The Initiative…12,500 miles, one year, will he do it?

"I would rather see a society that has bad joints at 50 that heart attack and child obesity at 30…"

You were born into a favored society, Robert; ours has both in abundance. ;-)

> We used to run animals to death…
That, I think, is a great myth.
Like the fanciful drawings of a bunch of tiny humans with stone-tipped spears trying to bring down a huge woolly mammoth.

Cheers

Persistence hunting works, and is still practiced today. How it's a myth eludes me. I think that it's pretty well established that stone tipped spears were indeed used to hunt mammoth too.

"That, I think, is a great myth."

Perhaps. Still, there are some serious articles on the subject in Current Anthropology, a peer reviewed journal published by the University of Chicago Press(yes, Roger, there is intelligent life on this side of the pond, too, with universities, scientific journals, and all the other accoutrements of the intellectual life). Also, a very interesting clip of a persistence hunt on Youtube which, while not definitive and arguably open to editing, is still interesting to watch. If you're interested in a serious presentation of the evidence supporting persistence hunting, do a Google search of "persistence hunting", and all of the above and more will be yours to peruse at your leisure. The references to Current Anthropology are to be found in Wikipedia, under general references.

Without commenting either way on whether or not persistence hunting has ever really worked, there's a very entertaining episode of This American Life that touches upon the subject

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/80/running-after-antelope

Why go to the danger of spearing your prey at close range when you can stampede them over a cliff? Buffalo Jumps and death pits were a solution to direct confrontation for "persistence" hunters.
On the CDT there were many such places where the native Americans stampeded the buffalo. In fact they even went to the trouble of arranging rock cairns to direct prey into paths where hunters could spring up in ambush.
Chasing a animal with a stone tipped spear is totally unneccesary when you can get the landscape to do the work for you.
I think the height of such guile by man is demonstrated by the ancient Inuit practice of concealing the soft flexible rib bone of a seal folded in half in a piece of meat to bait polar bear. the bear would consume the meat whole and die a slow agonizing death over the next weeks as the bone sprung open and obstructed it's bowels. All the hunter needed to do was follow it's footsteps.

"there's a very entertaining episode of This American Life that touches upon the subject"

Not to mention all the soaps, and shows like The Dating Game. ;=)

The strategy of Samuel H. Gardner (as he calls himself on posts at WB — he hasn't been around any trail long enough to pick up a trail name) actually seems sound, about the only part of his planning that made much sense. IF somebody were to want to pull off this stunt of the four longest national scenic trails in 365 days, doing the NCT in the winter would be logical as that trail is the most passable of any of the four during the cold months. But as Samuel H. Gardner's trip has shown, "most passable" and "capable of being hiked at a high MPD" are two different critters.

For the past couple of days, Samuel H. Gardner has picked his daily mileage up to 10. Previously, since he hit the hills of the FLT co-location section of the NCT, he's been making about six to seven miles per day (at least on days he reports his mileage). He says there's a solid crust now so he can go faster. Anyway, is there anybody here with an idea of what kind of performance 10 mpd represents on snow shoes? Six seemed pretty darn slow, even if snowshoes aren't the fastest form of locomotion. Is ten much better?

Samuel H. Gardner's trek seems to have devolved into a series of overnight campouts interspersed with leisurely day hikes and side trips to yogi meals and couch surfing stays from the local residents. Despite that, one of the blogs at NatGeo decided to pay him some attention, a blogger named Mary Anne Potts who decided to give Samuel H. Gardner some publicity. The blog entry is set up like an interview, but it might not have really been done live. Quite possibly she just e-mailed a set of questions to Samuel H. Gardner and he answered in writing. Notice the frequent, gratuitous use of exclamation marks, a hallmark of the writing style of fourth-graders and Samuel H. Gardner. He's no ad for home schooling, that's for sure.

http://ngadventure.typepad.com/blog/2011/02/trail-report-12500-mile-all-in-trek-hiker-samuel-gardner.html#more

"Anyway, is there anybody here with an idea of what kind of performance 10 mpd represents on snow shoes? Six seemed pretty darn slow, even if snowshoes aren't the fastest form of locomotion. Is ten much better?"

Of course, it depends drastically on the conditions. But I'm inclined to think that 10mpd on snowshoes, out there, right now, is more equivalent to 23mpd than 33mpd on dry trails.

Geez, sounds like a couple people really dislike this Sam fellow. I haven't really followed his trip, and don't really care if it makes it or not. If he does (it is going to take more than a year), then good for him.

At least he is out in the winter weather trying, while some of the arm-chair quaterbacks are sitting in their chairs criticizing him.

