[pct-l] Monkey (9yrs old) is YOUNGEST to complete PCT

[Gary Minetti]

Toga,

I appreciate and agree with your perspective - your final comment - " We need to be extra judicious in our discussions about children" strikes the right balance.

Nice job.
Gman
On Nov 9, 2012, at 10:34 PM, Melanie Clarke wrote:

> I have not followed this thread but I want to comment on the few postings
> that I have read:
> 
> Please be aware that this thread is a discussion involving children!  These
> postings can get personal and angry sometimes but most of us are adults and
> we can get past this.  Please be mindful of the unique sensibilities of a
> child.  I understand that people are trying to figure out who the oldest,
> youngest, slowest, fastest etc. as humans can be competitive by nature but
> let us not pollute the experience for a child.  I just feel bad that no one
> seems to ask anyone else to "prove" they hiked the complete trail, it's
> kind of on an "honor system" and we leave it up to the person to define
> their own experience.  Yet, I perceive a degree of cynicism in this thread.
> Are we holding these children to a higher standard?
> 
> I read the book, *Wild, (*Strayed) and *A Walk in The Woods*, (Bryson).
> Neither claims to have hiked the entire trail but at the end of his book,
> Bryson and his partner, Katz; come to the mutual agreement that "in the
> spirit of the experience, they feel like they indeed hiked the trail".
> This is an experience unique to every person.  We allow adults to define
> their experience so maybe we should give this deference to children.  Let
> us respect the joy and experience that these children walked away with.
> Also understand that parents like to brag (excessively sometimes) while
> the children hate this and are just rolling their eyes about the whole
> thing anyway.
> 
> I don't want the perceived threat of ridicule or "losing face" to force
> parents into making bad decisions on the trail regarding their children.
> Let's not turn this into a "pissing contest".  This is an experience!  We
> need to be extra judicious in our discussions about children!
> 
> Toga
> 
> On Fri, Nov 9, 2012 at 10:22 AM, Nathan Miller <erccmacfitheal at yahoo.com>wrote:
> 
>> Do these young folks...or their parental units...have online trail
>> journals?  (I looked on trailjournals.com and found one for Balls and
>> Sunshine [seem to be the pair mentioned elsewhere on this thread].)
>> 
>> -Nate the Trail Zombie
>> Newberg, OR
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> Pct-L mailing list
>> Pct-L at backcountry.net
>> To unsubcribe, or change options visit:
>> http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l
>> 
>> List Archives:
>> http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/pct-l/
>> All content is copyrighted by the respective authors.
>> Reproduction is prohibited without express permission.
>> 
> _______________________________________________
> Pct-L mailing list
> Pct-L at backcountry.net
> To unsubcribe, or change options visit:
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l
> 
> List Archives:
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/pct-l/
> All content is copyrighted by the respective authors. 
> Reproduction is prohibited without express permission.