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  1. #121
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    I never thru hiked (I'm just a lowly 2000 miler) but did a lot of things differently.

    I slack packed a few bits near Andover, Maine. Day-hiked a few bits in the White Mountains and near Rangeley ME. Bike-hiked all through New England. Walked Skyline Drive for a few miles in SNP, just to see what that was about, and because a lot of old-time thru hikers did that as well.

    I've skied many of the ski areas on or near the AT -- Stratton, Killington, Pico, Wildcat, Sunday River, Sugarloaf. (Plus Sugarbush, Mad River, Stowe, and Jay Peak on the Long Trail.) I broke my femur skiing at Sunday River. A year later I walked 600+ miles of AT with a 40+ lb. pack and with the stainless steel hardware still in my leg.

    Can't say I've aqua-blazed any part of the AT, but I've rafted on the Penobscot River, within sight of Mt. Katahdin. Climbed most of the major peaks in the White Mountains before I ever gave much thought to the AT.

  2. #122
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    I think you miss the meaning of HYOH! People set out for different reasons. Maybe they are lazy and still want to see as much as possible. But I feel HYOH is more about only compare your hike to your own expectations and goals. Don't compare others hikes with your expectations and goals. This is difficult. I thru hiked in 2016 as well, slack packed 35 miles and blue blazed maybe another 5 (for better views or more difficult/longer routes). I did see people skipping anywhere from 20-hundreds of miles, but it isn't for me to judge them or their hikes. I am proud of what I did. I walked every single foot from Springer Mt. Georgia to Mt. Katahdin Maine.

  3. #123
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    It's a millennial state of mind..... I never slack packed. I enjoyed a night or two in a hotel though during resupplies however.

  4. #124
    Registered User TylerJ76's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Trance View Post
    It's a millennial state of mind..... I never slack packed. I enjoyed a night or two in a hotel though during resupplies however.

    Bull****.

    **2020 NOBO**

  5. #125
    Registered User plodalong's Avatar
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    You are to be congratulated! You finished the trail and I must assume by the tone of your self described rant that you are 'not young'. I hope you take the time to review your post because they barely mask your angry sense of moral superiority. I suspect you want those of us who are also 'not young' to chime in with tones of shared outrage and dismay at the young and lazy and less morally pure. If that is your goal then I am sure you will find many willing to sit around your campfire and bemoan the young, judge their work ethic and chastise their integrity. As for this 'not young' hiker I will be moving on to find another place to set my tent feeling only sadness for your campfire circle.. The 17th Century prayer of a 'not young' nun observed. "I do not want to be a saint - some of them are so hard to live with. But a sour old person is one of the crowning works of the devil."
    "Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars." - Casey Kasem

  6. #126
    Registered User chaos41's Avatar
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    Yellow blazing and slack packing for someone in prime shape is a poor excuse to try to be cool. All I'm saying is a person who is truly trying to do the whole thing shouldn't be look down on. Trail is Trail in my eyes. Every mile is out there for a reason and just because you think a section is boring takes away from the experience. There is beauty in everything depending which lense you choose to look at it. You wouldn't watch a whole movie like the lord of the rings and only watch the battle scenes and feel like you watched the whole thing.

    As a purist southbounder, who is 23, I came to realization in VA that only 1 in 4 people who say they completed a thru hike to ATC missed less than 20 miles. I guess the people who took 3-8 months out of their lives will have to live with their decision to cheat themselves...

    HYOH or whatever but to future thru hikers I would give this advice. Learn how to balance your trail life. The social aspect of the trail is just as important the actual hiking itself as well. But when one gets bigger than the other you become the entitle thru hiker. Hikers are hikers no matter thru, section, or day.

  7. #127

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    Well said. I am in my 50's and I slack. (I am a section hiker, or is this 'lazy' too). Some of us do not have the luxury of taking 6 months off from life to boast about not slacking. HYOH

    Quote Originally Posted by plodalong View Post
    You are to be congratulated! You finished the trail and I must assume by the tone of your self described rant that you are 'not young'. I hope you take the time to review your post because they barely mask your angry sense of moral superiority. I suspect you want those of us who are also 'not young' to chime in with tones of shared outrage and dismay at the young and lazy and less morally pure. If that is your goal then I am sure you will find many willing to sit around your campfire and bemoan the young, judge their work ethic and chastise their integrity. As for this 'not young' hiker I will be moving on to find another place to set my tent feeling only sadness for your campfire circle.. The 17th Century prayer of a 'not young' nun observed. "I do not want to be a saint - some of them are so hard to live with. But a sour old person is one of the crowning works of the devil."
    Just ignore it

