Bookworm
'It is an awful truth that suffering can deepen us, give us luster to our colors, a richer resonance to our words. That is, if it doesn't destroy us, if it doesn't burn away the optimism and the spirit, the capacity for visions and the respect for simple yet indispensible things.' - Anne Rice
Down time on the hike doesn't just come from bedding down in a shelter or tent. These moments aren't as fleeting as we fear -- we just have to take them. One of my favorite downtime activities was shared by many of the hikers: reading. Every mail drop had a paperback in it. Some of it light fiction (including some Anne Rice), some of it classics from Carroll and Chaucer. Plopping down on a sunny rock or on a log with my bare feet in a stream, an hour's respite from the walking on overtaxed body parts could make the pack feel lighter and blast away those last few miles to the next camp.
Books were even shreaded; a spent chapter left behind with a shelter register, and the next chapter a shelter or two later -- serial reading shared amongst us all. There was a LOT of reading on Trail.