I'll offer you should feel darn good about how you held up. I've been telling people on the forum here for years that Ozark trails are some of the toughest you'll hike anywhere and 10 miles a day here is the limit I recommend for hikers in darn good shape.

I keep my hikes around 8 miles or under, generally closer to 6 miles a day, because I like to dawdle around a lot and I mostly bushwhack (hike off trail).

It's important to note that bushwhacking here is not more difficult than hiking our trails. It's slower for sure but it's very often quite a bit easier.

In my opinion when you start doing more than 6-8 miles a day here you're zooming by some spectacular scenic spots that are well worth spending time at and I believe it's almost shameful if you don't.

I routinely turn down hikes with friends who insist on doing that many miles. My whole purpose for being out there is to immerse myself in that scenic beauty and I just will not rush by it. Sometimes I just stay there for a day or two and ditch whatever plan I had. If I'm lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time, I'm staying there. My only regrets when I've got back stemmed from not stopping. I've never regretted not making more miles.



The past week has been about as good as it gets here. Good to hear you got out and enjoyed it!!!