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Inside the mind of an Appalachian Trail hiker

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    • Inside the mind of an Appalachian Trail hiker

      A sociologist finds that unusual camaraderie and a little magic carry outdoor adventurers through their journeys.


      By Kristi M. Fondren September 09, 2015
      “ONCE YOU’RE OUT THERE, you belong to this group of people,” says Hobo Joe, a 22-year-old long-distance hiker from Massachusetts. “It’s very exclusive that way.” He is talking about attending Trail Days, a high-spirited annual hikers’ reunion in Damascus, Virginia (population 814), that draws about 10,000 Appalachian Trail enthusiasts. But he could have been referring to the entire 2,190-mile journey along America’s longest and skinniest national park.
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      its all good
    • A few things sound accurate. It does seem that thru hikers form deep and long-lasting bonds with other thru hikers. I have never experienced that.

      And a few things irritated me, but to be honest, I sometimes read these articles with a chip on my shoulder because I've never lashed or thru hiked.
      Lost in the right direction.
    • TrafficJam wrote:

      A few things sound accurate. It does seem that thru hikers form deep and long-lasting bonds with other thru hikers. I have never experienced that.

      And a few things irritated me, but to be honest, I sometimes read these articles with a chip on my shoulder because I've never lashed or thru hiked.
      to me, anyway you get out there, its all good.

      day hiker thru hiker section hiker,lasher. ive made a lot of trail friends over the years.some i only hiked with for a day or two, but still talk to today. yes the bonds i experienced on my lashes are bonds that will last a lifetime.but there are challenges in section hiking that thru hikers never have to deal with. and many thru hikers may never hike again after their thru, although the memories of their journey will last forever.
      i remember "don's brother" who was hiking the trail for his deceased brother and seemed miserable most of the time in his trail journal. i spoke with him a few weeks after he finished and he told me never would have thought he missed it as much as he did.he didnt realize until after it was over how much he had loved it.i've only had a taste, but a long distance hike can and frequently does have a profound effect on ones life.


      that being said, i think the article diminishes the efforts of "lesser mortals"


      some thru hikers call it quits after their done, the goal achieved.
      me, i just keep going back to the woods,keep going back home.
      its all good
    • TrafficJam wrote:

      A few things sound accurate. It does seem that thru hikers form deep and long-lasting bonds with other thru hikers. I have never experienced that.

      And a few things irritated me, but to be honest, I sometimes read these articles with a chip on my shoulder because I've never lashed or thru hiked.
      You shouldn't feel that way (but you feel the way ya feel) I'd never take a back seat to a person that hiked across the land for five months and never again...I've been out of doors my whole life, all that moniker BS is just that...BS.
    • socks wrote:

      TrafficJam wrote:

      A few things sound accurate. It does seem that thru hikers form deep and long-lasting bonds with other thru hikers. I have never experienced that.

      And a few things irritated me, but to be honest, I sometimes read these articles with a chip on my shoulder because I've never lashed or thru hiked.
      You shouldn't feel that way (but you feel the way ya feel) I'd never take a back seat to a person that hiked across the land for five months and never again...I've been out of doors my whole life, all that moniker BS is just that...BS.
      I don't feel inferior because I haven't thru hiked or lashed. But I do get irritated by the exclusive thru-hiker club mentality...and I think I'm wrong. Thru hikers deserve to be recognized, they worked hard to earn it.
      Lost in the right direction.
    • TrafficJam wrote:

      socks wrote:

      TrafficJam wrote:

      A few things sound accurate. It does seem that thru hikers form deep and long-lasting bonds with other thru hikers. I have never experienced that.

      And a few things irritated me, but to be honest, I sometimes read these articles with a chip on my shoulder because I've never lashed or thru hiked.
      You shouldn't feel that way (but you feel the way ya feel) I'd never take a back seat to a person that hiked across the land for five months and never again...I've been out of doors my whole life, all that moniker BS is just that...BS.
      I don't feel inferior because I haven't thru hiked or lashed. But I do get irritated by the exclusive thru-hiker club mentality...and I think I'm wrong. Thru hikers deserve to be recognized, they worked hard to earn it.
      I'm gonna agree with LW on this one, they're not special, they're on a six month vacation. (Though admittedly taking a six month vacation would be kind of special)

