[pct-l] Karen's Hero

Sat Nov 24 09:56:06 CST 2012

Fireweed.  You have mis-interpreted and over-reacted to what I wrote. I think that you might be overly sensitive - perhaps even threatened somewhat by my opinion.  I never advised you to or "pressured" you that you should stay and camp with someone you did not like - with whom you feel uncomfortable. I sure wouldn't. I think the guy you describe became pretty radical. Try re-reading what I wrote. The hikers that I met while riding the PCT were all really nice and friendly. By choice, unless there was no other option, I always camped alone with my wonderful horse, Primo. We never discussed religion or politics. We became bonded as friends - I was the other horse. I even learned to speak horse. We shared the same love of passing through wild places. During our months together,we came to understand, respect, and appreciate one another in ways that would be impossible if there were another - real - horse.

Yes, HYOH. Enjoy the experience. Just leave discussions of politics and religion alone and off this list. And, of course, give yourself permission to part company if you do meet someone that you don't like. 

MendoRider-Hiker

________________________________
 From: "mkwart at gci.net" <mkwart at gci.net>
To: Edward Anderson <mendoridered at yahoo.com>; pct-l at backcountry.net 
Sent: Friday, November 23, 2012 8:24 PM
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Karen's Hero

 Like everyone says --HYOH--and this includes parting company with people you do not get along with that you meet on the trail. No one should feel pressured to stay hiking with someone when they don't get along. 
--Fireweed

On Fri, Nov 23, 2012 at 6:00 PM , Edward Anderson wrote:

 I will stand with Reinhold.  I agree with everything he wrote.  And - I appreciate his service as a U.S. Marine. 

We don't need politics on this list. I have many good friends, some of whom have very different religious and political views from my own - and we remain good friends.  

How you think will be determined by your life experience. I'm "old school". I still open doors for the ladies. 

MendoRider-Hiker 

From: Reinhold Metzger <reinholdmetzger at cox.net> 
To: pct-l at backcountry.net; "Hiker97 at aol.com" <Hiker97 at aol.com> 
Sent: Thursday, November 22, 2012 12:12 AM 
Subject: [pct-l] Karen's Hero 

[pct-l] Trail Humor 

Fireweed, 
Did it ever occur to you that if you consider another person's opposing 
political vie a personal attack against you, that perhaps that other 
person may have the same opinion about you? 
It is best to keep politics out of hiking. 
Since you hiked with them for several days you must have enjoyed their 
company until politics got involved. 

Why must we dislike people of different color, religion or political belief? 

I  ASK  YOU  WHY??? 

A nice person does not suddenly become a nasty person just because you 
discover that their political or religious beliefs differ from yours. 

I don't care if you are black or white, liberal or conservative, protastant, 
catholic, or none believer....it is your character and personality that will 
either make me like you or dislike you. 
The fact that your political or religious beliefs may disagree with mine will 
have no  bearing on whether I like or dislike you. 
I may disagree with you....but that does not mean I have to dislike you. 

I say HYOH....don't preach morality, religion or politics and don't dislike 
a person just because their religious or political believes differ from yours. 

I know that this statement will probably put me under heavy fire from those 
who disagree with me or don't like what I am saying. 
But that's OK,...I have been under fire before...the type of fire that comes 
out of a barrel. 

Say Fireweed, I don't see anything wrong with a man carrying his wife's 
or girlfriend's pack....if I am not mistaking it is called "CHIVALRY." 
You may, or may not know know what that means, but it was quite common 
in the older days. 

Hey, I remember my first Mt. Whitney hike in 1968 or 1969 with my wife, 
hauling a monster pack and wearing combat boots. 

BTW...you ain't "Hard-Core" until you hiked Whitney in  combat boots. 

I was a bad a$$ recently discharged Marine "Grunt" used to hauling heavy 
packs and treating my women right. 
It went against my grain to burden my recent bride with a pack 
So, everything went into a "Marine Grunt Pack" and onto my back with Karen 
(my wife) skip hoping along and me grunting all the way....that may give you 
guys a clue why they call the Marine Infantry the "GRUNTS." 
BTW...I also had to carry "Schatzy", our miniature dachshund most of the way. 
But Karen coooing into my ear..."Reinhold you are my hero"...made it all worth it. 
That is all I ever wanted to be ....."Karens Hero." 
Of course I was Mitzy's hero also. 

Say guys, I understand now-a-days you guys make your women carry their own packs. 
Yes,....things have really changed from the days when Switchback and Reinhold ruled 
the trails. 

JMT Reinhold 
"Karen's hero" 
----------------------------- 

Fireweed  wrote: 
Yes--hiker demographics are changing. Although your message was humorous 
I have found a definite incursion of more conservative political 
viewpoints on the trail. It seems that conservatives are actually 
adopting the long distance hiking venue as a way to express the good old 
Protestant work ethic. I hiked for several days on the Arizona Trail 
with a couple from Globe, Arizona. We hiked together amicably for 
several days. But on one night the discussion turned to politics and I 
was shocked at how far apart out viewpoints were--the man pontificated 
on so many right wing Rush Limbaugh party lines (while his wife cowered 
in their tent, not taking part in the "discussion") that it was 
tantamount to a personal attack on me and what I believed. I left camp 
the next morning early and never hiked with them again. I felt sorry for 
his wife who was constantly berated by him on the trail with his demands 
to carry  her pack because he didn't think she was hiking fast enough. 

I was used to thru hikers having a more progressive bent, but this is 
not so anymore. It definitely isn't so in the rural areas that we have 
to traverse to get rides and services--I will face this in March when I 
do the Grand Enchantment Trail in Arizona and New Mexico. Luckily, 
people are kind when they don't get to the point of having to indulge in 
their political viewpoints. 

--Fireweed 

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