Re[4]: [at-l] Re: Pennsylvania Pointed Rocks

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

>... My only question would be: DID YOU WALK THE WHOLE WAY? reports Shane.

My personal definition is that anyone who walks from Springer to Katahdin -- or
vice versa -- mostly on the Appalachian Trail -- should qualify for having
"done" the Appalachian Trail. I'll give extra points for staying within the
corridor, but I personally felt no compulsion against walking diagonally into
town and diagonally back out, if convenient blue blazes or roads permitted that.
I've not decided whether this should disqualify one from thru hiker or 2000
miler status.

I took a lot of blue blazed loop trails to scenic overlooks and back to the AT,
thus missing a few white blazes. This did not and never will convince me I was
not a thru hiker. Some maintaining club created those loops to in an effort to
show the hiker the best of what the trail had to offer. However, this is a
personal, "humble" even, opinion and should not influence anyone else.

However, my criteria forbids yellow blazing, which is why I don't usually
consider myself a successful thru hiker. I bypassed quite a bit of southern New
England because of a strange nerve illness -- some doctors think it was a
sciatica nerve-- DelDoc suggests a different nerve system. Regardless, three
emergency rooms said I had a better chance of reaching Katahdin if I took 10
days off, than if I didn't.

But along about Virginia I decided I was going to end on Katahdin, one way or
another, though I had already hiked it at least 40 times, summer and winter, so
I bypassed what I thought necessary to satisfy that personal goal. I've since
hiked most of the missed miles and with a few days of effort, I could soon
qualify as a "2000 miler," according to ATC standards. However, for some reason
that no longer seems a useful priority.

I could continue with this accounting of my "thru?" hike, but I can see those
eyes glazing, glazing, glazing.

Weary