[at-l] Earl Shaffer's hike

[Felix J]

On 7/4/2011 7:39 PM, Jim Bullard wrote:
> Apparently I've PO'd Felix. Sorry if you felt it was a 
> personal attack Felix but I did start by saying that was 
> the way I see it. I'm glad you enjoyed your hike but 
> obviously I hike for different reasons than you.


AND....this is the most important thing, Jim....YOU DON'T 
CALL IT A THRU-HIKE!!!!  And, I am with you 100%. That's why 
I section hike! Because I love being in the woods. I love 
walking. I love nature. I love it all.  I am, however, tired 
of the word 'purist' being used as a derogatory description 
of someone's hike. Everyone rides their "hike your own hike" 
horse and then calls a purist 'self-righteous', etc.  I 
passed every blaze (and, there weren't that many for a 
southbounder)  because that's what I was supposed to do. It 
may not be what everyone else is supposed to do.  I went to 
hike the whole trail, and that's what I did.  Are you sure 
we hike for different reasons?



>
> On Mon, Jul 4, 2011 at 7:32 PM, Felix J 
> <AThiker at smithville.net <mailto:AThiker at smithville.net>> 
> wrote:
>
>     On 7/4/2011 12:20 PM, Jim Bullard wrote:
>>     And the anal retentive crowd will have one more thing
>>     to feel self-righteous about.
>>
>>     I for one have never believed it was about honoring a
>>     bunch of paint marks on trees, rather it was "/To
>>     see. And to see what you see/". The trail is a path
>>     /through /the woods along the Appalachian Mountain
>>     chain. It isn't about itself. It's about the the
>>     woods and the mountains that it traverses. Hiking it
>>     is a ritual or pilgrimage, not unlike the rituals of
>>     religion, meant to lead the participant to a larger,
>>     transcendent experience. The path or ritual takes you
>>     to the emotional and spiritual space where you can be
>>     open to and experience that transcendence, but if you
>>     get trapped in the physical ritual, you will miss the
>>     transcendence.
>
>
>     I went to hike the whole trail. and, that's what I
>     did.   And, I had a helluva time doing it.  Anybody
>     who says I didn't enjoy my hike to the fullest extent
>     because I was a purist is, quite simply, full of
>     shit.  And, anybody who fails a thru-hike and says it
>     is because it 'was about the journey and not the
>     destination' is full of shit.  Doesn't mean they
>     didn't have a helluva time. It doesn't mean they
>     didn't see what they saw. It means they failed a
>     thru-hike. What is so hard to understand about that? 
>     I'm not sure about rituals and pilgrimages....my hike
>     was neither. I went to hike the whole trail. and,
>     that's what I did.
>
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>


-- 
Felix J. McGillicuddy
ME-->GA '98
"Your Move"
ALT '03 KT '03
http://Felixhikes.tripod.com/

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