when/where does your trip begin? Re: [at-l] A Different EthicalDilemma...

[rafeb at speakeasy.net (Rafe Bustin)]

At 02:15 PM 8/19/2005 -0500, Shane wrote:

> > You need to know WHY you're out there, because
> > there may be hard days when that question is the
> > ONLY thing on your mind.
>
>I guess this is why I was (and mostly still am) a lousy backpacker.  I
>really had no idea why I was out there.  Most of the time (even now) I
>wonder why the hell I'm NOT out there.  I never paid much attention to where
>the next town was or bothered to plan out resupply in anyplace except when I
>was going into the desert.  I was just interested in what was over the next
>hill, and what I might learn about myself when I got there.



I'm an OK backpacker, but a lousy long-distance hiker.

I don't learn about myself with each new hill.
There's just not that much to know.

Attitude always seems to go to hell after a while,
particularly after too many days without a shower,
covered with layer upon layer of DEET, dust and sweat.

My fondness for the trail grows with absence from it.

When I'm on it, the fondness invariably seems to fade --
sometimes more slowly, sometimes quickly.

Even on the most incredible hike of my life -- the hundred
mile wilderness -- by the last day or two, I had a serious,
burning desire to get to Monson and get out of the woods.

I may never thru-hike, but I'll always admire those
who have, and wonder how they do it...


rafe b
aka terrapin


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