[at-l] "not that there's anything wrong with that"

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

amy wrote:
>As a section hiker, the redheaded stepchild of the AT community,
>I'd like to point out that it's okay to NOT hike the whole thing
>at once.  Thruhiking ain't for everybody.  Doing it in sections means
>you get to keep meeting new classes of thruhikers every year.
>You can keep looking forward to new sections for years!
>You can go on "long" hikes of several weeks without having
>to sell your house, quit your job, and give away your dog.


amy -
Yeah - I thought about that yesterday.  Since the question was directed 
toward a thruhike, I left the section hikers out of it.  But since you bring 
it up ---- let's drag this puppy out again.

Thruhikers - in spite of all the hype - are NOT the top of the food chain in 
hiking.  Section hikers are.
Yeah, it's tough for some of us to give up our lives and go thruhike for 6 
months.  But it's a lot tougher, a lot more time consuming and a lot more 
expensive for section hikers to spend years planning, travelling and hiking 
the trail.  Should I mention the need to re-acclimate every time they go out 
there?

We have friends who spent 20 years sectioning the AT.  And others who've 
done it in 3 or 4 years.  And one who did 1500 miles of a thruhike and had 
to get off to have quadruple bypass surgery.  He went back the next year and 
finished.  Then there's Felix, who sectioned most of the Trail, thruhiked 
southbound - and then finished his section hike.  But then Felix is at least 
as "different" as I am.  <G>

Yeah - some people have the "fire in the belly" and can maintain it for the 
years it takes to finish.  Others don't or can't.  For some of us, it's an 
overwhelming passion that can only be caged for so long - and then it breaks 
the bars.

Thruhiking is NOT the only way to do it.  It may not even be the best way to 
do it.  But some of us are much too impatient for long-term section hiking.  
And we do seem to enjoy it <VBG>

Walk softly,
Jim

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