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

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

What I'd like to know is how many of the "rules" you followed, and why?

Sly  


> I tend to agree, but then again we always had a hoot discussing just how
> pure is pure . . . here are some examples of what various hikers I
> talked with would discuss, in all seriousness:
> 
> 1)  If you are going around a blown down tree, do you have to walk up to
> the tree, then back up, go around, and then back up to the other side of
> the tree to be sure and cover all the Trail?
> 
> 2)  If you catch a ride, and enter the pickup truck on the south side of
> the road, but then exit the right door on a car coming back the other
> way when you return to the Trail, do you have to cross back to the south
> side of the road and then walk across the road northward?
> 
> 3)  Do you have to hike it all in the same direction?
> 
> 4)  Several shelters have a "south entrance path" and a "north entrance
> path."  Sometimes with up to a mile of AT between them . . . do you have
> to enter and exit each shelter on the same pathway to avoid missing any
> of the "real" AT?
> 
> 5)  If the ATC has designated or recognized a high water detour, or bad
> weather detour, does that count?
> 
> 6)  What if you have not seen a white blaze in a bit, and then start
> seeing them again?  Do you have to backtrack to be sure you were not
> off-Trail for a few hundred feet?
> 
> 7)  If you head into the woods to take a crap, do you have to mark
> exactly where you got off the Trail to be sure and not end up back on it
> a few feet further along?
> 
> 8)  Do you have to hike the approach trail at Amicalola Falls?
> 
> 9)  Do you have to carry a full pack, including tent or tarp and
> sleeping bag, up Katahdin?
> 
> 10)  Do you have to cross all waterbodies without the aid of bridges or
> ferries?
> 
> 11)  Do you have to slog through all mud-puddles in the Trail?
> 
> 12)  Do you have to do it all without getting off for any length of
> time?
> 
> 13)  Do you have to do it all without staying in any motels or hostels?
> 
> Last summer alone, I actually heard various hikers discuss all of the
> above at some point or the other; instead of laughing at some of these,
> it is indeed interesting to see just how many different ways there are
> to "draw the line" in defining a "true" thru-hike.  I think some people
> value consensus on which of the above to worry about more than others .
> . .
> 
> And then, the vaguest issue of all:  Just what is the official ATC
> approved route for that particular year, and just how in the heck does
> one verify it?  And by what date each year does the ATC put out it's
> official re-routes?  Or, if such re-routes are ongoing during each year,
> how the heck does anyone say they did 100% of that year's "official"
> route?
> 
> Moral of all of the above:  You can go insane trying to slice this issue
> down to finer and finer levels of "purity!"  And if you spend a lot of
> 




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