Philosophy of hiking

[balzaccom]

There is a nice Spanish expression that came up during my hiking of the Camino Primitivo to Santiago de Compostela. I thought I'd post it here and see what you think:

“Si quieres ir Rápido, ve Solo.
Si quieres llegar Lejos, ve Acompañado”

If you want to go fast, go solo.
If you want to go far, go with more people.

The first one is a cardinal rule of hiking: the speed of a group of hikers is inversely proportional to the number of hikers in the group. When one person stops to tie a shoe, another readjusts their pack. At which point another chooses to find a bush and answer a call of nature. And what was a ten second stop becomes a ten minute stop. Repeat ad infinitum.

But the second one?

Thoughts?

 

[Janice]

I think that like so many things in life, it depends on the people and circumstances. We've had experiences where someone was tired or didn't want to go far, so the whole group didn't go far. And other times when one person really wanted to do something and the others were willing to go along. One time last spring the person who really wanted to do something was me - we were in the Needles, set up camp at Elephant Canyon, and I really wanted to go to Druid Arch. The others were tired and it didn't seem like it would happen. I was quiet (atypical for me) and pouty, so our friend said let's do it. My husband and son said ok, maybe because it was our friend suggesting we go instead of me (we can analyze those dynamics another time...). We all loved it (Druid Arch really is remarkable!) and everyone was so happy we did the extra time and miles. Nobody minded getting back and eating dinner in the dark!