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[at-l] What is a "thruhiker"
Jim,
This is truly awesome and inspiring. (And you and Ginny are a truly awesome
hiking couple.)
Thanks! :-)
Cheryl / Swamp Blar
p.s. Once again, best wishes to the Class of 2004 AT Hikers. I would love
to be a thru-hiker. Throughout my life, nothing has ever made me feel
better than being outdoors, away from "the artificial world" (as long as
possible). For now though, I need to work out some other things first
before I can become a thru-hiker.
So, for now, I'm a thru-hike dreamer. But, I'll be with the 2004 AT Hikers
in spirit, cheering them on! :-)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim and/or Ginny Owen" <spiriteagle99@hotmail.com>
To: <at-l@backcountry.net>
Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2004 9:26 AM
Subject: [at-l] What is a "thruhiker"
> It's my turn to pick the game. And the name of the game is ----
thruhiking.
> As it always is when it's my turn.
>
> Some of those who've been around for a while may have seen this before.
It
> was written while we were hiking the Continental Divide Trail and
published
> several years ago in the ALDHA-W newsletter. It appeared on at-l just
once.
> But I read through it today - and it still has value. So - for the Class
of
> '04 ---- for those who will be out there with the rain and the pain - and
> the sunshine and butterflies - this is for you - and about you.
> Walk softly,
> Jim
>
>
****************************************************************************
***
>
> At one time during our CDT trek, the question was raised - What kind of
> person does this kind of thing (meaning thruhiking - spending 6 months or
> so in the mountains)? So I thought about it for a while - and I thought
> about all the people I know who have or are or want to thruhike one long
> trail or another. I thought about who and what they are. Not about their
> occupation or their ancestry or their political orientation or where they
> live. Those things are externals. Rather, I thought about the
> personalities and the characteristics that could be used to describe
> those people. And then I wrote what I thought.
>
> The basic definition of a "thruhiker" is someone who walks from one end
> of a "long trail" to the other. For present purposes, I'll define "long
> trail" as one of the three major hiking trails in the United States - the
> Appalachian Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail and the Continental Divide
> Trail. With that in mind, I'll suggest a few basic "thruhiker"
> characteristics and then expand on them:
> . courage
> . intrepidity
> . sometimes - stupidity
> . problem solving
> . independence of thought and action
> . flexibility
> . freedom
>
> It takes courage to live, for the most part, outdoors with your
> possessions consisting entirely of what you can carry in your pack. It
> takes courage to face 4 to 6 months of snow, rain, hail, heat, cold,
> insects, hunger - and sunshine. It takes courage to plan to walk 15 to 20
> miles per day (or more) for 4 to 6 months. It takes courage to want to
> walk 2 or 3 thousand miles. It takes courage to put aside a career, to
> give up a house or apartment, to commit 4 to 6 months of your life and
> thousands of dollars to what some people think of as "just a walk in the
> woods". Not everyone has the courage to attempt a thruhike.
>
> Intrepidity (i.e. - being intrepid) is what keeps you going when things
> get tough. Mostly it's just plain stubbornness. It's why some
> thruhikers will walk for 8 hours in a driving rain - or break trail all
> day through 2 feet of snow - or ascend a 12000 ft peak in whiteout
> conditions - or keep hiking in 100+ degree and 100% humidity conditions
> in July in New Jersey. Sometimes it's related to the problem-solving
> part of thruhiking. And sometimes it's more closely related to
> stupidity. But it's always related to stubbornness. "I set out to do
> this (whatever) - so I'm gonna do it - period". As Ginny defines it -
> Intrepid means "too stupid to quit".
