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  1. #1
    Registered User Just Bill's Avatar
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    Default A class worth considering

    http://www.eathomas.com/2015/12/23/t...cker-magazine/


    Snorkel- (Liz Thomas) has teamed up with BP magazine to produce a class that may be of great value to those considering a LD hike.
    If nothing else- likely the class will pay for itself when you avoid dumping a few hundred at Mountain Crossings or wading through a bucket of threads.

    For those (like me) little impressed with BP magazine's content over the last few years- this really popped out;


    "I have total control over the content: within the hiking community, there has been a full range of passionate emotions about BP. One condition I had for putting together this course is veto power on everything."

    "No gear ads/weird product placement: All the products in the video are things I actually use. The business model is 100% tuition based—so you’re not going to see an oddly out of place 7 pound pack and 10 pound tent anywhere in this class."

    So looks like a great marriage of all the publishing and professional resources of BP and the thousands of miles of experience Liz brings to the table. Looks like she may have even brought a few friends to the table as well.

  2. #2

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    G R E A T thread topic! Liz will have some timely information to share!

  3. #3
    Registered User Lyle's Avatar
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    Unfortunately, she will be indoctrinating a new generation of backpackers to "speed hiking". Great.

  4. #4
    ME => GA 19AT3 rickb's Avatar
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    The cost is $299.00

  5. #5
    Registered User Just Bill's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lyle View Post
    Fortunately, she will be indoctrinating a new generation of backpackers to hiking. Great!
    Turn that frown upside-down.

  6. #6

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    Liz has much more going for her than speed hiking! And, although she is an experienced hiker she brings much more to the table than trail experience. She's quite intelligent, can address female issues, does more than speed or teach speed hiking, reaches a larger audience than just ULers or speed hikers, supports backpacking/hiking, supports a variety of trails, is involved with college hiking clubs, is an adventurer, explorer, out of the box thinker..... She's rather soft spoken, humble, tolerant, considerate of others, patient, and not pushy of an agenda other than empowering a very wide range of people to get outside to appreciate Nature and be considerate of a larger whole.

    She didn't attain her resume just because she's all about speed hiking! http://www.eathomas.com/about/

    For a 6 wk On Line Backpacking Class that, as Just Bill stated seems like a "great marriage of all the publishing and professional resources of BP and the thousands of miles of experience Liz brings to the table(plus all the other attributes and achievements Liz brings to the class!); looks like she may have even brought a few friends to the table as well", doesn't seem all that expensive. I'm about to spend nearly $200 alone for a weekend Wilderness First Aid recertification class that does not including traveling and room expenses.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lyle View Post
    Unfortunately, she will be indoctrinating a new generation of backpackers to "speed hiking". Great.
    That is a crock of crap. There is a lot more to her than just speed hiking, in fact with the exception of the AT hike she is not at all the poster child for speed hiking.

    Of of all of the classes or consulting that I have seen pitched, I would give the combination of Snorkle and BP magazine the best chance of success. While I don't believe there is a substitute for getting out and learning on your own, a lass like this could actually save the average thru hiker attempted money.

  8. #8
    Coach Lou coach lou's Avatar
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    As I sit sewing and surfing........my mind wandered to walking, places, people....somehow to Jack T.......thinking how I haven't seen a post from him anywhere lately....thinking that with the WItW hype, Jack and those pillars of LD hiking may just be busy teaching all these folks that are now going out to Conquer the AT!

    Mr. Malto and Bill.....are you fella's going to make MLK IV? LI Hikers has posted are nitely camps, here....and elsewhere.

  9. #9
    Coach Lou coach lou's Avatar
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    "OUR" camps..........duh!

  10. #10

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    I'm not so sure an online course is going to be that helpful.

    I've meet a few people who had taken Warren Doyle's AT course and said it helped them a lot. But with Doyle's course, there are a few days of classroom instruction, then a 3 day trip on the AT to get the practical experience. That's something you can't get online and it's that lack of practical camping experience which causes a lot of newbie, wannabe thru hikers to fail in the first couple weeks.
    Last edited by Slo-go'en; 01-01-2016 at 12:33.
    Follow slogoen on Instagram.

