[at-l] Re: at-l Digest, Vol 3, Issue 11

[nealb at midlandstech.edu (William Neal)]

My Last Comment on the Subject:
I plan on my next attack on a thru-hike to hike every inch of the white
blazes.  But I also plan on walking a lot of blue, yellow, green, and pink
polka-dot blazes. ;-)  

Now the AT of today is not the AT of yesterday.  Remember the Ice Cream lady
in Pa.?  Her house is no longer along the AT.  And Mt. Springer was not the
original start of the AT.  And the AT of today is not the AT of tomorrow.
So if anyone walks most (I'd say over 75 percent) of the AT and walks 2,000
miles, then give them a patch.  After all there are slack packers who have
done less and yet walked the white blazes: Are you really doing as much if
you totally slack-pack the AT as someone who hikes a majority of the white
blazes and camps out all the time and rarely stays or eats in town?  And
what about the connected trails that are harder and longer than the sections
you might skip of the AT?  

The patch is nothing more than and never has been nothing more than a "Good
Boy/Girl" badge.  Fun to have, but it and a nickel won't even get you a cup
of coffee.

William, The Turtle
-----Original Message-----
From: rick boudrie [mailto:rickboudrie@hotmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, July 08, 2003 11:20 AM
To: at-l@mailman.backcountry.net
Subject: [at-l] Re: at-l Digest, Vol 3, Issue 11


"It seems to me that if you walk 2000 miles on the AT then you have earned 
the 2000 Miler Patch".

The ATC's written standards not withstanding, I think you would find that 
most people on this list would probably agree with you.

I think its a "hiker-centric" approach, however.   The ATC and others have 
put in an extrodinary amount of effort into blazing, building and protecting

an unbroken footpath from ME to GA.   While some might argue that insuring 
there is a continuous marked trail really isn't worth all the effort (heck, 
CDT is a great trail in part because it isn't precisely marked)  I don't buy

into that.  I don't think the ATC does either.  On the contrary, I believe 
that the ATC sees every foot of the marked footpath as being important to 
the whole, because every foot is a link in a chain that extends from ME to 
GA.   I'd go so far to say that they even see marking  parts of the trail 
that ran through mosquito-infested swamps and along roads as being 
important.  Because of where they led and what the connected to.  A break in

the trail is just not acceptable.

With that in mind, I am not surprised that the ATC started to recognize 
people who walked every bit of Trail they saw before them.   Because the 
2000 Miler award wasn't just about a person's hike, but because it was about

the Trail itself.  A trail whose blazed continuity matters, and has for a 
long time.

The 2000-Miler listing (the patch came later, anyone know when?) was not a 
bunch of through hikers bestowing an award on each other for wonderful 
walks, but rather a bunch of Trail people recognizing those who walked what 
was so important to them-- the AT.  And,  every bit of white-blazed  Trail 
was and is important to them-- even those sections that "Suck".

Recently though, the 2000 Milers has come to be more about hikers than about

the Trail.  Those that are on the 2000 Miler  list have defined what it 
means now by adding their names.  I guess we should celebrate the democracy 
in that.    No doubt, many define the 2000 Miler listing to be an 
acknowledgment of walking  2000 miles, more or less.  Even if the ATC does 
not define thier award that way.  It is what it is, now.   Who knows what 
the desigmnation will mean in the future.  It used to bug me a wee bit that 
people ignored the ATC definition, but I still like my patch and don't think

poorly of those who felt compelled to define the award by thier own  terms. 
People do that with awards and institutions for more sacred than a 2000 
Miler listing.

But I still think that every bit of the marked footpath is important, 
whether one decides its worth walking or not.  And I still think that 
walking all those Blazes is a neat thing to aspire to.  Not because of a 
patch, but rather what they represent and connect to.

Rick B

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