[pct-l] 80 lbs

[Reinhold Metzger]

Yes Diane,
Light is good, there is no question about it.
But, did you notice they were not criticizing or ridiculing your lightness
like you have a tendency to criticize and ridicule, Ned, Yoshi and "Heavy
Truckers" in general?

JMT Reinhold
----------------------------
Diane wrote:
This summer I hiked a few days on the JMT. At a creek crossing I knew
I would have to get my feet wet so I just walked right through to the
other side and kept going. On the other side, I heard someone holler
out to me, "That didn't slow you down one bit!" I turned to look at
the person and there were a couple of guys putting their shoes back
on after crossing the creek. I went over to say hi. They started
making comments about my small pack. They were genuinely curious. One
of the guys wanted to give me his card so I could go see his trip
report and pictures when he was finished. I never once made a
suggestion or anything to them about gear, but I did answer a few
questions.

Later, I was sitting near a small stream treating some water and
having a snack. I was admiring the views when two women carrying
enormous loads rest-stepped up the trail. The first lady saw me and
the first thing she said was, "We're just taking it slow, trying to
savor the experience." I didn't even say hi yet to her. Anyway, I
asked her if she was hiking the whole JMT. I was feeling lonely and
wishing I could meet some friendly hiker trash who would want to talk
about their adventures. She said they were hiking the JMT and then
she started making excuses for not going light. I didn't care about
any of that, I just wanted to hear about her adventure.

On and on it went for 4 days. It was always like that. I never really
met anyone. I never really got to talk about adventure and the
wonders of being there with anyone. Every conversation was steered --
not by me -- toward pack weight and how heavy their packs were and
how slowly they were going and excuses and apologies. I never said a
word. It's not my place. I just hiked along and people made these
comments to me out of nowhere. It was really frustrating.

Diane