Re[2]: [at-l] Story about 'Jagged' who summited 10/6

[Slyatpct@xxxxxxx (Slyatpct@xxxxxxx)]

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Hi Rick,

I'm not about to put any numbers on the percentage of people that didn't
actually hike the whole trail.  The reason being I have no idea if some of
these people either hadn't hiked sections before or made them up later.  A
blanket statement is pure supposition.

Of course, there are probably people that haven't hiked the entire trail, but
claimed to, and sent in for their 2000 miler patch.  I don't really care
either.  What they do is their business and doesn't affect my hike.  One of
the main beefs I heard on the other list was yellower blazers taking up
shelter space as though purist had a lock on the accommodations.  That's
tough cookies, as the shelters are first come first serve.  For some inane
reason, missing sections of trail is called cheating.  Give me a break.  At
the most, I see it as lost opportunity.


There was one guy on the CDT this year that sprang ahead and finished first,
ahead of everyone else and most felt he had to be yellow blazing.  After very
little analysis, I determined that all this hiker had to do is average 3 more
miles a day then our group, which was very doable.  I wasn't about to
confront the hiker and tell him he cheated.

Sly



rickboudrie@hotmail.com writes:

> This I can understand, Sly.
>
> On this and other sites I have releatedly seen reports from contemporary
> hikers who have many, many thousands of miles under thier belts say much
> the
> same thing, though.
>
> What I'd really, really like to see is a bunch of thru hikers from recent
> years share with us that the vast majority (say 95%) of those hikers
> reporting to be 2000 Milers have not skipped (yellow blazed) sections of
> the
> trail.  I expect thats probably true, but would really like to hear it
> articulated.  Is that true?
>
> I also think that if anyone is going to call so many (or any) of our
> community liars in the press, they should define the terms by which they
> are
> doing so.  If nearly all hikers claiming to have done the AT have walked
> the
> entire way between ME and GA, WF's comments are misleading to the general
> public.  If he were to say anything, he should have begun with "About 6000
> people have walked all the way from ME to GA, but some didn't take the
> actual AT but took alternative trails for short stretches, even though they
>
> say they took AT all the way".
>
> Sly, Would you say that 95%+ of 2000 milers who claim to be 2000 Milers
> have
> hiked an unbroken line from one end of the Tail to the other?  Or some
> other
> percent?   We have heard so much of what so many 2,000 Milers haven't hiked
>
> regarding white vs. blue blazes, I'd really like to hear what nearly all
> HAVE done.