Knowing that Benji and I are hiking together removes some of the pressure found while hiking with trail mates when you find differing paces. This is the nature of "hiking your own hike", sometimes it means sacrificing companionship. For the time being at least finding a balance that works for the both of us has been relatively simple. Much of the day I hike a bit ahead, taking breaks every so often to let Benji catch up, until we finally take lunch or pitch camp together. Even though I'm totaling nearly 10 less miles a day than I was the previous few weeks I'm no less tired at the end of the day. It turns out walking 17 miles is just as tiring as 27 leading me to understand the challenge of hiking as a curve that on my personal current scale plateaus around 17 to only climb again near 27.