[pct-l] What is a "Thru Hike?"

[Bob Bankhead]

Amen, Scott. Border to border, any way you can. 

Every year, there are trail closures for a variety of reasons. It will happen again this year. Often there are no alternatives but to hitch around those sections. You hike the trail that is available to hike. Border to border, any way you can.

The official PCT has a lot of optional alternate routes - like straight shot through the Mojave, the JMT and River Trail alternates between Reds Meadow and Thousand Island Lake, the Crater Lake Rim detour, or the Eagle Creek alternate. Go whichever way you want or are required to take. Border to border, any way you can.

How many through-hikers do you think actually walk the first 35 miles of the PCT in section H from highway 14 at the Bridge of the Gods (Cascade Locks, OR) to Panther Creek campground? My guess - virtually no one! It is far easier to make the 14.7 mile roadwalk thru Stevenson and rejoin the PCT where it crosses the road by the campground. This is without doubt the single most often by-passed part of the PCT. Border to border, any way you can.


Wandering Bob





  ----- Original Message ----- 



  CHUCK CHELIN wrote:
  > 
  > Near Hauser Canyon one fellow stepped off the trail a ways to take a
  >  squirt, and when he came back he met the trail about 30 ft. ahead of
  >  where he left.  He made it to Manning that summer, but what a
  > bummer: He's apparently not a thru-hiker.  Anyone who hikes the
  > Crater Lake Rim Route rather than following the"official" PCT flunks
  > out also.  Same for following Eagle Creek to Cascade Locks rather
  > than following the PCT on Benson Plateau.  By that standard there are
  > lots of thru-cheaters out there.


  SCOTT BRYCE wrote:

  You didn't read what I wrote did you? That isn't the standard I set.

  I don't care what sections you walked around, what alternatives you
  took, or how much trail you missed because you stepped off of the trail
  for some reason. If you walked from border to border, primarily along
  the PCT, you through hiked the trail.

  OK, I was anal about hiking the Warner Springs loop, but I stepped off
  the trail there to walk around a bull who was standing in the trail. Big
  deal. I walked it. Just like those who chose to take the highway out of
  Warner Springs walked it.

  My point is that if they took a ride to skip a section of trail, in my
  mind they did not through hike.

  I thought I made that clear. I don't care how you got from point A to
  point B. If you are calling yourself a through hiker, I assume you
  walked from point A to point B. Whether you took the official route, an
  alternative, a convenient highway, whatever, I'll assume you walked it.

  My decision to hike the Warner Springs loop was a decision I made for
  myself. It was part of hiking my own hike. If I had a partner who
  decided not to hike the loop, I would have honored his decision, parted
  company with him, and hoped to catch up with him farther up the trail.
  If he and I both made it to Canada, I would not think any less of his
  hike than of mine.

  FWIW, I followed your journal in 2007. I have more respect for you than
  I do for a lot of people who made it all the way. But I would not have
  that same respect if you insisted that your hike was a through hike. You
  did not make it all the way. You left the trail for very good reasons,
  better reasons than I had for leaving the trail. You endured more pain
  than most of us would. You did what you could. You accomplished a lot.
  But you didn't make it to Canada. I don't see you whining that your hike
  should be called a through hike too. You are a better person than that.

  My post on this subject was in response to people who are arguing that
  HYOH means that you can call it a through hike if you want to. I don't
  agree. Please don't call it a through hike unless you walked from border
  to border. That does not mean that I don't stand in awe of your
  accomplishments. There isn't anyone on this list who does not deserve
  more respect than I do.

  I'm with Ned. I am seeing the definition of "through hike" change over
  the past several years, and I don't think that is a good thing. I see it
  as part of the culture that won't recognize winners because we can't
  have losers. A through hike is what it is. Anything less than that is
  still a tremendous accomplishment, but it isn't a through hike.

  --Scott Bryce
  Campo to Paradise Cafe through hike, 2008.
  (Can't you see how ridiculous that is?)