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[at-l] Re: Leaving the trail...alone...

> In reading the journals and talking to hikers I have found that there
> seem to be many people who just plain get lonely when they're on the 
> trail and perhaps this is a major factor in their decision to leave.

Frankly, my impression is that one can live a more lonely life
in the "real world" than on the trail, and that the former is less
likely to be by one's choice, and would be easier to purposefully
achieve.

After reading this list for 14 months, one of the things that
have turned me off from attempting a thru-hike is the amount
of interaction one has with people on the trail; particularly
the northbound mob. To me, you can't really be independently
trekking through the wilderness when you're sharing shelters
most of the time, can forsake some of the ten essentials and
your first aid kit consists of a few dozen vitamin I and a
band-aid.

Sure, I know that I'm exaggerating somewhat. But there seems
to be as much socializing going on in a thru hike than I had
in my college years (I was not a party animal). I'm willing
to bet that hitchhiking across America is a much more lonely
experience.

[...]

> I'm surprised that I'm writing this since I do almost all of my hiking 
> without human companionship and like it that way.  But everyday, I'm
> learning just how different a thru hike is from what I'm used to doing.

I get the suspicion that the reasons for thru hiking have
changed over the past fifteen years or so. It sounds today
more like something trendy to accomplish than an end onto
itself (solitude in the sticks). However, I suppose it has
always been some mix of both.

What was the drop out rate twenty years ago compared to today?

-- 
mfuller@somtel.com, Northern Franklin County, Maine
The Constitution is the white man's ghost shirt. }>:-/> --->
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