Date: 2004-04-05
From: Newton MA

To: Newton MA
Miles today: 0.0

thoughts about the hike, continued...Layers of ExperienceOne of the most remarkable parts of a long-distance hike is that you experience it simultaneously at several different scales. On smooth trails, you can almost forget the steps your feet make and feel only the rhythm of movement, but in many places on the AT you need to watch where you step in relation to rocks, roots, puddles and bumps. In some places there are steep ledges and boulders to climb up or down, and your attention becomes almost microscopic, searching for cracks or tiny ledges that will keep the edge of your boot from slipping. Sometimes you need to consciously plan each step or sequence of steps and you watch the trail pass under you, foot by foot. In other places your attention flies above the trail. You watch rocks and roots that you could slip or trip on first approach and then disappear below your cone of vision. Some mechanism in the hiker¢s brain allows your feet to land in the spaces between the obstructions after they are no longer in view.While this is going on at the most detailed level of perception, you are also aware of landforms and features at a scale of a few hundred yards or more. The trail may climb or descend steeply over switchbacks to the top of a knob or the bottom of a ravine. The low points often have streams to cross. Sometimes you can also hear a stream or cascade far in advance of seeing it. Often, the trail is cut into the side of a hill; these trails follow the contours of the land or gradually rise or descend, curving around the knee of the hill or making a cusp as the contour line pulls into the hill at a ravine or brook. The trail may cross a saddle between two hills; this is called a ¢gap¢ in the South. AT hikers experience hundreds of these coves and gaps and summits.Using a contour map or trail profile, the hiker can relate the visible landforms to much larger mountains and valleys and ridges stretching miles from the starting point of the day¢s hike to the end point. Sometimes, you can actually see the terrain over long distances. The view from McAfee Knob to Tinker Cliffs, along the Franconia Ridge in the White Mountains, or from peak to peak in the Bigelows are examples of this. There are many places with long views along the AT, and they are all special. When you can¢t actually see the major milestones, smaller landmarks along the way show you where you are on the map.The largest scale of all is the entire trail from Springer to Katahdin. We through-hikers keep track of our progress as we cross state lines and major rivers like the Delaware or the Hudson.Thru-hikers also perceive time at several scales. Many of us learn to estimate how long it will take to reach a milestone a few miles away and guess where we are by looking at our watches. Long distance hikers are aware of the passing days, although not always aware of what day of the week it is, because there is no more work week and weekend to consider. Weather patterns change over a period of days, and hikers experience this rhythm in the arrival and passing of weather fronts. We watch the moon cycle through its phases several times in the course of the hike. At the largest time scale, a through-hiker experiences the change in seasons from spring to summer to fall. As we hike, the life cycles of trees and flowers unroll from the first green shoots to the fullness of summer foliage to the dying colors of fall. The weather changes from cold to hot, snow to rain and back again, and the length of the day provides a sun calendar.