What's your philosophy on whiteblaze purity?

[MtDoraDave]

Shakespeare said it: to thine own self be true.
.
To me, the tens of extra miles I've hiked (going to shelters, water sources, etc) more than make up for the tenths I may have missed along the way.

[Skyline]

Unless you are planning to apply to ATC for the patch, certificate, and to have your name published in AT Journeys for actually completing the entire white-blazed trail, it does not matter if you hike from Georgia to Maine another way or even skip huge sections. No one really cares, unless you are dishonest and claim to have done it all but really didn't.

A good analogy would be something like the New York Marathon. Does anyone here think it's OK for someone to start the Marathon, go a mile, hop on a subway, hang out in a bar, then join the real runners a few miles before the finish line claiming to have run the entire route? Their name, runner number, etc. are published and they get their photo taken as if they finished the entire Marathon. Fair? Honorable?

ATC is the entity that provides the patch, certificate, and public recognition. If you have honor, then honor their honor system. It is crystal clear what is expected if you sign that application. The only real "loophole" is if you encounter a trail closure for safety or emergency issues; when you find them, you are actually encouraged to take an alternate route. Usually, that alternate is marked on-trail, detailed online, mentioned on Guthook, etc.

The good news is that you can skip sections (example: aqua blazing the Shenandoah River in lieu of the parallel AT a few miles to the east) and then go back and actually hike the white blazes. I know hikers who did just that the year after they made it to Maine. They waited until they went back and hiked it before applying to to ATC. And I know hikers who just applied to ATC without going back -- ever. Who is honorable. Who is not?

[Skyline]

The ATC admits you don't have to walk every inch of the AT, they give you some wiggle room. If over the course of hiking 2200 miles, you accumulate a couple of miles of missed trail, that's acceptable.

Of course, the real debate is how much missed trail is acceptable? When I got into a car and went directly from US60 to Glasgow, VA skipping 22 miles of trail, that would have disqualified me right there. To justify it at the time, I was running out of food and was going to go into Buena Vista, but I meet a day hiker at the parking lot heading back to Glasgow with it's free town shelter, which sounded like a much better plan. What would you have done? (Okay, I had done those 22 miles a couple of times in the past, so didn't feel too guilty skipping them).

Since you had done those miles before, it counts toward your completion of the AT. The ATC recognition is not for thru-hiking, it's for doing the entire AT. You can do it all in one year as a thru-hike, or over 30 years as a section hiker. So long as you do it all, at least once, you're golden in their eyes.

[scope]

...A good analogy would be something like the New York Marathon...

Seems like a bad analogy to me. A timed event is completely different from an AT thru hike, even it you're doing the hike all at once and not flip-flopping around. Its illuminating, though, that you think its a good analogy. Shows the constraints that you would put on yourself. Are those constraints really deserving of honor, or just things you find to be more honorable than not, or maybe just things to apply arbitrary honor to?

This idea of "purity" of a thru hike is a regrettable endeavor. There's too much that each person goes through individually to accomplish the feat for anyone to be a good judge of what they had to do to get it done. Blatantly, skipping sections for ease, sure, that's annoying. But again, we're not placed here by anyone to judge that.

[rickb]

Its illuminating, though, that you think its a good analogy.

Seems like your beef should be with the ATC and not Skyline.

If an organization asks you to SIGN a document attesting to the fact that you satisfied the clear requirements they spell out directly above your SIGNATURE, reasonable people might expect that all those who SIGN THEIR NAME did in fact meet those requirements.

Understood why you could be mad at the ATC though. Their requirements are mean and not fair to everyone who deserves a patch.

[scope]

@rickb...

Not mad at anyone, only irritated by the notion that others might use this purity issue to unnecessarily demean the hikes of those who with all true intent might have missed a blaze or two. And the ATC even acknowledges this on the application, that they assume an honest attempt to hike the entire trail even if not every blaze is passed.

I fail to make any sense of your reply at all.


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[Pony]

I decided that sitting at loft mtn campground and drinking a six pack was more fun than hiking 1.1 miles around it. Then, I got sick in maine and took a 4 mile road walk into stratton rather than hiking 8 over crocker mtn. Then I took the summit bypass around moxie. Still got my patch and don't feel guilty.

[rickb]

Here is the ATCs most recent rewrite and the one that they had been using.

I think the new version is a move in the right direction, but still needs to be improved — or better still, done away with. More emphasis on effort and less on entire Trail and viable substitute would make it better, I think.
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[gracebowen]

I'll likely miss a few blazes by taking one path in to the shelter and another out. I won't lose any sleep applying for my thru hiker patch if I manage to complete the whole trail. Likewise if I hitch to town and miss a mile or less of trail due to a slightly different drop off point.

