[at-l] Who cares?

[icw@xxxxxxxxxxx (Clark Wright)]

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not at all - you mentioned a lot of things that matter to me and many
others, too . . . the trickiest word in your post is the word
"accomplishment" - you can do all the other things you talked about by
hiking section hikes anywhere in the world, or hiking anywhere you can
find enough wilderness to stay out for 4-10 months in a row . . . - but
when you use a word like "accomplishment," you then tend to get
inevitably into linear thinking about a beginning and an end, and then
that tends to bring up the subject of just what are your own personal
rules re how you are gonna get from your beginning to your end, and then
you start talking to others about it, and then you learn about this
thing called the ATC, and its definition of the AT, and white blazes,
blue blazes, trips to town, walking without a pack for a day, etc. -
pretty soon, as you've no doubt already seen on this list, you can get
some right passionate opinions . . .  there is a lot of good stuff in
the many posts recently on defining a thru-hike, along with some right
harsh judgments, too . . . you will continue to work this out in your
own mind for many, many months, if not years to come - but never forget
the passion for hiking, and then hopefully wanting to preserve this
thing we call the AT as it exists right now - and then we'll all try to
figure out how to maybe make it grow in the years ahead! :)

thru-thinker

Ryan Sharp wrote:

>I may be misled but, the reason I am contemplating a thru-hike are many but
>mostly that is an accomplishment unmatched by most people.  it is an
>opportunity to meet the people of this great country to see the sunrise and
>sunset from somewhere else than your backyard of suburbia.  I want to become
>more akin with my environment, my planet.  I want to be cold and fight
>through it; I want to get hurt and endure the pain, in a nutshell prove my
>worth in a natural sense which is all to hard to do in today's society.  am
>I being to utopian?
>
>Rhino
>
>>From: "Phil Heffington" <Phil.Heffington@oc.edu>
>>Date: Wed, 8 Jan 2003 11:14:05 -0600
>>To: "AT- L Mailing List" <at-l@backcountry.net>
>>Subject: [at-l] Who cares?
>>
>>T. Fort wrote:
>>
>>"I just find it hard to believe that anyone out there attempting any "long"
>>distance hike, really gives a flip about the *other* persons' hike."
>>
>>It is a strange phenomenon, for sure.  It somehow develops, however, during
>>the course of being on the trail for a relatively long period of time and
>>being pushed into a definition of your own hike by others.  This occurs when
>>other hikers you meet ask you, almost as the first topic of greeting or
>>conversation, "Are you thru-hiking?"  There is a sort of unspoken bond among
>>those who are, and they are unconsciously, perhaps, asking if you want to be,
>>or should be, included in the ingroup.  My experience is that their definition
>>of thru-hiking, though, is not one of "purity" but, rather, one of group
>>identification.  Since a definition for a thru-hike is only traditional, and
>>not officially regognized by any authoritative organization, it can be the
>>topic of many conversations, some of which may become somewhat heated.  I
>>can't say that the discussion is all bad, though, because it gives hikers a
>>rather natural topic of casual social interaction on the trail when,
>>otherwise, they may have little else in common with those on the trail.  I've
>>often commented that most people on the trail would probably not like to
>>associate with each other in normal life, but find their temporary bond on the
>>trail as at least satisfying.
>>_______________________________________________
>>From the AT-L mailing list         est. 1995
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>>
>>Stay on topic!
>>
>
>_______________________________________________
>>From the AT-L mailing list         est. 1995
>Need help?  http://www.at-l.org
>Archives: http://www.backcountry.net/arch/at/
>Change your options or unsubscribe:
>http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/at-l
>
>Stay on topic!
>
>

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