is it a thru hike

[hikerboy57]

coming off the beating a dead thread, figured we could always use some new debating material.

i am attempting to thru hike in 2014. i sectioned from springer to damascus march 23rd to may 1st this past spring. rather than do the same section again next year, im starting at springer, taking the bmt until it hooks back up with the at, so i could avoid the pack, and get into the backcountry.
so , would you consider this a thru hike?

Yes. When you are done, let me know and I will send you a certificate that you can display. I will let HikerMom choose the appropriate icon to add here.

I'm betting it's a :-)

[rocketsocks]

One final thought...(on this page). There is one option, it entails many long waking hours, and some illegal IV's, it's also not very healthy. This I can't be party to.

24 hours a day walking x current available record 59 days=1,416 hours=credit past trail time to where you left off....never mind, there an't enough hours in a day....you'll never make it.

Betty Doht

[Sarcasm the elf]

socks, it would appear youo're dominating the discussion here.

Whats wrong? Don't like the competition?

[rocketsocks]

Whats wrong? Don't like the competition?

Is it the next page yet?

[Dogwood]

Hikerboy, you are too intelligent, conscientious, and generally have too much of a great attitude that you should feel the need to get into a debate about whether or not your anticipated hiking plans should be labeled as a thru-hike. Based on what you said you will be completing another hike of the AT. Keep the bigger picture in front of you. There's way to much emphasis placed on the labeling of what a thru-hike means. Surely, you don't hike so you can label yourself as a thru-hiker. Do you?

[rocketsocks]

Is it the next page yet?

on sceond thought...(ok 11th)...I'm gonna bank my comments for later on when this thread really gets goin... then make a full frontal assault.

[coach lou]

Yes. When you are done, let me know and I will send you a certificate that you can display. I will let HikerMom choose the appropriate icon to add here.

HB, I think you should invite this guy to the Cafe'3

[Sarcasm the elf]

Short answer about you specifically?

You've already hiked more miles than most of the "thru" hikers you started with this spring.

If you go ahead with your 2014 plan, you will have hiked the entire trail and you will have hiked more lifetime A.T. Miles than most people who have completed a purist thru hike.

If you ever find a 2000miler who wants to pull rank on a 4000miler, because their "thru" was more correct, then they're doing it wrong.

Either way, you've hiked more miles than me.

[coach lou]

Hikerboy, you are too intelligent, conscientious, and generally have too much of a great attitude that you should feel the need to get into a debate about whether or not your anticipated hiking plans should be labeled as a thru-hike. Based on what you said you will be completing another hike of the AT. Keep the bigger picture in front of you. There's way to much emphasis placed on the labeling of what a thru-hike means. Surely, you don't hike so you can label yourself as a thru-hiker. Do you?

He already has the Tatoo design!

[snifur]

You need to complete the hike within 356 days of the start date of your section hike. You will not be a purist. And either way you will only qualify for the section hiker 2000 miler certificate and not the thru-hiker status that accompanies the entitlers certificate. You are not attempting to thru-hike the AT. You are attempting to finish the AT with a BMT hook. Just accept that you will be a section hiker with a thru-hikers heart and mind. I will not judge you and neither will others.
Who is going to run the café? How many miles will you be able to do to keep up your daily post quota? I think you need to spend many more long days reconsidering your desire to hike with your café responsibilities as chief poho or whatever your duty title is in there.

[coach lou]

Short answer about you specifically?

You've already hiked more miles than most of the "thru" hikers you started with this spring.

If you go ahead with your 2014 plan, you will have hiked the entire trail and you will have hiked more lifetime A.T. Miles than most people who have completed a purist thru hike.

If you ever find a 2000miler who wants to pull rank on a 4000miler, because their "thru" was more correct, then they're doing it wrong.

Either way, you've hiked more miles than me.

When driver & I did the desert hike of '12'. We chatted with a elderly fella that had a 4000 miler patch.....he was with other thrus. I was thinking that he had to get a 6000 miler patch.

