Thanks for the advice. I certainly can see where hiking pace can be a real issue. The safety piece was more about injury and not about bears, or other wild life. (human and animal) I talked to one person whom was hiking with his wife and she ended up with a compound fracture along the AT. (This was years ago) If she was hiking alone I could have seen this to have been a real issue. As it happened it was a real adventure to get her out of the woods. Her husband hiked to the top of a hill, was able to get cell service and then got a 911 dispatcher that couldn't spell AT, let alone know where it was or how to get some to help. I am sure things would be a lot different today. I guess the time of year when I kicked off the hike will also effect the number of people I can run into.

I appreciate your comments and will take them into consideration when planing my gear.

Thanks

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