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So, this is my first post on this listserve...have been enjoying all the rants, raves, information and encouragement by reading a smidgen each day from everyone. <BR>
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To say something like:<BR>
And I had thought seriously about hiking the AT.<BR>
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made me feel very sad. CNN had suggested that it was a thru hiker, etc...but how often does our media like to embellish the truth? This poor woman was not thru hiking...and I'm sorry to hear that the AT is getting such a bad rap, again, for violence. Violence in proximity to a trail is very different from violence due to being a thru hiker. <BR>
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I am also a female who thru hiked 99% of the time alone on the AT....it was an incredible experience. The first question people ask me as a female when I either told them I had hiked, or that I am planning a PCT thru this year, is "Aren't you afriad of hiking alone? What does your family, boyfriend, brother, etc. think of that? If I was your (fill in the male blank here), I wouldn't let you do it."<BR>
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That just makes me want to prove them wrong. And I have once already, by hiking the AT alone. It was the best experience of my life. <BR>
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It also makes me feel sorry that they are so afraid of something so beautiful. Unfortunate things happen everywhere...driving a car, eating at a restaurant, sitting in class....it shouldn't make us stop doing what we dream of doing.<BR>
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MoonPie<BR>
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