Re: [at-l] Flip Flopping (was No Restrictions on..)

["David Hicks" <daveh@usit.net>]

Tue, 29 Feb 2000 04:05:12 EST Bpwildness@aol.com wrote:

I really think this flip flopping stuff IS age related. If a person does not
enjoy being around children, does one go with the flow or move to the next
pew? Anybody got any ideas?

Sorry Cheryl, but I don't think "not enjoy being around children" plays.  I
love being around kids -- especially my grandkids.  I'd still be coaching
youth sports, if I didn't have to be around the parents.  The kids are
great, it's the general poor sportsmanship of the parents and the
I-know-more-than-you-coach parent conflicts that drive most volunteers away.

Age is a factor for some in a practical way -- more days of moderate weather
for slower hiking.

Age might also be a factor in another way.  In another post you wrote, "This
has to be a young man thing. I mean, when we get into our 40's, do we still
crave being a part of stuff the way we were in high school?"  Bingo!  I
suspect the desire to a "part" drops off.  So, what you are willing to
invest in being part of a group also drops off , if you are talking about
some kind of high-school camaraderie within a small sub-set of the trail
community -- i.e., one wave of one years class of thru-hikers.  OTOH --  I
feel very much a part of a much larger trail community of a wide variety of
hikers and maintainers.  Being part of this AT community is very rewarding
to all ages.

Also, why we hike could change as we get older.  If it does, then how we
feel about a lot of things and what we are willing to invest in fulfilling
the needs that drive the why we hike would also change. [For my feelings
about the "why" of hiking, see the re-post of part of a message below, or
delete if you have read it, as I have posted these thoughts a number of
times.]

OTOH -- A number of flip-floppers are right out of school and cannot start
until summer break.  So unless the do major days they need to flip.

In the big picture, I suspect flip-flopping is mostly need driven.  For
some, it is a mid-hike realization of the need.  For others, the
reorganization of the need comes pre-hike.

Chainsaw

REPOST FOLLOWS

All though not a thru-hiker, yet; I have work on the trail for 40 some
years.  I  have section hiked 650+ mile of it, many of those same miles many
times.

I  know quite a few thru-hikers and long distant section hikers rather well
and have met hundreds.  Most of the long distant hikers that I have met over
the years seem to fall  on one or the other side of a point-of-view
watershed.

It is often  discussed along lines similar to commune with nature v. the
physical,  mental, or whatever challenge.  Terms like "purity" and "stunt"
often come  into play.

However, I suggest that it is a more a question of "doing" v. "being."

Some  of the "doer's" are distant related, or maybe goal focused.  Some are
purity  driven.  Some are more internal personal goal focused -- finding of
self,  testing limits, redefining roles, easing life style changes, moving
out of  their comfort zone and facing their fears, etc.  Some approach
communing  with nature is a thing to "do."

The "be-er's are, OTOH, are being in the outdoors, walking..., enjoying...,
or maybe getting in touch with something missing from urban/modern life.  To
them it is the "being there" not what they are doing while there that is
important.

For me the trail is less doing and more being.  It is a lot about retreat
and recreation (i.e., re-creation -- getting in touch with something missing
from urban/modern life).

Admittedly I am a section hiker (Usually 100+  miles at a clip.)  And I
repeat sections w/o worrying about linking up  sections.  So, my goal is not
"doing" 2000 miles but rather being on the  trail for this particular week,
or two, trip.  (Albeit, I'm still fascinated  with (or fantasizing about)
trying a thru hike).

This watershed between "doing" (meeting the challenge, completing the trail,
hiking "pure" etc.) v. "being" (enjoying being in the outdoors, walking day
after day in rain, bugs, and sun, enjoying the fungi, flowers, birds,
animals, rock formations, trees, and everything else that makes up the
trail, escape and recreation) might be a distinction between many thru
hikers and many serious section hikers, also.  However, I doubt it.  I have
met plenty of mileage-challenged section hikers and day hikers, as well as
many thru hikers who focus on "getting in touch...."  So, the watershed is
not between these groups, but rather about the values which make it "your
hike" in the first place.

BTW, I think I see some undercurrent of this watershed in the literature,
also.  NOLS uses terms like, "challenging outdoor pursuits."  OTOH Colin
Fletcher use terms like, "you leave yourself free to get on with important
things -- watching cloud shadows race across a mountainside or passing the
time of day with a hummingbird or discovering that a grasshopper eats grass
like spaghetti or sitting on a peak and thinking of nothing at all except
perhaps that it is a wonderful thing to sit on a peak and think of nothing
at all."

This is not a "my way or no way" issue.  I know that any serious
"being-a-hiker" hiker will, from time to time, have to deal with challenging
aspects of his or her outdoor pursuits -- often fully unanticipated.  I
suspect that even the most "mile-conscious goal-oriented,
out-to-prove-something hiker" hiker will from time to time, get in touch
with something missing from his or her pre-hike life  -- also, often fully
unanticipated.  There will be some of both themes in each's hike.

So, what is the purpose of this post?  Maybe, once again, I just feel the
need to de-lurk a bit.  OTOH might we get some dialogue going about motives
and desire drivers in something other than a "us v them" mode.

I would  suggest that one needs to start with a self examination about why
you are  there. Why do you backpack?  Why are you planning to  thru hike?

If you  are primarily a "doing"  hiker, have you the goal ordination / the
will /  drive / etc.?

If you are primarily a "being"  hiker, are you really in love  with being in
the outdoors, walking day after day in rain, bugs, and sun,  enjoying the
fungi, flowers, birds, animals, rock formations, trees, and  everything else
that makes up the trail, escape and recreation, or are you  in love with the
idea of ..., or are you simply fascinated with (or  fantasizing about)
being...?    BTW -- If you are a "being"  hiker, you might want also do a
reality check  on what it is that you really love.  You might want to
dissect the whole  package. [Note that the statement was, "enjoy being in
the outdoors, walking  day after day in rain, bugs, and sun, enjoying the
fungi, flowers, birds,  animals, rock formations, trees, AND EVERYTHING ELSE
(emphasis added) that  makes up the trail."]  I know a trail maintainer who
had planned to thru  hike when he retired.  However, during a few
pre-retirement warm-up hikes he  learned that 1) he was much too private to
feel comfortable (much less  enjoy) the "shelter scene," and 2) he really
loved a hot shower and a bed at  night.  He fully enjoyed the rest of the
package, but came to realize that a  thru hike was not for him.  So, I now
own some of his gear and he spends  1000+ hours a year working on (and maybe
a like amount walking on) some  trail or the other.  Some folk who haven't
retired yet should work as hard  and get so much out of it.  In my book, he
is as much of the trail community  as any one -- yet he will never claim
mileage.

SNIP [The rest of the post was thread specific.]






* From the AT-L |  Need help? http://www.backcountry.net/faq.html  *

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