[The Ace]

HB, I think you should invite this guy to the Cafe'3

No. Why punish me?

[snifur]

There's way to much emphasis placed on the labeling of what a thru-hike means. Surely, you don't hike so you can label yourself as a thru-hiker. Do you?

Dog, what are you talking about? dont you know that this is WB land? I was under the understanding that everyone here was a thru-hiker or envious of the thru-hiker status. What other reason is there to hike? This site is devoted to status and solely status. Otherwise one would be free to state their intentions and gear without criticism and critique. Do not treat HB any different. He is just another guy who gets on WB and makes claims and broadcasts his thoughts. He is not special in anyway. No more so than the others that are ridiculed and forced to leave WB land. Treat him like the common folk he is.

[rocketsocks]

Yes. When you are done, let me know and I will send you a certificate that you can display. I will let HikerMom choose the appropriate icon to add here.

oooh. and a Man patch.

[Dogwood]

Hikerboy, you are too intelligent, conscientious, and generally have too much of a great attitude that you should feel the need to get into a debate about whether or not your anticipated hiking plans should be labeled as a thru-hike. Based on what you said you will be completing another hike of the AT. Keep the bigger picture in front of you. There's way to much emphasis placed on the labeling of what a thru-hike means. Surely, you don't hike so you can label yourself as a thru-hiker. Do you?

It's about 52 or so trail miles further taking the BMT from Mt Springer to Davenport Gap(about 288 total) compared to taking the AT which is about 236 miles. I just completed this 500 + mile AT/BMT loop.

[Jack Tarlin]

Does what you plan to do constitute an A.T. thru-hike? Obviously, and I'm sure HB knows this, it doesn't. When you make the willful decision to deviate from the Trail, skip some of it, and follow other paths, you have obviously elected NOT to walk the Appalachian Trail in its entirety, so how one could do this, and then reasonably claim to have hiked the Trail all the way thru escapes me.

That being said, I think what HB plans to do is eminently sensible and I hope he has a ball.

And while I expect to get some flak for what I just wrote, keep in mind that all I did was provide an honest answer to a simple question. If walking the A.T. in its entirety is a goal that is important to an individual, I think that's swell. And if one DOESN'T want to walk the Trail in its entirety, for whatever personal reasons, that's swell, too. But one can't do the second thing, and then claim to have done the first. Wishin' ain't gettin'.

[hikerboy57]

Hikerboy, you are too intelligent, conscientious, and generally have too much of a great attitude that you should feel the need to get into a debate about whether or not your anticipated hiking plans should be labeled as a thru-hike. Based on what you said you will be completing another hike of the AT. Keep the bigger picture in front of you. There's way to much emphasis placed on the labeling of what a thru-hike means. Surely, you don't hike so you can label yourself as a thru-hiker. Do you?

It's about 52 or so trail miles further taking the BMT from Mt Springer to Davenport Gap(about 288 total) compared to taking the AT which is about 236 miles. I just completed this 500 + mile AT/BMT loop.

yeah but i love a good debate. i honestly dont care about labels, never have, but being this subject does come up now and then, for those who might consider this route, maybe they should know where they stand, similar to those who were under the impression that aquablazing was acceptable without having hiked the section they paddled.
cmon dogwood, we know each other too well.

[coach lou]

No. Why punish me?

We need help making the Gator completely Bald

[Ender]

what matters is what you think. That is all that matters. No matter what you decide others will disagree

Exactly this. It only matters what you think.

There's way to much emphasis placed on the labeling of what a thru-hike means.

Exactly this too. People who get so tied up in knots about if it's a thru hike or not are doing absolutely everyone a disservice. What matters, the only thing that matters, is what you yourself think.

[max patch]

Are you thru hiking the AT? Of course not.

Will you be eligible for 2,000 miler status? Absolutely, inasmuch as you hiked this section last year and assuming you continue to hike the white blazes next year.

Have you considered taking the BMT just thru the GSMNP rather than all the way from GA, and

How are you going to handle the GSMNP reservation process?