Here’s a story about a guy who’s hiked The Appalachian Trial, the Pacific Crest Trail and the Continental Divide trail. And he’s only 30. Here’s his trail journal. His thoughts on whether to hike th CDT alone:

ALONE OR PARTNER? This is a tough one. I have the utmost respect for
someone who hikes this trail by themselves. It can be very lonely. If I
didn’t have Lisa I probably would have gone crazy. It’s lonely out here.
This was the biggest year ever for the CDT, and will probably grow each
succesive year. Maybe 30 or so people finished. Take that number and
figure half go south and half go north and everyone starts at different
times. You won’t be seeing many hikers. We didn’t see a single SOBO
thru-hiker on the trail from southern Montana until the last town in New
Mexico. We did see a couple NOBO’s, a few section hikers and a few
SOBO’s in town. There are a lot of hunters in parts of CO and NM (if you
are SOBO), and in the National Parks, but that’s it. No one day hikes
99% of the CDT. So the point is that if you go it alone make sure you
are mentally prepared for it. Or bring a friend. Just make sure you can
hike together. Or bring an Ipod with 10,000 songs.

My main thought about this guy is: if you’ve done it all at 30, what’s left for the rest of your life? (For the purposes of this blog, the option of finding another hobby will not be considered).