[at-l] The shelter system

[spiriteagle99 at hotmail.com (Jim and/or Ginny Owen)]

Felix wrote:
>Hold the fone...The czar of "Hike your own hike" is now telling me that
>I'm lazy and dumb if I hike from shelter to shelter?

"Czar"?????  LOL!!!  I appreciate the thought but before I accept the 
promotion I'd like to know what it pays.  And what the bennies are?  And 
what's the life expectancy?  And a few other pertinent details.  Czars have 
a way of dying young and unpleasantly.

I'd tell you precisely that IF your attitude were that only shelters, 
hostels, designated campsites or water sources were allowable places to put 
your tent down - under ANY circumstances.  And that IS one of the most 
prevalent attitudes you'll run into on the southern AT.  Most (but not all) 
of those who make it past Harpers Ferry (in either direction) have probably 
learned better.

>How can this be? If
>the next shelter is 5 miles further than the next good campsite, and I hike 
>to the shelter anyway, am I lazy? Or, dumb?  I sure didn't feel
>lazy that last 700 miles I hiked without staying in my tent.

Hmmm - if you've got shelters at 7, 12, 17 and 24 miles - which one are you 
gonna plan your day's hike to get to?

Why do you HAVE TO HIKE TO ANY  OF THEM?  The ONLY requirements for a day of 
hiking is trail - and water sources along the way.  Those who believe that 
it's "necessary" to factor shelter locations into their planning (other than 
as water sources) are still rank newbies.  By the time a thruhiker gets past 
Hot Springs they should be over that.  But most of them aren't - they're 
still in the "I'm gonna hike to XXXX shelter and stop" mode.  They don't 
plan their day around time and terrain - they plan it around "What shelter 
am I gonna stop at".  And when they get to that shelter - they stop. Even if 
it's 2 in the afternoon.  No wonder the average AT thruhike takes 6 months 
today when the average used to be 4 months.

One more point - if you're hiking shelter to shelter - whose hike ARE you 
hiking?  Yours?  Or the hike defined by those who build the shelters?

"MY" hike is to hike as far as "I" want to hike, eat where I can, camp when 
I'm tired - and where "I" want to - NOT where the shelter builders believe 
is the right place for me to camp.  YMMV - but my way works on a lot more 
trails than the shelter-to-shelter method.  Did you know that there are 
exactly "TWO" shelters on the CDT?  And "TWO" more on the PCT?  And that we 
didn't stay in any of them?

Tell me - have you ever camped on Angel's Rest?  Have you ever said "forget 
the shelter - I'm gonna camp at the overlook"?  Or just said -"I'm tired, 
this is a flat spot - this is home for the night"?  Or - "12 miles isn't far 
enough and 21 is too far - I'll find a flat spot when I get somewhere in 
between"?
Do you have any idea how many AT hikers just follow the herd - and never 
even think about doing anything like that?

As I recall - you didn't have a herd to follow, did you?  :-))

No, my friend - I'm NOT telling you that you're lazy and dumb "IF" you hike 
from shelter to shelter.  I'm telling you that you would be lazy and dumb if 
you hiked from shelter to shelter ASSUMING that it's the only way to hike.  
And I know that you know better than that.

Now - with regard to the situation that started this mess - tell me again - 
why do you carry a tent?  And what should you do with it when the people 
you're around make you uncomfortable?  Yeah - you take your tent, you hike 
on - and you camp someplace else.  ALWAYS!!!

And once more - WHY did Moose and Co stay at that hostel that night?  Do the 
words "lazy" and "dumb" ring any bells for you?  They do for me.  Go read 
what I wrote so many years ago in the Thruhiking Papers.  How many times, in 
how many different ways, in how many different places have those words been 
echoed?  Do you really believe he'd never heard them - never been exposed to 
the concept before?  If so - what cave has he been hiding in?

Enuff -  for now -

Walk softly,
Jim

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