Fwd: [pct-l] Hiking with Disabilities

[spiritbear2k@hotmail.com (Ginny & Jim Owen)]

bill blovis
>
>As hard as it may be to believe, most scenic trail hikers don't get written 
>up in Sports Illustrated or the New York Times -- we also don't have AP 
>articles floated to hundreds of newspapers worldwide whenever we reach 
>Manning, or Campo, or wherever.
>
>And of course I agree that newspaper reporters are more interested in a 
>good story about Brian's freak-out in a post office (in the SI piece), or 
>in his epic Snickers consumption, than in, perhaps, whatever he could have 
>said in support of scenic trails.
>
>But it seemed pretty obvious to me that his press made the scenic trails 
>sound less like appealing wilderness experiences, and more like lonely, 
>competetive exercizes in protracted misery.
>
>Which they are, sometimes, given. But it would have been nice if he had 
>said something to the effect of: "The scenic trails aren't about 
>competition," or, "The fact that I set 'speed records' means nothing to 
>most hikers, really, because the trails aren't about that for most people."


Bill -
Not to pick on you, because you're not the first (or probably the last) to 
use the expression, but it's interesting after what's been said about media 
inaccuracy, that you'd use the words "speed records'.

Fact is that Brian didn't set speed records - on any of the trails.  Each of 
the trails has individually been done faster than his "time-on-trail".  I 
suppose we could consider his total time for the 3 trails to be a "speed 
record" but I'm not sure it really applies.  It may apply after Fiddlehead 
and Pieps finish, but is it really a "record time" if it's the "only time"?

You might also want to consider that if he HAD said anything like what you'd 
have liked to hear, it may well have been something you didn't want to hear. 
  For example - if you go hike either the PCT or the AT - you'll likely find 
out that, for a lot of people, it IS about competition.  That's an 
individual attitude, but it's also rampant.

Walk softly,
Jim


************************************************************
"Cutting the space budget really restores my faith in humanity. It
eliminates dreams, goals, and ideals and lets us get straight to the
business of hate, debauchery, and self-annihilation." -- Johnny Hart



_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp