Re: [at-l] Trail Fest, Trail Days, Handbook

["Charles W. Davidson" <wb4pan@mindspring.com>]

Michael,

	I suggest the ALDHA Companion. Published by a non profit organization
that puts money back into the AT. Many of your fellow AT-L friends are
also members of ALDHA.
http://www.aldha.org/

chase AT-99      	264 ytd

Michael Pitt wrote:
> 
> I can't agree more with this authors views of Mr. Bruce.  I was on his email
> forum on TrialPlace.com until I disagreed with him one time and he kicked me
> off the forum instead of opening himself up to debate.  What I want to know
> is can anybody recommend a trail guide not written by Mr. Bruce that covers
> the trail with the same amount of detail and is published by the projected
> date?
> 
> Thanks,
> Mike Pitt
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: richard mann <hikeusa@freewwweb.com>
> To: at-lll <at-l@backcountry.net>
> Sent: Friday, April 14, 2000 16:16
> Subject: [at-l] Trail Fest, Trail Days, Handbook
> 
> >
> > > Is Trail Fest or Trail Days that WF takes credit for starting?
> >
> > Actually, both!!!
> >
> > WF rants and raves that he started Trail Days in Damascus VA (hey, just
> ask
> > him) - that he had written the letter that got it all started - that he
> had
> > spoken on the phone with the coordinators of the event and suggested how
> it
> > should be run, etc.  Well, WF may have made a suggestion about a town
> > celebration - but he had nothing to do with the hard work and dedication
> > that went into, and continues to go into, the Trail Days celebration.
> > Neither the Town of Damascus (http://www.damascus.org), nor the ATC (in an
> > ATN article of a few years back), connect him in any way with the Trail
> Days
> > event...
> >
> > As an analogy to the above situation:  Many people encouraged Thomas
> > Jefferson to write the Declaration of Independence, and made suggestions
> as
> > to what the document should say.  Our history books cite only Thomas
> > Jefferson as the author of this great document, and do not mention the
> > people that encouraged him and made suggestions.  But, if WF wrote our
> > history books, Thomas Jefferson would only have been a footnote in the
> whole
> > process...
> >
> > In WFs 1998 Handbook (the latest, and the probably the last), he hyped the
> > "Trail Fest" celebration in his home town of Hot Springs NC.  He indicated
> > that it would be a "real" celebration of the trail, and would not be
> > anything like the drunken brawl (a paraphrase, since I don't have the
> > Handbook in front of me - maybe someone with the book can post the exact
> > wording) that Trail Days had become (actually, he had not been to Trail
> Days
> > in years and had no first hand knowledge of the event)...
> >
> > The '98 Trail Fest event was okay, with Earl and Rosie and WF being the
> > headliners (and with the Blue Blazers From Hell prominent in the parade,
> > making WF spit fire).  WF, around that time, had posted about the evils of
> > trail towns, and the evils of trail angels, and how all of this detracted
> > from thru-hikes (WF even went as far as stating that he would get off the
> > trail in disgust, actually end his hike, the first time he encountered a
> > trail angel - all lip service, by the way, because he'll never hike
> again -
> > not with five websites to keep going).  Well, someone (okay it was me)
> > posted a somewhat sarcastic post (imagine that) about the evils of trail
> > town celebrations, and the gawd awful people that plan them and produce
> them
> > (and I remember a great post from Kahley - a spoof about the proliferation
> > of trail angels at every road crossing along the trail).  WF posted that
> he
> > actually agreed, and that he would not have anything to do with any trail
> > town celebrations in the future...
> >
> > So, what does this all mean?  Well, it is a long answer to a short
> question
> > from a lister - and it is an interesting anecdote about someone who wants
> > nothing to do with trail town celebrations, but wants all the credit for
> > starting them (hmmm, I wonder if he started the trail celebration in
> > Millinocket Maine held in September of each year???).  I am sure some of
> you
> > out there have a different spin on the connection between WF and the trail
> > town celebrations, so let's hear 'em (maybe his highness will de-lurk and
> > set us all straight)...
> >
> > On another note, if WF does get a Handbook out this year, check to see how
> > many miles he has made the trail.  The date that he says his book went to
> > the publisher was (interestingly enough) soon after the publication of the
> > ATCs Databook.  Since WF has no pipeline to the ATC or the trail clubs, he
> > would have had no fore-knowledge that the trail is 6 or 7 miles longer
> this
> > year than last year.  So, if his book has the trail longer than the
> > 2160-point-something miles that it was last year, or anywhere near the
> > 2167-point-something miles that the Databook states, it will be squirm
> time
> > (lawsuits - you gotta luv 'em)...
> >
> > And yet on another note, I just spoke with the owner of one of the trail
> > related businesses that WF has always included in his Handbooks.  Seems
> that
> > WF always sent out questionnaires to these businesses in order to get the
> > information for his publication.  It has been two years since they have
> > received any requests for information.  So, if there is to be a Handbook
> > published, it will apparently be using the information that was gathered
> for
> > the '98 volume...
> >
> > Pittsburgh
> >
> > * From the AT-L |  Need help? http://www.backcountry.net/faq.html  *
> 
> * From the AT-L |  Need help? http://www.backcountry.net/faq.html  *
* From the AT-L |  Need help? http://www.backcountry.net/faq.html  *

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