Marriage, Trail Relationships, and the AT

i wouldn't "test" a marriage with anything, much less a thru hike... paces vary, physical abilities vary. my ex wife liked to hike, but hated to backpack, the few times she did go with me i ended up carrying the bulk of the weight (as any good husband will)

my regular hiking buddy is 6'6" tall, his fiance is 5'1"... there is no way they can naturally hike at the same pace, one of them is always going to be outside their comfort zone. we took her out for her first backpacking trip, she did great. she dehydrated food, cooked little loaves of banana bread with protein powder, totally got into handing them out as trail magic. she took to the social aspects of the trail more than i ever have. but we stopped far more than i usually do. i never complained (gotta protect my best man status) but looking forward to future hikes, i see myself hiking ahead of them. no wife, or husband, wants to be left behind.

i gave a ride this spring to three thru hikers, from unicoi into helen. a couple, and his best friend. she was into it, the best friend was into it, but the boyfriend was WAY out of his depth. it was obvious to me he didn't really want to be there. he was a cool guy, i bought them all a beer, but afterwards joked with my friends she should drop him and hike on with his best friend. does that reflect on their relationship at all? no, i don't think so. i wonder what happened to them, the realist in me thinks he probably dropped... did she drop with him? who knows. if you're on a thru hike with your wife or husband, and they need to drop, for whatever reason.... will you hike on, or be a good spouse? its not even a close call, you're gonna drop.

i wont be starting my thru hike attempt with a partner. i'll just be one of the masses. i'm sure i'll fall in with others that share my pace, i'm sure that over the course of the entire trail my pace will change, as will the company around me. i wouldn't want to put that burden on a relationship.

Source: http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?89771-Marriage-Trail-Relationships-and-the-AT

joseph kony 2012 arian foster dennis kucinich apple ipad kony kony 2012 jim irsay