[pct-l] Hiker trash lifestyle

[Diane at Santa Barbara Hikes dot com]

On Sep 7, 2008, at 9:30 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:
>
> I think the bottom line is that the hiker trash lifestyle is far more
> satisfying for a couple years than avoiding it and slipping into the
> world of the lowest common denominator.  Even if each of us knows we
> can't do it every year for the rest of our lives, we know that if we
> don't do it for a couple years, don't follow the call, don't hike,  
> we'll
> get fat and lazy and stupid.  TRUTH...  Skittles...  You're a writer.
>
>
> I'd love to hear the stories of hikers who've lived the hiker trash
> lifestyle for a couple years and what you did when you re-entered the
> straight, bullshit world.  How did you - how do you make it mean  
> anything?
>
>
> Jeffrey Olson  (Jeff, just Jeff, said to the cadence of "Bond,  
> James Bond.)
> Martin, SD,
>

I loved your story (I snipped it so as not to repeat the whole thing  
to the list). The "straight, bullshit world" just about sums it up  
for me. I felt I had such incredible clarity when I returned to it  
about how incredibly BS it all is. I mean, things would pop out at me  
as so obviously stupid, so obviously manipulated and I would think to  
myself, why does everyone buy into this?

I suspect people living the hiker trash life don't have Internet  
access to tell us straights about it.

Diane