[at-l] Re: ATN article, 1936 Scout Hike

[vze3vd5i@verizon.net (Raphael Bustin)]

At 01:16 PM 6/13/2002 -0500, Rami wrote:

[r]    While I agree that this is a possibility, I don't believe it to be a 
likelyhood either.  In fact, I believe that a casual (sometimes accidental) 
user of the A.T. might not know the history, tradition, and culture of the 
A.T., but anyone who sets out to hike (intentionally) over a period of more 
than a few miles would know about those things.  They would most likely 
come into contact with others and conversations would likely occur.


<much snipping>

Rami, what is your background in AT history?

Have you read, for example, the James Hare anthology ("Hiking The
Appalachian Trail," by Rodale Press)?  Why do I ask?

I think you assume a level of structure & community that simply wasn't
there in 1965, let alone 1936.

Bear in mind that even by 1970 there really had only been a few dozen
thru-hikers... maybe a hundred if we're being quite generous.

So the whole tradition of shelter registers, or notices on the walls
of those shelters, etc. had not really taken root.  There really was no
"trail community."  No Trail Daze.  No zones.  No Wingfoot.  No
Warren Doyle.  No Dave Horton.  No Beorne.  No "Center for Appalachian
Trail Studies."  Just a long path, sporadically maintained, known to a
hardy few.

The path itself was quite different.  It followed a lot of back roads,
a few busy roads, and quite a few less summits than it does now.
(Eg., Pond Mountain was added to the trail in 1990, the year of
my attempted thru-hike; the six-mile loop up & over Pond Mtn.
replaced a short, easy road walk of about a mile, from Laurel
Falls to Watauga Dam shelter.)

The AT did not get federal recognition or protection until 1968.  (It was
that damned liberal Lyndon B. Johnson -- blame him.)

IMHO, hiking, as a recreation, was still not that widely accepted or
practiced.  Heck, in 1976 you could still get a parking space easily
at any trailhead off the Franconia Ridge on a sunny summer weekend.
Nowadays the trailhead lots are nicely paved, four times the size, and
there are no spaces to be found.

As to weather in the Whites, you and RnR both miss the point that
weather can and does get extreme, particularly on the Presidential
Range.  Snow in August is not impossible, and I would guess that
snow in June is also.  People die of hypothermia on these ridges in
alarming numbers -- occasionally while hiking in the dead of summer.

Last year there was deep snow in the Whites at least until the first
or 2nd week of June.  I had to abort an attempted hike on Memorial
day weekend (last year) because of the deep snow on the ground.

BTW, please note that I really don't care one way or another about
Max Gordon's claim... just trying to point out a couple of things that
may be relevant to the discussion.


rafe b.
aka terrapin