>
> Stupidity - is usually seen that way in hindsight. "We actually
> traversed that 70 degree snow chute and worked our way around that rock
> with the 10 foot deep moat - Boy, was that stupid!!". "We really went
> over Parkview (12000+ ft) in whiteout - Boy, was that stupid!!". "We
> really walked Chestnut Ridge in that thunderstorm - did you see all that
> lightning?? Boy, was that stupid!!". Those who thruhike really do those
> things and more - sooner or later - during one thruhike or another. And
> they think about them later - because while they're actually doing those
> things the attitude is "this is a problem - how can I solve it?" It's
> not until you've done something and reflect on the dangers that you
> didn't see before starting that it becomes stupid. But then, most of us
> would do those things again if the situation occurred again because
knowing
> that they're possible makes it a lot easier the second time around. And
> occasionally we get smart and don't walk the ridge during the
> thunderstorm, or cross the raging stream - and we live to finish our
> hike.
>
> Problem solving is a constant process for a thruhiker. Water filters
> clog, stoves malfunction, packs break in ways never dreamed of by the
> manufacturer, boots fall apart. These are generally simple problems -
> unless you're alone or so far in the backcountry that they put you at
> serious risk. But thruhikers find solutions - many of them unusual,
> unconventional - radical. They also find solutions to such problems as
> crossing snow-fed waist-deep streams or traversing miles of steep
> snow-pack or treating blisters or torn ligaments or wrenched knees - or
> the mental/emotional roller-coaster that many experience and that sends
> many people home. Thruhikers are problem-solvers.
>
> Thruhiking requires independence of thought and action - in part because
> while the thruhiker may listen to the advice and opinions of others -
> they make their own decisions. Most thruhikers are told that what they
> propose to do is insane, a waste of time and money and energy, ridiculous
> - even stupid. Many thruhikers would never even start if they believed
> and acted on that kind of input. Thruhikers make their own decisions -
> about thruhiking, about equipment and techniques, schedules, hiking
> speed, money, time, companions and the thousand and ten other things that
> comprise a thruhike.
>
> Thruhiking is also subject to change - sometimes because of injury,
> sometimes because of circumstances. There are thruhikers who have
> experienced floods, hurricanes, blizzards, earthquakes and/or tornados
> while on the trail. And at least one lyoung lady who experienced ALL of
> those
> during her hiuke. Those things, among others, tend to upset schedules
> - and it requires a great deal of flexibility to complete a long hike in
> the face of such adversity. Even the ordinary day-to-day problems of a
> thruhike require flexibility of thought and action to resolve.
> Flexibility is one of the key characteristics of those who thruhike.
>
> To a larger degree than almost any other activity in life, thruhiking is
> - freedom. A thruhiker has the freedom to set their own pace/schedule,
> to stop for a day (or a week), to do 10 mile days (or 30's), to be a
> "purist" - or not, to make their own decisions --- and to live with the
> consequences of those decisions, to laugh, to cry, to be human - or to
> change any or all of their previous decisions. As Americans, many
> (most?) of us think we're "free". But one of the biggest factors in
> incomplete thruhikes is that many people discover for the first time what
> "real" freedom is - and many of them can't handle it - so they go home.
> Some actually finish the trail - and still don't understand. And some (a
> few) learn about freedom and how to live with it - and how to live it.
> A very few even learn how to allow others the freedom to learn and grow
and
> live.
>
> In general, those who have thruhiked multiple times tend to be more
> "mellow" than the average bear. They've generally learned to not sweat
> the small stuff. And that it's mostly all small stuff. They've learned a
> little about what's really important in life. As I was once taught -
> don't let the urgent interfere with what's really important. It took a
> thruhike for me to really learn what that meant.
>
> None of this, of course, means that thruhikers are necessarily "nice" in
> any sense of the word. Most of them are, but as a group, thruhikers
> still embody all the best and worst characteristics of the human race.
That
> means some of them can be nasty, or dumb, or cruel, or venal, or
> alcoholics or dishonest or ... whatever. Those people are a minority - a
> very small
> minority. But they do exist. After all, every family tree (including
mine)
> has its
> share of pirates, drunks, con men and horsethieves. Why should the
> thruhiking family be different? <VBG>
>
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