[at-l] Thru-hiking..

[Paul A Magnanti <pmags@juno.com>]

>will be too busy having fun hiking. If someone asks me if I am
thruhiking, I 
>will say I am heading towards Maine.

I  was always under the impression a person can thru-hiker w/o being a
purist. Thru-hiking is the act of walking from one terminus to another in
one season.  Purist is thru-hiking by following the established corridor
of the AT that is set from one terminus to another.

Enough of the semantics, though. Just enjoy your hike!  If it means
following the white blazes, cool. If it means taking every short cut, go
for it.  My only pet peeve are people who impose their feelings on
others. Don't call a purist an automaton because he has the goal of
following every white blaze. Conversley, do not call blue blazers
slackers and not true hikers because they want to see where that alt.
trail goes.

Only on the AT is this really a big issue. Heck, from my readings on the
CDT, you often do not have a trail to follow! (Jim and Ginny can make
better comments on that than I).

So enjoy your HIKE. The experience of walking from along the trail that
goes from Maine to Georgia is a special one. No matter how it is done. 
Enjoy your time in the woods, that is ultimatley what counts. 



Mags the Moderate....



 

*************************************************************************
**********
Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of cancer cells.
--Edward Abbey
* From the AT-L |  Need help? http://www.backcountry.net/faq.html  *

==============================================================================