Tuesday, July 15-Not All Hikers Are Created Equal

I am not a morning person. My wife is lucky to get a grunt or groan out of me early in the morning. By 8 am I can be civil and by 9 I can act interested in what's going on around me. By 10 am I can think and even enjoy social interaction. After lunch I'm fired up and ready to tackle anything you can throw at me and I enjoy working hard well into the evening.

Knowing this, it shouldn't seem strange that my preferred hiking style is similar. I'm slow in the morning and enjoy hiking alone. Sometimes I put in my earbuds even though I'm not listening to anything...just so people will be reluctant to talk to me. I just plod along and let people pass me. By 10 am I'm thinking about a goal or destination for the day and by noon I'm starting to catch people who passed me earlier. After lunch, watch out! I'm usually plowing down the trail and hiking faster than most people on the trail. I like to hike late and squeeze in "just a few more miles." It's not uncommon to be setting up my tent by headlamp and crawling into bed just as the moon rises in the east. I blog for a few minutes, read, and quickly fall asleep.