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I went on a somewhat difficult conditioning hike (4000ft elevation gain) long time ago with a group of random people. Usually people tend to have poles, bring f
by sershe 4y ago
I went on a somewhat difficult conditioning hike (4000ft elevation gain) long time ago with a group of random people. Usually people tend to have poles, bring food, and look like hikers, etc on these kind of trips, but one guy shows up in jeans, sneakers, and half liter bottle of water for sustenance. My first thought was, "great, we have an unprepared noob, this will take twice as long", but the guy is super fast. Turns out he used to weigh a lot (I don't remember exactly, but I think >300lb), and now that he lost the weight a hike like this is super easy for him, it's like he used to do it with a barbell before ;)
- kristjansson 4y agoTangentially, I find people radically over-prepare for day hiking. Most people, on most trails, in most conditions, would be perfectly fine setting off in sneakers with a half liter of water.
- sershe 4y agoNot in PNW. All but the most popular and shortest trails have scree, slippery rock and stream crossings/water on trail except for 1-3 months of a given year. Snow too except 3-4 months of the year. I usually wear approach shoes (sneakers with grippy rubber bottom and also waterproof in the lower inch or so) on basic hikes. Half a liter is also not sufficient for most hikes with 2-3k+ gain, unless you want to be dehydrated, and not great if something happens (it takes a surprisingly long time to get someone not capable of walking off even the most basic trail).