[at-l] (no subject)

[stephensadams at hotmail.com (Steve Adams)]

Shane,

Reference your post, dated 11-10-03, “RE: Re[4]: [at-l] Trail Food, How do 
you carry 7 days” (which Subject Heading seems a bit long, hence my 
imperious renaming attempt.

You advise, “I didn't say that gear was unimportant.  I said it was one of 
the least important factors.  Mr. Hillary, for instance, didn't have all 
this wonderful lightweight stuff, synthetic fabrics, and lots of other 
'modern' gear.  That didn't stop him from getting to the top of Everest.”

Monks have for centuries graduated their training and left the monastery 
with two robes, shoes, and a begging bowl.  I’m reminded of seven men who 
escaped confinement and knowingly set out across a dessert, carrying only 
one cup of water between them.  Tibetan Monks currently cross their border 
and the Himalayan range to escape Chinese oppression.  They carry not more 
than a daypack, and often wear only tennis shoes.  (Nine days into their 
passage to India, they walk through a pass skirting Mt. Everest, where 
mountaineers are hard at play; their rendition of a thru-hike.)

I cannot argue with an assertion that gear ranks second to perseverance.  
But if we want to experience any of the above challenges, they remain 
available.

Many of us will never start a thru-hike.  Most of us, who begin to 
thru-hike, will never complete even one.  Few who succeed will do more than 
one.  The people who cannot stop thru-hiking are amazing.  When you learn to 
do something well, why continue to do it?  Learn something else.  Go to 
Pamplona.  Be an idiot, and run with the bulls.

Even if this site is only idle fantasy for some of us, so what?  It helps us 
get through the day, the week, all the way to retirement without climbing to 
the roof, dragging that rifle and all that ammo.  We hike for our enjoyment, 
or thru-hike to see if we can meet that challenge.

Bob has his own demons.  Don't saddle him with more.

Steve

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