  11. #11

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    Don't see the point in paying cash money to learn how to live like a neanderthal. Just grab some blankets and a tarp and go sleep in the backyard for a week or two. Then take whatever kit you can scrounge up and go find a foot trail. Cost? 0.

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dogwood View Post
    Liz has much more going for her than speed hiking! And, although she is an experienced hiker she brings much more to the table than trail experience. She's quite intelligent, can address female issues, does more than speed or teach speed hiking, reaches a larger audience than just ULers or speed hikers, supports backpacking/hiking, supports a variety of trails, is involved with college hiking clubs, is an adventurer, explorer, out of the box thinker..... She's rather soft spoken, humble, tolerant, considerate of others, patient, and not pushy of an agenda other than empowering a very wide range of people to get outside to appreciate Nature and be considerate of a larger whole.

    She didn't attain her resume just because she's all about speed hiking! http://www.eathomas.com/about/

    For a 6 wk On Line Backpacking Class that, as Just Bill stated seems like a "great marriage of all the publishing and professional resources of BP and the thousands of miles of experience Liz brings to the table(plus all the other attributes and achievements Liz brings to the class!); looks like she may have even brought a few friends to the table as well", doesn't seem all that expensive. I'm about to spend nearly $200 alone for a weekend Wilderness First Aid recertification class that does not including traveling and room expenses.

    What Dogwood said.
    Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.

  13. #13
    Coach Lou coach lou's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tipi Walter View Post
    Don't see the point in paying cash money to learn how to live like a neanderthal. Just grab some blankets and a tarp and go sleep in the backyard for a week or two. Then take whatever kit you can scrounge up and go find a foot trail. Cost? 0.

    What Tipi said!

  14. #14

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    What the great movers and shakers in the backpacking/hiking/outdoors educating community have in common is they go beyond educating just the logistical and technical aspects of backpacking/hiking..."living in the woods"...going into the outdoors! They intertwine into their teaching other aspects like safety, environmental, trail, trail community, etc stewardship. Teaching this BEFORE and AS one aspires to backpack/hike/head off into the Natural non man made world is paramount particularly among trail communities like the AT/AT thru-hiking community. Continuing this "education" AND APPLYING IT while on trail is what is sorely lacking in some! It's what ohhh so many of us complain about but don't offer many concrete solutions for. HERE IS A SOLUTION!

    Whether it be Josh and Leigh Saint, Jack T, Bob Peoples, JPD, Andrew Skurka, Backpacker, GSM and S NP Rangers, AT Ridgerunners, Jensen Bissel(YES!), The Sierra Club, NOLS, Boy Scouts?, Nature Conservancy, LIZ THOMAS, etc etc etc they ALL communicate this broader perspective. THIS is one VALUABLE aspect that can be attained with taking a class with Backpacker/Liz Thomas. It is GOOD to be influenced by these considerate wise people! It ALSO factors into why she is VP of ALDHA West, an ambassador for the American Hiking Society, is a recipient of a Doris Duke Conservation Fellowship, works with the Continental Divide Trail Coalition, is by many accounts a GOOD trail ambassador, written up so often, and WHY Backpacker decided to link up with Mrs Thomas to offer the class.

    You want to address entitled self absorbed a holes with a "the rules don't apply to me, I'll do as I want and screw everyone else" attitude here's one way to avoid/decrease that issue.... promote learning from people like Liz Thomas in a 6 wk on line course rather than PERHAPS coming to that wider perspective through long term trial and error PERHAPS leaving a long term wake of destruction and negative consequences in the process.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tipi Walter View Post
    Don't see the point in paying cash money to learn how to live like a neanderthal. Just grab some blankets and a tarp and go sleep in the backyard for a week or two. Then take whatever kit you can scrounge up and go find a foot trail. Cost? 0.
    Quote Originally Posted by coach lou View Post
    What Tipi said!
    agree. the AT is easy logistically. everything one needs to know is here on this website. not much planning is needed at all to walk the trail. it really is just walkin'

