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Re: [at-l] Blazes

>Could someone please post the actual definitions of "white blaze",
>"Yellow blaze"...etc.
>
>I know what Yellow implies but beyond that I'm lost.

I'm sure others will have their own definitions, but here some I heard on
my hike last year:

Slackpacking
Putting your backpack in someone's car and having them drive it to your
destination while you hike to meet them. A basic rule of backpacking is
that the more you carry, the slower you go, and if you slackpack, you can
hike faster and still adhere to the rule of ritual purity among AT hikers:
"white-blazing."

White-blazing
Religiously walking past every white blaze that marks the trail, taking no
shortcuts. Someone who white-blazes is a "purist" who looks askance at
impure "blue-blazers."

Blue-blazing
Taking shortcuts, following the blue-blazed trail that skips the big scenic
loop, or to walking along a forest road to avoid a messy section or a hard
climb. Most thruhikers blue-blaze, whether they admit it or not. At least,
they tell themselves, they're not "yellow blazing."

Pooper scooper
The trowel-like item that many thruhikers carry, with inches measured off
along one side of the blade so you can be sure that you've dug down exactly
the ecologically prescribed five inches when you make a "cathole."

Purist
One who "white blazes," and whose purity to the backpacking ideal may also
forbid slackpacking and flip-flopping.

Cathole
Wilderness accomodation useful when there's no kitty litter or outhouse
available.

Flip-flop
To begin your hike going one direction, and finish going another. For
instance, a "flip-flopper" might start in Georgia, hike 900 miles north to
Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, fly up to Maine, and complete the trail by
hiking south to Harpers Ferry.

Yellow-blazing
Following the rectangular yellow marks that run down the middle of
highways. A yellow-blazer is someone who has been known not only to walk
along the roadside, but sometimes stick his thumb out and skip ahead to
another section of trail.

Shit tickets
Toilet paper, favorite nesting material of shelter mice.

Green-blazing
A technique especially popular among college-age hikers. The exact
definition is a bit fuzzy, but it has something to do with the cannibis, or
hemp plant.

Yogi (Yogi-ing)
Cleverly convincing non-hikers to give you food, without exactly begging
for it. From Yogi Bear, "Smarter'n th'average bear!"

Trail Magic
Usually used to describe free food, though sometimes genuine kindness from
people with a soft spot in their hearts for hikers. See also "Yogi."


Brown-blazing
When you're not careful about treating your drinking water, and you
contract an intestinal parasite called Giardia lamblia. See also: "Shit
Tickets," "Pooper Scooper."

--Rhymin' Worm



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