[at-l] purity and status

[Owen <jim_ginny_o@attglobal.net>]

This argument has really gotten absurd. How many of you are thruhiking
because it will give you "status?"  Darn few - and those that are, tend
not to stay around very long. The trail is TOO HARD for that. 

Most of us are out there because we love being in the mountains. The
trail gives some structure to an attempt to spend time in the natural
world. It can be fun to have a goal but it isn't necessary. I think it
is fun to be challenged, physically and emotionally - and hiking a trail
by sections or in toto is one way of doing that, but it isn't the patch
that lures us out there. When Coosa says that she is doubting her whole
motivation for section hiking, I have to wonder - are you doing it to
claim 2000 mile status or because you like to hike and this gives you
some structure to that hiking?  Some of us enjoy having a goal, and
better yet, achieving a goal. That doesn't make us better people - just
people who are goal oriented. If you hike from Georgia to Maine you
aren't a better person or better hiker than the hiker who climbs the
same mountain every weekend. If you are both having a good time doing
so, then you've both gotten out of the experience what you were looking
for - a good hike. I've known several people who spend the summer living
in the mountains, wandering around freely.  Their experience is as valid
(and in many ways a lot more pleasurable) as my choice to walk from one
end of a trail to another. 

Most of us are out there because we love to hike. Long distance hiking
is a trial - there is weather, body pain, difficult trail, etc. to deal
with on a daily basis.  How do we get through all the difficulties?  We
focus on the rewards - the views, the lifestyle, living close to nature,
the other hikers and people we meet along the way, etc. Believe me, it
isn't because we'll get recognition as superhikers, because most of us
know we're not superhikers, just ordinary people who had the
determination to keep going when the going got difficult. Most
long-distance hikers are not super-athletes, just persistent. This isn't
the Olympics. 

Yes, it can be fun to say, "I'm a thruhiker" and see the awe in the
faces of those who are ignorant of what it takes to be a thruhiker, but
that certainly isn't what keeps me going.  Just as often I've been met
by disbelief and an attitude of "you're really crazy."  And I know that
they're closer to the truth than those who think that because I can
spend six months in the woods I am somehow a better hiker than they.
Most of the world thinks that those of us who do the long hikes are
basically out of our minds or irresponsible folks who would rather play
than work (of course) and who are inherently dangerous because we choose
to walk different paths than they. It's true. Mostly we're dangerous
because we've found a way to do what we enjoy doing, regardless of the
cost.

RE status - there are hikers I respect for what they have done or the
way they have done it.  Mostly I can respect the fact that they've been
able to structure their lives so they can do what they love. No matter
how many long trails I do - there will always be more that I haven't
done.  The section hiker puts himself down for not being a thruhiker,
the AT thruhiker feels like a lesser hiker than the PCT thruhiker, etc.
I will never hike as many miles as Walkin' Jim or Karen Berger - but it
doesn't matter. What does matter is that I have been able to create a
life in which I spend time in the world I love as often as possible -
for as long as possible. I keep on hiking. It doesn't matter whether it
is for a weekend or a week, whether it is a pure hike or not - I'm out
there to hike and I do, so I'm happy.  

Whether I am laughed at for being crazy enough to quit my job and forego
security in order to hike, or reviled for not being a purist, or admired
because I choose to walk the long trails is utterly irrelevent to me. I
don't hike for other people, I hike for ME. I'm doing what I want to do,
enjoying myself in the process and learning some life lessons that I
consider valuable. That's all the matters.

Why ARE you out on the trail?  

Ginny

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