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

[CHUCK CHELIN]

Good afternoon, Wandering Bob,



You're correct about people thinking they need to bypass the trail up to
Panther Creek by hiking the road, but I can't understand doing so.  First,
any kind of road-walking bothers my feet.  I'll willing hike much further on
a trail just to avoid pavement and gravely shoulders.  Second, I enjoy that
piece of trail.  I've done it as a hiker of course, but I've also been on
many PCTA work crews in that section.  I can hike along and remember the big
rock that isn't there anymore, the blow-downs that we bucked and pitched off
the trail, the endless brush that we cut back, and the water bars that we
mucked-out.  Last year above Panther Creek, between Crest Camp and Indian
Race Track, we finished an entirely new section of trail that was rerouted
to avoid some waist-deep washouts.



I suspect the biggest reason people go through Stevenson rather than
sticking to the PCT is to have a good reason to visit Walking Man Brewery.



Steel-Eye

Hiking the PCT since before it was the PCT -- 1965

http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye

On Mon, Feb 23, 2009 at 12:21 PM, Bob Bankhead <wandering_bob at comcast.net>wrote:

> 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?)
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