Re: [at-l] Cleanliness & the Gathering

[Sloetoe <sloetoe@yahoo.com>]

- Bluetrail@aol.com wrote:
Since someone brought up cleanliness, I better warn some of the newbies
that there will undoubtedly be a few (very small number, I admit) folks at
the Gathering who are afraid you might not realize that they are HIKERS. 
To alleviate that fear, they will get to the Gathering unbathed (apparently
for some time) and remain that way all weekend.  At least that's what I
guess their aim is.

There are free showers at the college; I know, I used them two years ago.
What's up with that tiny minority that loves to stink up a small,
overheated classroom?  Don't get me wrong, I put up FT hikers at my home. 
I have slackpacked thru-hikers.  I actually LIKE the smell of hiker fresh
off the trail.  But I do expect that when they have time and the water is
free and they can borrow some soap, they'll take a shower.  I likewise make
the apparently erroneous (or however you spell it) assumption that they'll
wash their clothes. Guess I'm weird.

### Not weird, Joan, just ignorant of where these people are "at". For one
thing, they probably don't perceive their aroma the same way you do --
either in flavor or degree. I personally didn't think I had any smell when
I strolled into Kent CT straight from DWG in rain forest hot, humid
weather, with a thunderstorm every afternoon between 2:30 and 2:45 pm. But
my sister (who'd hung around horse barns for the better part of each day
for *years*) had to wipe her watering eyes to keep from driving off the
road. On the other hand, just the smell of fresh laundry soap could *gag*
me.

Secondly, and much more important, is that it simply may not be *important*
to them. "Important" is food. Water is big -- for drinking; but staying
physically dry is major league, too. "Colleagues" measure in there --
"Where are my (trail) friends? My trail *family*? Are *they* fed, warm, and
dry?" Equipment is in there, too -- a priority is to have everything in
order, maildrops squared away... So, when I throughhiked, it wasn't
uncommon for me to walk out of town with wet hair from the
(finally!)shower/bath/shower -- I enjoyed it, sure, but it was the LAST
thing on my list. Even just sitting down often ranked (so to speak) higher.

Some people have heard or seen or even experienced the throughhiker's "30
yard stare" or the doe-in-the-headlights look when hikers return to more
cosmopolitan settings. These people have just experienced The Adventure Of
A Lifetime, and are trying to package it, and themselves, into the rapidly
changing day-to-day that their lives will become. This is not a time to
shower; it *is* a time of vast personal readjustment, and much of that
imposed, not voluntary.


Helluva view from here, eh?
Sloetoe
(getting more maudlin as the minutes pass...)


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