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[at-l] Where's the adventure in the adventure?

A few days from now a number of you well be getting together in Hot Springs
to celebrate the trail and 50 years of thru-hiking with Earl Shafer.
Speaking as one who must share it with you through emails to the list, have
one for me.

As we look back on the 50 years of thru-hiking I do have a few reflections
to make. We celebrate Earl for being the first thru-hiker on the AT. He is
also the first thru-hiker of any of the long trails in US including the PCT
and CDT. Not so much as he hiked them, but he set the ball in motion. As
such, to some extent all thru-hikers follow in his foot steps.

Because he was first, he traveled unencumbered by the hikers before him.
Unlike the rest of us, he didn't have luxury of knowing it could be done,
let alone how to do it. It was a matter of trust to wake up each day and
hope that if you connect enough days together you'll get there. He didn't
have pre-planned strategies for over coming the blues or the solutions a
host of problems we have today. Each day as a new adventure. He was free to
travel without the rules and expectations that bind those of us that follow.
In my opinion he had the first and only pure thru-hike. He may or may not
have hiked past every established blaze. That fact matters little. What does
matter is that he defined a goal then set out to achieve it.

In the years that followed, thru-hiking as evolved from a singular lifetime
event into a way of life for some people. Today the beginning thru-hiker has
a wealth of information to draw on before ever placing a foot on the trail.
It can be plausibly argued that there is too much information.

With all of the books, guide, gear list, journals, etc. the only real
unknown for the thru-hiker wannabe is do they have the mental and physical
toughness to do the trail. We all read the journals of those before us, then
go out and measure our success or failures based upon the feats of others.

We've gotten to the point where people are concerned if they are going to be
true to themselves before they even start. Then measure their hike base on
someone else's standard. Do I measure up? Am I good enough? Can I bear to
face my progeny? The problem is that with so much information available,
it's almost impossible to "Hike your own hike".

Each and everyone of us fear the unknown. The only difference between us is
the matter of degree. So we jump in, learn everything possible, cover every
contingency, eliminate every unknown, and reduce all risk. By doing so we
also take some of the adventure out of our adventure. I'll be the first to
admit there are lots of thing I don't do because of the risk (real or
imagined).

When facing those fears we can quit, raise ourselves up to the challenge or
bring the challenge down to a level we can comfortably deal with. Many of
the controversial threads (cell phones, guns, etc.) deal with how we
individually resolve those internal conflicts. Like 55 pound packs crammed
full of goodies, some people need phones to keep the risks of the trail down
to a manageable level.

Since it's hard enough to control our own fears, it's probably best not to
lightly dismiss others. We can use forums like these to help master them. If
we're willing to listen and think, we might even lean a thing or two about
ourselves.

Ron


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