Tag backpacker

When Is the Right Time to Quit?

Reg Spittle Leave a comment

Today, Christmas Eve, Sue and I made a difficult call. It will mean we will miss tonight and Christmas Day with our adult kids.

They are just 64 miles away, but we are an ocean apart. An “atmospheric river” has California in its grip and it has sent wind and rain that has stranded us in a Sierra Nevada foothill RV park.

Have you ever quit a trek or other adventure?

This photo shows us at our finish line at Land’s End, England on the South West Coast Path after a day of horizontal rain. A few days earlier, fierce winds hit as we were about to walk miles on a clifftop above the ocean. Warnings to avoid the trail were broadcast. What should we do? We so badly wanted to walk, but we took a bus to the next town, avoiding what we considered a risk not worth taking.

It all brings me to this article in Backpacker. Sometimes it is smart to quit, or take a day off. When? Often it is a tough call.

Tonight, Sue and I very much miss being with our kids. But, if the weather cooperates, we’ll see them in a couple of days. It will be worth the wait. I am sure of that.

Tell us about your story in comments.

At 21, They Gambled Against the Odds

Reg Spittle Leave a comment

Impossible? Not for Jackson Parell and Sammy Potter.

Jackson Parell and Sammy Potter at the Appalachian Trail terminus.

In 2021, the twenty-one-year-olds became the youngest to complete thru-hiking’s triple crown during a calendar year. They are the eleventh and twelfth hikers to have conquered the Appalachian Trail, the Continental Divide Trail, and the Pacific Crest Trail in the same year.

They went through 12 pair of shoes each as they climbed and descended more than a million feet in elevation over 295 days.

Thanks to Backpacker, you can hear them describe the highs and lows of their nearly 8,000-mile journey on the podcast series Impossible Odds. Click on the link to get to know the pair of Stanford students, who are back at school—as roommates.