[at-l] PROPOSED 'PURISM' LANGUAGE

[Bob Cummings <ellen@clinic.net> (Bob C.)]

For what they may be worth, the following is how I would modify the Appalachian
Trail Conference policies for issuing 2,000 miler certificates and patches. My
proposed changes are in Capital letters.

"The Appalachian Trail Conference officially recognizes those hikers completing
the trail either in one season or in sections through the years.

The ATC confers the designation of "2,000-miler" on any hiker who reports he or
she walked the entire length of the Appalachian Trail. We use the term
"2,000-miler" as a matter of tradition and convenience — that's the original
length of the Trail, and changing the designation each time the length changes
would be impractical.

Our recognition policy does:

give equal recognition to thru-hikers and section-hikers,

recognize blue-blazed trails or officially required roadwalks as viable
substitutes for the official, white-blazed route in the event of an emergency,
such as a flood, a forest fire, or an impending storm on an exposed,
high-elevation stretch, and operate on the honor system.

IN ADDITION THE POLICY RECOGNIZES THE USE OF BLUE-BLAZED TRAILS LEADING INTO OR
FROM SHELTERS, PARALLELING THE WHITE-BLAZED TRAIL, AS WELL AS BLUE-BLAZED TRAILS
THAT TRAVERSE MORE DIFFICULT TERRAIN SUCH AS SUMMITS BYPASSED BY THE WHITE
BLAZES AND LONGER LOOPED TRAILS LEADING TO WATERFALLS AND OTHER SCENIC
ATTRACTIONS, PROVIDING THESE ARE LOCATED WITHIN THE OFFICIALLY DESIGNATED TRAIL
CORRIDOR.

 Our recognition policy does not consider: sequence, direction, speed, or
whether one carries a pack. ATC assumes that those who apply for 2,000-miler
status have made honest efforts to walk the WHITE-BLAZED Appalachian Trail from
Katahdin to Springer Mountain OR THE MORE DIFFICULT BLUE BLAZED ROUTES THAT ARE
PART OF THE SYSTEM OF TRAILS KNOWN COLLECTIVELY AS THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL."

 Weary