Monday, March 31, 2008

oohh - illegal

Technically - you are not allowed to camp on the KATY trail itself - only in private campgrounds. Assumed this was to help practice "leave no trace" - if everyone camped out - eventually someone would not respect the land. Actually I think it has more to do with the fact that there are really no spots to camp. Most of the trail has a huge ditch on either side. It was getting late in the day here - and we had 6 more miles to go - part of a 26 mile day that we thought we could do! Honestly - anything over 18 miles and my body is ready to stop. We did a couple of 22's and knew that we couldn't make a 26, especially having to go through the night. So we stopped on the side and pitched our tents. The next morning the local Conservation guys drove through and we talked to them. We had already taken down camp - but I think they would have understood. We were just two guys in one man tents - not an entire Scout troop. Speaking of Scout's - I never was one - but believe their motto is "to always be prepared". I learned that "being prepared" means a lot of weight on your back. You really learn what you "need" vs "want" when you carry it on your back all day. By day 4, I stopped at a PO and mailed 6 lbs of stuff home. Again - the only way to prepare for a thru hike is to do a thru hike.

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