[Grampie]

If you hike the AT to only get the 2000 mile certificate you are spending money and time foolishly. Just write to ATC tell them you hiked, answer a few questions and they will send you a 2000 mile certificate. No proof is needed.

[tdoczi]

If you hike the AT to only get the 2000 mile certificate you are spending money and time foolishly. Just write to ATC tell them you hiked, answer a few questions and they will send you a 2000 mile certificate. No proof is needed.

it is an interesting thing to observe that pretty much no one would do this, but argument over what does or should qualify one to receive the certificate is never ending.

[Sarcasm the elf]

My personal philosophy is complete and unadulturated indifference. Just be honest when stating what you did or didn’t hike and I’m fine with it.

[tdoczi]

My personal philosophy is complete and unadulturated indifference. Just be honest when stating what you did or didn’t hike and I’m fine with it.

so to come back round to another thread.... on the off chance a hiker who has hiked all the way from GA to CT decides to take the mohawk trail instead of the current AT route, then proceeds to hike the rest of the way to Katahdin, this person should not receive a certificate/should not tell people "I hiked the Appalachian trail"?

kind of silly if you ask me. and as i think i said earlier when this thread started, to people in the world at large (ie not people who obsess over hiking) as well.

[Sarcasm the elf]

so to come back round to another thread.... on the off chance a hiker who has hiked all the way from GA to CT decides to take the mohawk trail instead of the current AT route, then proceeds to hike the rest of the way to Katahdin, this person should not receive a certificate/should not tell people "I hiked the Appalachian trail"?

kind of silly if you ask me. and as i think i said earlier when this thread started, to people in the world at large (ie not people who obsess over hiking) as well.

That’s another example of where my great indifference comes into play. If someone did that my response would be “cool, you took the more rewarding route.” and leave it at that. It really doesn’t bother me either way.

[tdoczi]

That’s another example of where my great indifference comes into play. If someone did that my response would be “cool, you took the more rewarding route.” and leave it at that. It really doesn’t bother me either way.

i agree, but some (many) would put forth the notion that said person claiming they hiked the appalachian trail was mot telling the truth

[Sarcasm the elf]

i agree, but some (many) would put forth the notion that said person claiming they hiked the appalachian trail was mot telling the truth

I think we’re in agreement that those people are silly, and that possibly they don’t have anything more important to worry about.

[Sarcasm the elf]

i agree, but some (many) would put forth the notion that said person claiming they hiked the appalachian trail was mot telling the truth

Speaking of sillyness in that exact same area, you may have heard this story before, but back in 2009/2010 the CT D.O.T. closed the rte 7 bridge over the Housatonic just north of Belter’s Campsite in Cornwall in order to perform major repairs. Because of this the DOT installed a well marked official hiker detour that involved about a three mile road walk before reconnecting with the trail at Falls Village. During the final stages of construction there was a several month period in the summer where the bridge had been reopened but the DOT had not yet removed the detour signs since that project wasn’t totally finished. That season I heard stories from thru hikers who witnessed a handful of whiteblazing purists complaining and agonizing over the decision of whether they had to follow the “official” detour or the actual trail in order to claim that they genuinely hiked every inch of the trail.

[tdoczi]

Speaking of sillyness in that exact same area, you may have heard this story before, but back in 2009/2010 the CT D.O.T. closed the rte 7 bridge over the Housatonic just north of Belter’s Campsite in Cornwall in order to perform major repairs. Because of this the DOT installed a well marked official hiker detour that involved about a three mile road walk before reconnecting with the trail at Falls Village. During the final stages of construction there was a several month period in the summer where the bridge had been reopened but the DOT had not yet removed the detour signs since that project wasn’t totally finished. That season I heard stories from thru hikers who witnessed a handful of whiteblazing purists complaining and agonizing over the decision of whether they had to follow the “official” detour or the actual trail in order to claim that they genuinely hiked every inch of the trail.

not only do i remember it, i hiked it that summer. the detour was in place. I walked over the bridge dodging between traffic and the construction. as it was a weekend i don't beleive there was anyone actually actively working, but the barriers and everything was up and there was no sidewalk to use.

i didnt do this out of a sense of purity in one direction or the other, but because, as a dayhiker, i didnt feel like spending a big chunk of my day road walking to avoid an under construction bridge.

since the "rules" state youre supposed to hike the trail the way it is marked at the time youre there hiking it, i guess i disqualified myself right then.

[middle to middle]

Yes I agree. the rest is what we wanted to leave behind the trail.