[at-l] Earl Shaffer's hike

[giniajim]

Renee said: "If you hike from GA-ME or ME-GA along white or blue
blazes, IMO you have hiked the entire trail."
Hate to be the Grinch at the party, Renee, but by definition you haven't. 
If you didn't pass every white blaze (with some well known and agreed upon 
exceptions), then you no doubt had a great time, lot of fun, you hiked your 
own hike, and it was very fulfilling.  But what you did was "hike by foot 
every step of the way from Georgia to Maine, mostly on the AT with some 
great blue blaze side routes."  It's not a question of being judgmental, its 
a question of factual accuracy.
 :)

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Renee Swicegood" <hankrenee at charter.net>
To: <at-l at backcountry.net>
Sent: Monday, July 04, 2011 9:52 PM
Subject: Re: [at-l] Earl Shaffer's hike


> Amy, I was raised Christian and I still find the judginess pretty
> unnatural.
>
> My two cents on the judginess is like my two cents on hiking - everybody
> is different and what motivates them is different.  I'm assuming that
> those referred to as purists feel passing every white blaze is an
> important part of the joy of hiking the AT and it leads to the sort of
> satisfaction Felix describes.  For others, the blue blazes (and the
> vistas, falls, etc. on them) are more important than passing all the
> white blazes.  If you hike from GA-ME or ME-GA along white or blue
> blazes, IMO you have hiked the entire trail.  If you complete one of
> Warren's van adventures, you have still hiked from GA-ME and I assume
> his students / clients get joy from that method.   Your mileage may vary.
>
> She-Dino
>
> On 7/4/2011 8:10 PM, Amy Forinash wrote:
>> I don't get why everybody is so judgey.  It's not like the Guinness Book 
>> is out there keeping a record on every hiker.  We like to hike.  We go 
>> hike.  You might intend to do the whole trail in one go, and you might 
>> even actually do it that way, despite weather and injuries and illness 
>> and stuff back home.  And if you do, I bet you get a huge sense of 
>> accomplishment.  (Which, yay!) But why would I care if you did it that 
>> way?  (In other than a "go, you, that's awesome" sort of sentiment?)
>>
>> Guess I was just raised wrong.  Maybe if I were raised Christian it would 
>> feel more natural to me to rate other people's leisure time activities. 
>> I think I am on the other side of a cultural divide here.
>>
>> I like to hike.  See y'all on the trail.  Unless you're going to judge 
>> me, in which case I'll be on the blue blaze.
>>
>> -amy
>>
>> _
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