[at-l] Certificates (was Best Blue Blazes)

[saunterer@jimbullard.org (saunterer@jimbullard.org)]

At 11:00 AM 3/23/02 -0500, rick boudrie wrote:
>>As I understand it the ATC really doesn't give a rat's behind.  The
>>insistence on "purity" comes from elsewhere.
>
>On the ATC 2000 miler application, they have explicitly stated that you 
>must hike the official WHITE BLAZED trail in its entirety to qualify as a 
>2000 miler. ...clip...  If, with that knowledge they still decide to 
>deviate and fill out the application form (as the vast majority now do no 
>matter what thier hiking style) that is a burdon that will weigh heavier 
>on them than on me or the ATC.

I'm aware of what they say and I'm aware of what they do.  They take your 
word for it.  How much do they care about passing all the white blazes when 
they list hikes that supposedly happened before there were white 
blazes?  What constitutes "an honest attempt"?  Is mine the same as 
yours?  What's the big deal with a certificate anyway?  I have certificates 
for all sorts of things including sitting though boring training sessions 
at work where I didn't learn squat.

I hike for me.  Nobody else.  I may report it to ATC when I finish the AT 
or I may not bother.  If I do, I'll report what I *did*.  If they see fit 
to give me a certificate for the way I did it I'll throw it in the file 
cabinet along with my other certificates.  If all it certifies to is that, 
like the dumb training certificate, it says you were "there" despite 
whether or not you got anything out of being "there", of what value is it 
anyway?

If you're doing it to get a piece of paper to hang on the wall and impress 
other people maybe you should get a PhD instead.  It would impress a lot 
more people and they'd call you "doctor".  An interesting thought:  If a 
PhD candidate did his/her thesis on thru-hiking would the degree be in 
their real name or their trail name?

Maybe I'm just being grouchy today.  The day spring arrived the 
temperatures dropped and it began snowing.  It's still snowing and more 
like winter than winter was.  Besides that I have cold (second one in a 
month). Yes, I'm definitely grouchy.  I need to hike and I need some spring 
flowers.  Certificates won't cut it.

Dr. sAunTerer