[at-l] Creation of the AT

[RoksnRoots@aol.com (RoksnRoots@aol.com)]

In a message dated 1/8/02 9:10:00 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
saunterer@jimbullard.org writes:


> The only way at this point to make the AT a pure reflection of Benton 
> McKay's inspiration at this point is to 1) determine precisely what his 
> true intention was (not a contemporary someone's interpretation thereof)


    *** That intention is well-worded and outlined in MacKaye's own writings. 
Even an illiterate like myself didn't have difficulty interpreting them. What 
strikes me is the attitude, some feel, that they are being dragged into a 
cult or extremist group by simply internalizing the fundamental concept which 
drove MacKaye. To me, it is cutting off the feeding roots from which the 
Trail grew. (It was to MacKaye too -even then) 
   

 

> and 2) restrict the AT's care and use to a corps of people who revere 
> McKay's vision with such religious fervor that they would not consider 
> wavering from from his gospel.  I submit that neither is going to 
> happen.


    ***  Me too. Nothing even close. However, I'm 100% sure that even worse 
will follow when MacKaye's inspiration is branded a threat and undesirable by 
Trail users and spoken about in negative terms. I see equal religious fervor 
over "campfires", "AT families", guns, patriotism, and maybe even Rucks - 
however I don't see the same level of indignation over those than I do 
towards the basic core concept of the AT. Why? I suppose it's something like 
a prophet not being welcomed in his own town or something. Shame, we owe so 
much to Benton (like the Trail for instance)...


  At best we can have a pretty good (but not perfect) idea of 
> McKay's intent but even that is not gospel to the majority of AT users and 
> the AT *is* a piece of public property.  And...  just because he had the 
> vision doesn't mean that his vision was the absolute best one for everyone 
> involved for all time.  McKay was a bright guy who said a lot of bright 
> things and inspired a great project.  He wasn't a god.
> 

    
     *** On the AT I walk it's a damnable offense to speak of its originator 
is such disrespectful terms. Sorry, but the above terms simply relegate 
Benton to the scrap heap of outdated eccentric thinkers while enjoying the 
fruits of his vision. Saunterer reaches the AT divine meadow, panics, feels 
fear in joining its cause, and chooses to see it as "public property" as he 
denies its genesis. Benton saw that same property as a launching point for 
going up and beyond the status quo and creating something that methodical, 
soul-less property pursuit couldn't. What resulted is either the AT or 
"public property". Trust me, the original initiating drive did not dither so 
long in deciding. To see the Trail simply as a public park is to omit the 
Project's soul (and, yes, "intention").

    You say MacKaye isn't gospel to most AT users -but you've already claimed 
that you don't really know what exactly that gospel is. SO, how could you 
claim it isn't? I think most agree that most AT users aren't really sure who 
MacKaye was or what he thought -and probably aren't interested. That's a 
shame, because the Trail really takes on a special added dimension when the 
full scope of MacKaye's vision is plugged into its existence. Even more 
incredible is that MacKaye becomes more and more relevant as our society 
closes up open space in the nation whose foundations were based on the 
provenance provided by its great natural lands. MacKaye was a foresighted 
genius.

    Finally, MacKaye's vision, whether the best or not, was good enough to 
inspire and establish the 2000 miles long woodland & mountain, preservation 
and trekking corridor known as the Appalachian Trail. It would strike me as a 
dagger in the AT heart if the consensus amongst its users was that this 
philosophy was somehow a utopian fantasy, too dry and intellectual, tedious, 
etc- or no longer relevant in the present day, whose validity should be 
scrutinized. An even greater betrayal would be to ignore the actual 
achievement resulting from MacKaye's quest and seek to exclude it from normal 
Trail interaction as being a disruption to the Trail's "flow" or present 
status. The Trail is at its best when it's fully alive and functioning as the 
conservation 'mechanism' it was intended to be by MacKaye. It wouldn't even 
be there if this wasn't at least partly true...

    Maybe MacKaye quit because he felt he was wasting his time...


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