Yeah, I agree that his hike looked good on paper. Within the one year time frame he had origonally planned (now he is saying 18 mos) probably not much you can do. Take the best for the winter…that doesn't mean it is good. His stregic mistake was underestimating the time it would take to get into "hiking condition." He is currently just boosting his miles. (He was just doing the Conecticut Hill area, a mild grade.) Soo, I am guessing he is just getting into trail shape. An error here was not being in shape when he left. Again, for a high milage tour, he would have needed that. He should have been in training 6 weeks before he hit the trail. He could have started on the AT, though, saving the NCT and snowshoe work till the end when he was in better condition. I think he could have made 20-25mi per day till Maine, then a MUCH higher rate across the NCT. Then the CDT up and PCT down as winter set in again. Hopefully outrunning the worst of the winter storms. A close call…

At 18 months, he now has two winters to hike through. He could have done better with planning for actual trip length. Again, a bit of inexperience is showing. He should have waited till March or April to start his hike and started in the southern sections…moving north and south with the seasons and saving the NCT till last. Starting on one of the more southernly routes working north, maybe the PCT in April? Anyway, not quite what was planned…

He is doing fine for the 18+ months he has now planned on the route he started on. 2 weeks will put him out of the first winter and no more cold weather. Soon, he will be sending back some gear. GO! Now is the time to haul ass!

> Geez, sounds like a couple people really dislike this Sam fellow.

I don't think people dislike him, Nick. The general consensus of this thread seems to be that he set way loftier goals than possible and is now just on a regular ol' hiking trip. I think we all agree that we're stoked for our buddies and cohorts who are out taking regular ol' hiking trips but then again our buddies don't usually have national media campaigns associated with their regular ol' hikes.

Sam stated:

Don't usually have national media campaigns associated with their regular ol' hikes.

But think how much fun weekends would be if a press release was done every time a weekend hike was done? ;)

"Short, bald doofus in Boulder, CO to hike Bear Peak this weekend. Will attend birthday party for friend's son later. Plans on bringing beer. Please see media kit." :D

(Trying a little light heartedness about a spin-off thread from the Website That Will Not Be Named. :) )

> Plans on bringing beer.

I'm there. Who? What? Where? Beer!? I'm there.

Well, that was hypothetical quick weekend hike from a short, bald doofus in Boulder, CO…

I (Short? Check! Bald? Check! A doofus? My girlfriend says yes. Check!) plan on skiing this entire weekend (Tele or Nordic or both? :) ), but there WILL be beer at some point.. Mmm.. Beer.

Please see the media kit for the location of said beer.

"Anyway, is there anybody here with an idea of what kind of performance 10 mpd represents on snow shoes? Six seemed pretty darn slow, even if snowshoes aren't the fastest form of locomotion. Is ten much better?"

I have followed Sam's journal and I also have done a bit of snowshoeing and I'm struggling to make the math work. Specifically….. many of the 10 mile days include some road walking which should shoot his average way up. But there are posts where he describes very favorable conditions where his mileage should also be in the 15mpd range unless he truly is nursing a nagging injury. There seems to be a lot of time spent on fires and reading etc. Absolutely nothing wrong with that but that contrasts greatly with daily description of other fast hikers out there. There just doesn't seem to be any sense of urgency.

My experience with snowshoeing on fairly consolidated snow with a few inches of fresh powder usual has me doing 12-15 mpd at 10k+ in the Sierra with massive elevation gains. Effort wise, I would estimate that this would be about half my normal hiking distance at similiar elevation. I have had other times in a couple of feet of fresh powder where 5mpd would kick my butt. (at least with my MSR shoes)

It seems Sam is enjoying himself and that's the key.

I'm thinking about going snow camping this weekend. Probably hike three or four miles to a spot. Maybe build a fire and drink some whisky. Maybe not. When I come home I'll probably write about it on my blog. You can read it if you want to. Or not. I'll probably have a good time. Then again it might be cold and uncomfortable. We'll see.

I wonder if this All-In-Hike in one calender year is in fact do-able. I'd love to see some other more seasoned hikers attempt it.

Good question! I doubt it. Trauma hiked at near the limit of what is doable IMO. One would have to add another 2000 miles onto his hike to do the so called "initiative". That's another 5-6 miles a day. I'm sure that Trauma was walking at a very high speed, for many, many hours a day.

"I'm thinking about going snow camping this weekend. Probably. … We'll see."

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha…… Yeah. Good thought!

According to his journal and tweets, Sam took a zero yesterday for his sore hip and went back to Corning today to see a doctor. Got a Cortisone shot in his hip. If the hip is that inflamed and painful, he's going to at minimum need some extended rest – if there isn't a more serious underlying problem. Going back out and hiking after a Cortisone injection is likely just going to do more damage.

Len B,

Your singular commitment to reviewing and critiquing a young man's daily events discomforts me.

Yeah, tendon problems take a while to heal. Too bad. I hate to see someone hurt out hiking. He made it to Corning. I hope it feels better after a couple days, but if he continues to snowshoe it will likely get worse.

We just got another foot of snow with winds. In some places that will mean 4-5' drifts he will need to 'shoe over. He needs to stay put for a week. Spring is not far off, two more weeks of winter left. He can make it through this.

I hope he goes forward to the best of his abillity. He has my vote; plus he has got more miles on the trail this year, then dare I say all of us. All the best Sam!

Same from me. Corning is a nice place to be, I hope he takes some time to enjoy healing up!