30.7 miles. Don¢t over prepare. Make informed decisions from the start. Many aspects of the trail will embrace the LESS IS MORE philosophy. Take advice from the many sources available and decide what works for you. Read the preface of the website mentioned above. Then the next day, go back to it and read it again. And again, until you really understand what the preface is saying. You will ultimately make it to the big K ¢¦ or not .. with your decisions. That¢s what makes completing the trail all that much more rewarding. It¢s ALL ABOUT YOU. Don¢t over plan. Don¢t over stress. Less is more. I said in my first journal that in order to complete the trail there is only one event that we all have in common. That is, we all actually have to HIKE the trail. With so much time put into this one element of completing the trail, try to make all your HIKING time as enjoyable as you can. There is a video on the trail where a girl is interviewed about her experiences of the trail. She looks around from left-to-right-to-left-to-right and simply points out that ¢this¢ is what I see ¢all day¢. She was simply glancing at the trees ¢¦ and more trees. Not every mile of the trail is glamorous in most hikers¢ point of view. In fact, most of the miles will be considered as boring by most hikers standards and yet no matter how you hike it, every mile needs to pass under your feet. Perhaps it is better to prepare more to complete the seemingly boring act of HIKING and less on over preparing for the variables that your research tells you that you MIGHT experience during your hike.