Re: [at-l] Reasons for Quitting (or Hiking)---

[Paul A Magnanti <pmags@juno.com>]

Ya know..all this talk about "qutting the AT" sounds rather odd.  Sure, I
have the little certificate  above my computer that says I hiked the
bloody thing from end to end, but that is not important. It is the
experiences that are between Katahdin and Springer that matter.
Is a  person who does the whole trail , has the certificate, but ends up
HATING the experience (it has happened!), truly succesful?  I don't know.
What did they want to get out the trip? The certificate, or something
more?  That, to me, is what defines a succesful trip.

  In the same way, a person who "quits" at Damascus, Port Clinton, Monson
(that, too, has happened!) but gets what they want out the trail, truly a
quitter?  The experience is still with them, the memories will never
leave.  On one hand, they "did not make it".  But what did they go on the
trail to achieve? A sense of living a life more simple than the one they
left? 
A chance experience something that they had not experienced before?  
That, too,  is what defines a succesful trip.

Now, if you'll excuse me, after a day of work and studies, this brain of
mine has had it. Think this is a good place to end a message. :-)

Magaroni... blues fan,  avid reader, beer drinker, pasta lover, Rhode
Island native, Colorado resident,  and  hiker bum. Not in any particular
order.



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