I've been posting for a while on another thread where someone passed away after what can only be described as a heroic effort to walk to safety. I seem to be getting a bit of heat saying I think I could walk 40 miles. Lots of people have posted about how I'm unfamiliar w/the conditions there, etc, so that situation aside, I stand by this basic belief: If you're in terrible shape, all the equipment in the world isn't going to do you much good.

So here we go, I think the most important thing any of us carries is his or her brain, a little bit of careful thought and planning can substitute for a lot of gear and avoid a lot of bad situations.

Next up I'd say what kind of shape you're in is essential. I'm sure there are people here who are physically disabled and if I'm frank, I think that is a huge disadvantage in a bad situation. For the rest of us though, and I consider myself one of these people, the fat and lazy, I think we have to work on physical fitness. I'm no guru. I regularly run 3 miles in 30 minutes, I have run 6 miles in 60 minutes, I know I can run 5 miles. With that in mind, I think going nice and slow I could walk a great deal further. I could use to lose 30 lbs (maybe 40? wink ), I could use to build some upper body strength, I could gain from building more running endurance. In other words, I'm far from perfect.

I should say prior to October of 2009 I'd attempted to run 3 miles ONCE and failed, that was when I was 17. I'm now 27 and through a bit of hard work, I can do it pretty easily.

So fellow members, where do you stand, do we all spend more time typing and when the going gets tough will be collapsed on the side of the road or trail catching our breath or does everybody make sure to spend some time keeping their second most important piece of gear fresh? If I had to guess I'd say we run the spectrum from people who are out of breath if they run up a flight of stairs (I know I still do sometimes!) to those who regularly run marathons and hike the Appalachian, etc.

How important is physical fitness to being equipped?