Backpacks and Blisters

Back in April I took to the trail, planning on covering about 230 miles in a little over 2 weeks. It didn't quite end up like I'd planned.

I started out so hopeful...

The short of it is that I made it over half way, but by that point I had blisters on all my toes and the back of each heel, several toenails that were actively falling off, and on top of that, I'd twisted my ankle. In short, I was very much in danger of causing serious injury to myself if I kept going. As it was, it took weeks before my feet fully recovered.


So what went wrong? Well, I'd hiked less over the winter than usual, and so I wasn't in good hiking trim. At least not as good as I was back during my Maryland hike. I'd also replaced my hiking boots, and while I did break them in prior to going on the trail, they didn't fit *quite* right for the type of long distance hiking I ended up using them for. Those were the two main factors to my having to my failure to complete the hike.

Not being in top shape probably wouldn't have been such a major factor if I hadn't done something kind of stupid... I pushed myself harder than I needed to. The 230 mile goal was tough. I knew it was, and I'd hoped that if I got a good solid start from the very first day, any slowdowns later would merely cut into the buffer I'd built up early in the hike. Unfortunately this meant that from day one, I was going 18+ mile days. With not great boots and 50lbs on my back... It just didn't work. I pushed myself too hard too fast, and paid the price for it. Recovery wasn't quick either. While I lost the first toenail within a day of going off trail, the last of 4 didn't finally give up the ghost until just a couple of weeks ago. And I've also been... reluctant to go on long hikes since I've been back, even after my feet got better. Part of that has been the summer heat, but the larger part of it has been the psychological hurdle.

It's time to get over it, and to get back on the trail. I've got 100 miles of Pennsylvania I still need to cross, from the 501 shelter to the Delaware Gap. My original plan had been to cover that distance in 6 days, doing an average of 16 to 17 miles a day. If I knock it up to 8 days, I come in at a far more realistic and feet preserving 12-13 miles a day.

I'm most likely not going to be able to take 8 days off to go back on the trail until spring. That doesn't stop me from getting back on the local trails and knocking out 4-6 miles on the weekend and getting back into shape! So that's my plan going forward, 4-6 mile hike per week, ideally with a pack. Unfortunately one of my usual hiking companions, my corgi Lucy has a knee injury, which means that for at least the next month, she's benched, and I'm going to feel a little guilty going hiking without her. Do I take her sister Alice with me? Don't know...

Wilderness Encounters on the AT

One of the things I noticed early on hiking the trail is that you spend a lot of time looking down, watching where you put your feet. Aside from the few really flat and gravel covered sections, the ground on the AT is scattered with rocks, uneven, and in spots muddy, which can make for treacherous footing. A little twist of the ankle, or a stubbed toe hurts, and can slow you down. Just stumbling on a loose rock with a pack on your back can throw you to the ground.

Remembering to look up and around is something that you find you have to remind yourself to do.

What does this have to do with encounters? It strongly impacts the distance at which the encounter happens!

This is a list of creatures I encountered on the trail:

• Human, AT Thru-Hiker
• Human, AT Lifer
• Human, AT Section Hiker
• Human, AT Day Hiker
• Human, AT Volunteer
• Human, Law Enforcement
• Snake, Large Black
• Snake, Ribbon
• Turtle (not mutant or ninja that I could tell)
• Deer
• Squirrels
• Chipmunks
• Goat, wild
• Birds (various)
• Bugs (various)

The various human encounters, when they didn’t happen at a shelter, usually happened at a distance of 5-15 yards.

Both snake encounters happened at 1-2 yards

The (non-human) mammalian encounters and the bird encounters ranged from about 2-15 yards.

Yes, that's a wild goat

Bug encounters usually happened at 0-1 yards.

Encounter distance in the Rules Cyclopedia is based entirely on light levels. I had good light the entire time, but the 4d6x10 yards range is ridiculous in the woods. Sure, in a field, or a grassy plain or something open like that, but there is no way I was spotting anyone at anything even half way approaching 240 yards away unless it was a marching band or something else similarly loud.

Might be a teenage turtle

While I don’t think I’ve ever used the encounter distance chart, since I usually base it on what’s happening directly at the table, but if I did, I would take the result as the maximum distance the PC’s would spot the counter on a featureless plain, and then start knocking it down to a more reasonable distance based on the terrain. I’d also be more likely to impose a penalty on surprise checks in situations where the footing is uneven.

Creatures Not Encountered:

• Bears
• Snake, Poisonous
• Mountain Men
• Cats, wild
• Boars (generally only found further to the south)
• Moose (generally only found further to the north)

How Busy on the Trail?

In my Wilderness Travel is SLOW! post, Pippin asked “Any comments on how long adventurers would have to spend on activities related to travel: stops, food, water, visibility, other stuff that struck you during the trip?”