  16. #16

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    Prefer to learn things by myself. More fun! And figure things out myself. Life is full of failures, which provide teachable moments. And like someone said, it's just walking.
    Singletrack

  17. #17
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    For a lot of people (the less experienced), I expect that the cost of the course would be less than the cost of a couple logistical errors.
    "It's fun to have fun, but you have to know how." ---Dr. Seuss

  18. #18

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    Quote Originally Posted by Feral Bill View Post
    For a lot of people (the less experienced), I expect that the cost of the course would be less than the cost of a couple logistical errors.
    We were all less experienced at one time. You can't buy heart---and it's heart which motivates people to live outdoors. And even the most experienced like Kate Matrosova make logistical errors. It's still called Wilderness for a reason.

  19. #19

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    Quote Originally Posted by Tipi Walter View Post
    Don't see the point in paying cash money to learn how to live like a neanderthal. Just grab some blankets and a tarp and go sleep in the backyard for a week or two. Then take whatever kit you can scrounge up and go find a foot trail. Cost? 0.
    Quote Originally Posted by Tipi Walter View Post
    We were all less experienced at one time. You can't buy heart---and it's heart which motivates people to live outdoors. And even the most experienced like Kate Matrosova make logistical errors. It's still called Wilderness for a reason.
    What people can learn is NOT just how to live like a Neanderthal. They can learn how to live like more responsible Neanderthals. They might learn some trail and environmental stewardship. What is the very great costs -what is at stake - if they don't? They might learn to be aware of more than just themselves as you have BUT IN A SHORTER AMOUNT OF TIME! If there has ever been a needed time for this IT IS NOW! MAYBE, just maybe, then you will not come across so much hiker/survivalist trash you so graciously haul out, campfire rings loaded with intentionally left behind trash, and actually might have more offers to assist in trail maintenance in the areas you frequently hike and camp. MAYBE, just maybe, if people were more influenced from BEFORE they first stepped into the Wilderness we would see more caring for it, respecting it, actions demonstrating a greater environmental awareness, and more flow with it AND there would be more cherishing of Nature and Wilderness that we all so enjoy!

    Can't we all appreciate more responsible trail behavior and see a greater need for it??? Let's not fight other people who promote this very premise especially when they have a very public platform to influence a large audience? You do it in your way. Others are doing it in their way. Don't cut their throat because you took a different path to get where you're currently at in your greater awarness. You're on the same team with the same goals as Backpacker/Liz Thomas.

    Quote Originally Posted by Lone Wolf View Post
    agree. the AT is easy logistically. everything one needs to know is here on this website. not much planning is needed at all to walk the trail. it really is just walkin'
    Perhaps it is "jus walkin" but isn't it damn nice when hikers act responsibly with some admirable character in Damascus? Isn't it nice when you find a great campsite and someone has decided to not leave behind a fresh dump and TP blossom in the middle of it? Isn't it nice when you find an established campsite where you don't find fresh living trees having been cut down for a fire? Isn't it NICE when someone wants to open a Hostel in Front Royal and not be greeted by the town's people having a poor image of the AT hiking community that the Hostel permits are denied? Isn't it nice when you DO NOT see a sign in a restaurant window saying NO HIKERS! Wouldn't it be commendable that AT thru-hikers exhibited such exemplary considerate behavior other than just being so AT and self absorbed in BSP that BSP no longer felt compelled to send a letter to the ATC and AT community regarding this community's behavior?

    Of course, you don't necessarily need to pay for a class to learn these things, but sure is nice to allow others to spread these attitudes who have amply demonstrated this ability personally in their actions? MAYBE, just maybe, it is more than "jus walkin?" MAYBE, just maybe, it's about demonstrating some more talent and a greater conscientiousness than the ability to "jus walk?"

  20. #20
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    Very well put, Dogwood.

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