Originally Posted by
vautrain
If you "forget mileage goals" aren't you going to have a hard time finding a spot to camp at dusk? Or do you just camp on the side of the road wherever you happen to be? My gut instinct would be to have every camping spot planned out before starting my tour, and that would mean paying close attention to mileage goals.
An additional comment ... if you plan out every camping spot, and especially if you book ahead, and one day something happens so that you cannot make it as far as you hoped to go ... what do you do?
Suppose you have a bad day with tough terrain, tough weather, mechanical difficulties and/or lack of energy ... and at 8:30 pm you realise you are still 30 km (2+ hours) from where you were planning to stop ... the wind is still howling, the temperature is dropping, darkness is falling and all you want to do is to stop for the night already. If you've booked ahead and arriving at that spot is a critical part of your plan, you might feel like you've got to push on. Whereas if you're just winging it, you might stop at the campground in the town you're currently going through, or just find a decent place off the road somewhere.