3 down... 87 to go

I don't know if they count every little step, every little rise in the trail, but apparently there are 90 miles to the AT.  Vertically!  Compare this to the 52-vertical mile PCT, which is longer and generally considered more exotic or difficult, and you can understand why a lot of people get severely set back during their first weeks!  I've heard a little bit of talk while over here... people say they've done the PCT and this trail here is kicking their butts - others say it doesn't compare to the long stretches of desert, or other bizarre terrains.  I think the important thing to take from all of this is that they are very different trails, and you have to be smart about both of them, but in different ways, and that you really just have to do both because they're pretty different.

I started off easy, going 9, 8, 7, 10 mile days.  We've since bumped it up to some 11 and 13 days... and this is good for a beginning.  There are a lot of rolling hills, and rapid changes in elevation.  Just yesterday I decided to take it to this 1000ft elevation gain over 1 mile without stopping.  That's about a 20% grade, btw.  Trucks are told to downshift when the grade gets as steep as 7%.  And if you somehow manage to go 3mph, which is an average pace for walking to get somewhere, that's 20 minutes of strenuous elevation gain, with a 25lb pack on your back!  It turns out my heart rate was up around 200bpm when I finally reached the summit.  I hope I get in even better shape over the next few weeks!

- Sudoku