Asclepius:

I think that if we're working under our basal rate of fat oxidation, we can go pretty much forever.  The problem is that real-world effort often requires little bursts of energy, which come at a large premium after 12+ hours of continual effort.  Avoiding them whenever possible is the key to ultra-endurance.

Samantha:

You're welcome!  I like to emphasize that 'paleo' is a tool that allows us to live fulfilling lives, not an end in itself.

Paul:

Absolutely!  You're capable of more than you think you are. 

Note that I carried food with me in case of a crisis: being rescued by a helicopter isn't "paleo". 

Tim:

No, it wasn't.  That picture was taken at the beginning of the hike, and features someone else's coolers and trash.  I've added an explanatory note to the article.

Christopher:

AHS was wonderful, but I felt the need to get out and actually do something ancestral and healthy afterward.

Katie:

That's exactly the point I'm making at the end of the article.  If gasoline supplies are interrupted or highways are blocked, how are you going to feed yourself and your family, let alone escape the area?  Most people are effectively paralyzed without their cars, and they don't need to be.

Ash:

As a functional paleo eater, I don't proscribe high-fat dairy for those who tolerate it well -- as I appear to.  I do minimize casein and lactose, from which any health issues spring, so I very rarely eat cheese and never drink milk.  The Greek yogurt I eat periodically is over 80% fat, contains very little protein, and the lactose has essentially all been fermented.

Peggy:

Absolutely.  One of the biggest benefits of paleo, for me, has been that food no longer controls me.  All my life I had to eat every 3-4 hours or I became cranky and irritable.  I still enjoy food greatly...but I don't need constant sugar hits to keep me going.  Metabolic flexibility for the win!

Timothy:

I worked in cities for many, many years to be able to move to Tahoe...which is still more far urban than Lone Pine, the Eastern Sierra town nearest Whitney.  It's been worth it: though my lifestyle involves less techno-toys, I could never have written The Gnoll Credo in a city.

"The urban oubliette" is a great phrase.  As we live our lives, our focus slowly narrows to only that which is directly in front of us -- unless we make special efforts to widen it.  If we're not careful, we find ourselves with wrinkles and gray hair, suddenly realizing that we'll never do all the things we always thought we would.

I don't know how old you are, but my advice is this: your first goal in life should be to figure out a way to support yourself that doesn't depend on your physical location.  Then you can move to wherever makes you happy.  You'll probably have to settle for a lower income and lower standard of living...but even a vacation destination usually has lower cost of living than a city, and I value being able to (for instance) ride singletrack trails out the door of my house over owning an expensive new car.

Paul:

I'm in good shape -- but I'm not an exceptional athlete.  Like I said to Asclepius, if we're working under our basal rate of fat oxidation, our limitation becomes injuries and physical degeneration, not strength or endurance.  And I find that periodic craziness like this, plus small amounts of daily exercise, leaves me in far better shape and spirits than "chronic cardio" ever did.

My point isn't to brag: people day-hike Whitney every summer day, though the ones I talked to thought I was crazy for doing it fasted.  My point is that most of us are capable of far more than we realize -- and pushing our limits periodically is most likely far more effective than a much greater amount of total effort that always remains comfortably under our limits.

Dealing with the soreness: I think that recovery after such heroic efforts is one time where it's best to overconsume protein.  And stretch...I find myself stretching every few hours in order to keep my muscles from healing in a tightened state, which also seems to decrease the net stiffness and soreness.

Your latest thyroid article is amazing, by the way.  It'll take me a few more readings to fully process it, but I'm already seeing some of the connections you've made.

JS

Timothy:

Thank you.  I took great pains to make sure every sentence of TGC was meaningful and without extra words.  It's Gryka's story, and I've done my best to honor her by telling it as best I can.

Once you realize escape is a function of income untethered to location, it gets a lot easier.  People focus on trying to get a "job" out in the country, which is hopeless.  If jobs paid anything it would be a city, not a town or the country.

Fmgd:

Exploring is part of the fun...being somewhere you've never been.

I deliberately didn't take any maps with me: I wanted to be in my surroundings, not at a point on a map.  Maps can help, but they also constrain.

Karen:

We are supposed to live in nature, not in buildings or cities.  The safety and comfort are nice, but they're not what we've been selected to understand, appreciate, or live in. 

There's a reason people with money buy a whole bunch of property they don't actually use...preferably next to a body of water.  We can easily measure our appreciation for nature in cold, hard cash.

JS