Steve Vaught of thefatmanwalking.com has been getting a lot of warnings in recent days about how strenuous it is to walk up the rolling hills of western Pennsylvania. But he's not impressed.
When I went through these little hills we have out West there were several that were a 6% grade over 12 miles. Now that’s a freakin’ hill. The Union Pass, Cajon Pass, the hill up to Flagstaff, those were brutal, and I was about 70 lbs. heavier then I am now. Since that time I have lost body weight and reduced my pack weight by more than half. So now I traverse these hills a lighter and fitter man. That doesn’t make them easy by any stretch, but they aren’t going to “kill” me either.
Go read the rest of his April 15 journal entry at the bottom of this page.