Lessons from the Trail: Running the Clock

On this week's episode of Lessons from the Trail I am going to discuss running the time clock.  No, I do not mean diddle dawdling while working waiting for that time clock to run out and then standing in front of it for 10 minutes while jack jawing.  What I mean is working every single dadgum minute from the time you clock in to the time you have to clock out and having to run to the time clock at the end of the day so that you don't go over your time.  That is what I do and I put 110% into all my work and never quit.  I apply the same mentality to hiking.  From the moment the sun comes up to the moment the sun goes down I am hiking and I have a great time while doing it.  Yes I do take a 30-40 minute lunch break, stop and be friendly to other hikers by talking, and do stop to enjoy views but I enjoy staying on the move by hiking.  People ask me how I did the miles I did through Maine or how I got out so fast.  What I tell them is I run the clock and hike as long as I have daylight.  Every single day there is less daylight so I have to take advantage of the long hours while I can before it gets really cold.  There are so many thru hikers (SOBO's and NOBO's) that quit at 4-5pm and just sit around shelters smoking dope or talking.  Or they light up a joint at every single cool view so they never get anywhere.  I usually pull up into the shelter area or campsite around 7:30-7:45pm right before it gets dark so that I can use all hours.  8pm on the trail is called hiker midnight so most hikers are passed out asleep by then.  By pulling into sleeping areas as late as I do all the hikers are starting to fall asleep and have already smoked their dope so I don't have to be around it or see it usually but the smell lingers which is annoying.  The one issue with finish hiking late is I have to be super quiet when rolling in so that I don't wake others up just out of courtesy.  Everybody has to hike their own hike and this is how I do mine.  If drugs weren't such an issue on the trail maybe I would quit earlier in the day or hike with more people to enjoy the trail community more but that doesn't look like its going to change any time soon.  So if you are considering doing a section hike or thru hike think about how many hours a day you are going to hike.  If you do a 5 day hike and you hike those extra 3 hours a day at 2mph for the week you are going to cover 30 more miles in those 5 days than if you had quit earlier in the day each day.  Those miles stack up really quickly when doing a long distance hike like I am so you will want to plan your trips according to how long/fast you hike.