[at-l] Purism...to me.

[kahley@ptd.net (kahley)]

Feelix said:
IT ISN'T HIKING THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL.

That's really what it comes down to.
When you are done, you will be able to honestly say at least
one of the following:

A.  I hiked the Appalachian Trail from end to end.
B   I walked the Appalachian Mountains from Georgia to Maine
C   I traveled the Appalachian Mountains from Georgia to Maine
D  I pretended I was a thruhiker by hitching into towns and staying
     at hiker haunts.
E  I had a helluva good season on the Trail
F  It sucked and I stopped

Rick is right.  You have to choose which of the above you want
to do and you gotta choose early.  The good thing about deciding
you want to do an end to end, is that it simplifies things and cuts down on
a lot of later decisions.   Lots of people have to decide if they will hike
this section or that section...this blue blaze or the AT.  Decisions
decisions, decisions.  If you have decided to be a 2000 miler all
those decisions are already made.  But the second you choose
to skip a section, you are back to 'situational thruhiking' and have
to start making decisions again.
Note, the above does not endorse or imply a preference for any option.
Well....except D.  D is slightly uncool IMHO.
Sooooo....choose and when you are done, DON"T LIE>