  8. #128
    Registered User jjozgrunt's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by plodalong View Post
    You are to be congratulated! You finished the trail and I must assume by the tone of your self described rant that you are 'not young'. I hope you take the time to review your post because they barely mask your angry sense of moral superiority. I suspect you want those of us who are also 'not young' to chime in with tones of shared outrage and dismay at the young and lazy and less morally pure. If that is your goal then I am sure you will find many willing to sit around your campfire and bemoan the young, judge their work ethic and chastise their integrity. As for this 'not young' hiker I will be moving on to find another place to set my tent feeling only sadness for your campfire circle.. The 17th Century prayer of a 'not young' nun observed. "I do not want to be a saint - some of them are so hard to live with. But a sour old person is one of the crowning works of the devil."
    Perfect, could not agree more. Maybe we'll start our own camp fire.
    "He was a wise man who invented beer." Plato

  9. #129

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    Originally Posted by cspan
    Not exactly. As I understand it, the ATC recognizes thru-hikers, and that accomplishment has some social currency. If the sense of accomplishment were purely internal, there would be no point in ever claiming to have thru-hiked the AT.

    Quote Originally Posted by rickb View Post
    You may understand it that way, but it is factually incorrect to say the ATC recognizes thu-hikers.

    They do not.
    The ATC does hand out 2000 Mile Certificates(Awards) and doesn't hand out all of GA AT Mile Certificates(Awards). Doesn't seem that far reaching that special recognition is given to 2000 Milers verse those who hike 500 AT Miles unless there is a new 500 Mile Certificate(Award) handed out by the ATC I don't know about.

  10. #130

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    Quote Originally Posted by cspan View Post
    Not exactly. As I understand it, the ATC recognizes thru-hikers, and that accomplishment has some social currency. If the sense of accomplishment were purely internal, there would be no point in ever claiming to have thru-hiked the AT.

    Those who falsely claim it (including those who add their own exceptions to the ATC definition) devalue the currency. It is human nature to be bothered by such things. Nothing wrong with trying to uphold a defined standard. OTOH, perhaps the ATC should get out of the business of recognizing people who self-certify the accomplishment. Imagine if colleges/universities did the same...
    Quote Originally Posted by Wolf - 23000 View Post
    ...it more about hikers taking credit for things they didn't do that is the really issue.
    This is a different topic Cspan and Wolf 23000 are referring to than slack packing as BonBon stated earlier

    Agree with all these posters. Very well said.

    HYOH but don't lie or cheat concerning the details of your hike especially to get recognized in some way.

  11. #131
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    I thought they were called yellow blazers?

    Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk

  12. #132
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    It's a free country, er, well in theory anyway. HYOH applies.
    Long-distance aspirations with short-distance feet.... :jump

  13. #133
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    Honestly? Who cares?

    In my rec and social circles, thru-hiking the AT isn't much cred, social or performance-wise. Nobody I know or hang with would dare or care to lie about doing it if they really didn't. I can't imagine a social setting or professional setting where it would get you enough cred to..say...get a date...or a job interview because of it. You don't get pro discounts on gear for doing it. In fact, I would venture to say you probably can't even dine or get a free drink because of it.

    Therefore, who would lie about it?

    Narcissists. Pathological liars. People with no self-esteem. People with no morals. Untrustworthy people.

    And, guess what? I've lived long enough on this planet to spot any of the above. Anyone who tells me they've thru-hiked the AT, PCT, CT, CDT or even bagged Long's Peak in January gets a thorough once-over. I've met some bald-faced liars in my day. Only two people have lied to me about thru hiking. One was the AT and the other was the CDT. I've met far more liars who have claimed to bagged Rainier, Denali, etc...than claim to thru-hike. Hell, I've met more people who claimed to have bagged Rainier than anything else. Why? I have no clue...

  14. #134
    Registered User DSPeabody's Avatar
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    Wait..what? You walked 2000 miles from Georgia to Maine?!?
    You lazy S.O.B!!!

  15. #135
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sarcasm the elf View Post
    You just don't seem to understand! These slackpackers and yellow blazers are enjoying their vacation the wrong way! We need do something about it!

    Fun fact, the earliest A.T. hiker known to have been accused of yellowblazing was Grandma Gatewood. Earl Schaffer was the accuser.
    Great post. The problem is that everybody thinks their way to hike is right. I don't have a dog in this fight (not being a thru-hiker), but my general view based on common sense is that slackpacking is not a bad thing, but yellowblazing or blueblazing shortcuts seem to be. That said, it's on the honor system, and it's all up to the hiker.
    Time is but the stream I go afishin' in.
    Thoreau

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