Re: [at-l] Re: purity

[bullard@northnet.org]

So how did you know that these people weren't thru-hikers? Wouldn't others
be able to figure that out too (at least anyone who really knew what a
thru-hike was)? I know a guy who claims to not only be a Vietnam Vet (he
is) but alleges to have been a tunnel rat and POW. He even duped a young
college Professor into publishing a book about the Vietnam Dioramas that he
creates based on his 'experiences'. He has VA disability for his knee
damage which he claims is shrapnel. The truth is that he was a supply
sergeant in 'nam and never left the base. The only thing he was ever a
prisoner of was his own lies and deception. After his stint in the Marines
he joined the Navy where he promptly fell from a ship's ladder and that's
where he hurt his knees. 

The world has a lot of liars and cheats. Making rules about what is/isn't a
thru-hike won't get rid of them.  Do your hike in a way that you are
comfortable and happy with. Don't worry about the next guy's hike. When
confronted with with more ego than ethics remember the adage "You can fool
some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time
but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.

Saunterer
At 10:00 PM 2/12/00 -0500, Tim Hewitt wrote:
>I must admit that the people on the trail this last season who claimed to be
>thru hikers and yet had skipped major miles of the trail really irritated
me as well.
>
>I know it's not important in the grand scheme of things, but I really
wanted to
>paint a big scarlet (or maybe yellow) letter on their shirts so that
people we
>met along the way would know they were lying. I seek truth in many things
in my
>life - and this affront to my personal ethics was difficult to take without
>comment on more than one occasion. I found myself unable to talk with these
>people in a civil manner and in my best defense, simply had to walk away.
They
>cheapened my hike - but only because I let them.
>
>The only thing I really enjoyed out of all that is they were gone by the
time it
>got hot and dry and really hard to keep going. They did not continue the
false
>"thru hike" when it really got hard to do the same thing every day, and
the only
>ones left were those of us still actually struggling every day to go north.
>
>Then one day, someone showed up in Vermont after skipping ahead  several
hundred
>miles, and told a woman he was trying to impress that he was a
thru-hiker... But
>that's another story. :).
>
>-Paddler
>GA>ME Class of 99
>http://paddler99.trailstories.com
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>
>
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