My interest in hearing what people my age are doing is not because I want to try and accomplish some arbitrary distance to prove something to myself or anyone else. Like most others here I just want to be out there and enjoying the outdoors. My main interest is solely for hike planning purposes. When I look at a trail map I want to be able to plan my take out points realistically. If it is 30 miles from the trailhead to the first access point where I can arrange to be picked up then I just want to know that I should arrange pickup in three days rather than two. The same thing applies to sights that I might want to see or camp near. I don't want to expect to get somewhere in an unrealistic time.

For me busting my butt and finishing a hiking day exhausted just to say I covered a certain mileage that day is not what it is about. I am trying to ease back into this backpacking sensibly and plan to do a lot of walking, prepping and research before I do my first trail hike which I currently hope will be the Foothills Trail since I live so near to it.