Absolutely!

To be fair, my thoughts on the time and effort for these activities reflect the fact that I was backpacking with 20th and 21st century technology. Things might be a little different in a fantasy game...

During the day, I spent relatively little time doing much of anything other than walking, looking around, and snacking on GORP, granola bars, and snickers. Moving at speed (even a slow speed) while carrying a pack burns a lot of calories. While the snacking wasn’t constant, it was frequent. I never stopped for “lunch”, though I frequently stopped around lunch time if there was an overlook or shelter with a picnic table to take off my pack and eat a handful of something. These stops rarely lasted more than 15-20 minutes. If water was available, I’d drink as much as I could before setting off.

I’d also use the outhouse at just about every shelter I’d pass. This resulted in my never having to dig a hole or use my spade. Anytime I needed to urinate when I wasn’t near a shelter I’d just find a bush off the trail to hide behind.

One thing that did take extra time was foot care. This was especially true the afternoon of the first day and the entire second day. Having to stop and drain blisters and bandage my feet always took longer than expected. This was in part due to the fact that the cheap knockoff swiss army knife I had with me was crap. Not a single sharp blade on it. I ended up using the tip of the corkscrew to pierce the blisters.

¾ nights I stayed in shelters, which limited the amount of camp making I needed to do significantly. Basically I could drop my pack, pull out my little steno and stove, and make dinner. Unroll my sleeping bag, and I was pretty much done. I did have a fire some nights, which necessitated collecting wood. Since we weren’t keeping a watch, and didn’t need to keep the fire going all night, our wood needs were relatively light. I say we because there was always someone else at the shelters with me.

In general, I’d say that as long as the adventurers have at least an hour between stopping to camp, and sunset, they’ll probably be good. Of course while camp setup is going on, they’re going to all be noisy and distracted.

The perfect time for a hostile or curious random encounter!

More on encounters in my next post...

Wilderness Travel is SLOW!

It turns out that walking 90 miles (give or take) in 5 days (not the 4 I’d hoped) with about 30lbs of stuff strapped to your back will not kill you. However, if you’re not used to it, it won’t feel good. Yet at the same time it’ll still be amazingly satisfying, even as you duct taping your feet for the 5th day in a row.

If you’ve never been on it, the Appalachian Trail is a well marked, well maintained wilderness trail. It’s extremely difficult to get lost, and it’s designed with many wonderful overlooks and rest areas. The week I spent on the trail had wonderful weather, far more reminiscent of early September than of late July. Still summery, but not too hot or humid. It never rained while I was on the trail, and only briefly at night.

In spite of these nearly ideal conditions, I averaged only around 2.25mph on the trail over the course of the 5 days. Some places were faster, some slower. At no point did I ever feel like I was making a brisk pace, except maybe the first mile or two. My normal hiking (without a pack) speed is much closer to 3.25mph.

Wilderness Travel is SLOW, even on a good trail.

Thru-Hikers who’ve been on the trail for weeks and months don’t make much better time than I did. 30 miles in a day is doable, at a forced march pace and full day duration. I did 26.32 miles my first day, and it took me over 12 hours. Terrible speed for a marathon, but not bad with a heavy and unwieldy pack. It also did a number on my feet, and on my shoes.

Day 2 I did about 15 miles to Harpers Ferry, and then another 4+ miles around town (2 miles up to and back from the AT Conservancy HQ). And then another 4 miles back onto the the trail to get to a campsite. Oh, and right at the end there? A 1,000 foot climb up a cliff. That’s 23 miles on day 2 for those keeping track.

The next 3 days were spent at a much shorter pace, around 13 or so miles a day. This was only somewhat voluntary, as my feet were pretty badly blistered by Wednesday (day 3). No, I’m not going to share pics of my blisters. I didn’t take any! I did count them, and at the worst, I had a total of 9. A week later, I’m finally all healed up.

So how does that compare to wilderness movement speeds in D&D? Well, in RC D&D, with my 30lb pack (300cn), I would be considered not encumbered, and able to move 36 miles a day.

Not so much. 30lbs strapped to your back is at LEAST lightly encumbered, and I’ll tell you that it felt more like heavily encumbered the longer I had it strapped to me. We’ll be more generous than my shoulders and hips felt, and say I was lightly encumbered. At that weight, on a trail, I can move up to 24 miles a day. That’s actually a pretty reasonable speed for someone in shape and used to hoofing it with a heavier pack. Maybe with more training (and thicker calluses) 30lbs wouldn’t feel encumbering? I doubt it. And even unencumbered, the Maryland Challenge (41 miles in 1 day) usually forces those who do it to at least take a rest day after. I can’t imagine that doing 36 feels much better. That’s still 12 hours of walking at 3mph, without breaks. That’s a long day, no matter how you look at it.