      I work a lot harder at my job during those same months that they're out there...
      Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.
    • I have made it a goal to meet as many of the people I have met on-line in person while hiking. I had to quit early this year due to a sore foot or I would have looked up Da Wolf again. Bye the way, Lumpy said "Hi" when I stopped at Standing Bear. It has been great meeting Miss Janet, Baltimore Jack, Pirate, Joe Mitchell, Trubrit, and The Captain just to name a few. When I got to the ATC last fall I went into the bathroom and there was a sticky note on the mirror that said "Hi SandyofPA" and I still am not sure who left it there! Hiking some each year I get to meet many more hikers than a thru-hiker.
    • If everything goes as planned and I finish in 2017, I will have had the opportunity to hike in 4 different bubbles. 2011 (GA), 2015 (VA-NY), 2016 (CT-NH), and 2017 (ME).

      I also met a lot of SOBOs in Oct 13 when they had closed SNP for the Government shutdown.
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • LIhikers wrote:

      The tone of the article makes me think the author is a thru hiker who thinks too much of what she's done.
      Like others I've met some great people while out hiking, but I'm not gonna put them on a pedestal just because they're involved with the trail one way or another.
      according to mr google :) she is a backpacker but not a thru. she did a lash of 350 miles of 40 days. the disseration for her ph.d was "“Walking on the Wild Side: An Examination of a Long-Distance HikingSubculture”. she has also a book coming out around thanksgiving titled "walking on the wild side - long distance hiking on the appalachian trail" which is almost certainly her disseration rewritten for the masses.




      2,000 miler
    • I am more in awe of the dedicated section hiker than a thru hiker. The mind set to spend years getting their 2000 miler status is one I will never be able to get.
      Thru hikers have an element of elitism about them that they don't deserve.
      I like to spend a long time on a trail and completing it is an easy way to set limits.
      I do find that the physical and mental changes after about the 3rd week are what makes the "long" hike special over a short section hike. But to be a thru hiker of something as long as the AT is a very selfish act unless you have no loved ones not on the trail with you. IM for example, did not have my mental anguish over the selfishness of what we were doing. What made the Camino special for me was having Annie with me, meaning that I didn't have that issue. My Bib hike I was focused on my health issues and going fast enough that it didn't surface much.
      On friendships, you make friends everywhere in your life, the trail is no different. I have a special link with Army Ant and Rolling R but I have friends that I hardly have met and in some cases haven't. I counted I have 60 Facebook friends recently and 31 are American. About 10 of the others are from the Camino and the Bib.
      It stands to reason that if hiking is your passion, the people who you can most connect and gel with will be on a trail somewhere. Day hikers, section hikers or thru hikers, they will be hikers.
      Resident Australian, proving being a grumpy old man is not just an American trait.
    • max.patch wrote:

      LIhikers wrote:

      The tone of the article makes me think the author is a thru hiker who thinks too much of what she's done.
      Like others I've met some great people while out hiking, but I'm not gonna put them on a pedestal just because they're involved with the trail one way or another.
      according to mr google :) she is a backpacker but not a thru. she did a lash of 350 miles of 40 days. the disseration for her ph.d was "“Walking on the Wild Side: An Examination of a Long-Distance HikingSubculture”. she has also a book coming out around thanksgiving titled "walking on the wild side - long distance hiking on the appalachian trail" which is almost certainly her disseration rewritten for the masses.




      So she has an inferiority complex. Two can play this sociology game :D
      If your Doctor is a tree, you're on acid.
    • max.patch wrote:

      LIhikers wrote:

      The tone of the article makes me think the author is a thru hiker who thinks too much of what she's done.
      Like others I've met some great people while out hiking, but I'm not gonna put them on a pedestal just because they're involved with the trail one way or another.
      according to mr google :) she is a backpacker but not a thru. she did a lash of 350 miles of 40 days. the disseration for her ph.d was "“Walking on the Wild Side: An Examination of a Long-Distance HikingSubculture”. she has also a book coming out around thanksgiving titled "walking on the wild side - long distance hiking on the appalachian trail" which is almost certainly her disseration rewritten for the masses.




      There goes my plan to use a TH as a basis for a PhD dissertation. Then again I could take an opposite hypothesis.

      OzJacko wrote:

      I am more in awe of the dedicated section hiker than a thru hiker.
      agreed. It's a special (not elite) hiker to dedicate years to a goal accomplishment.

      Lest we forget.....



      SSgt Ray Rangel - USAF
      SrA Elizabeth Loncki - USAF
      PFC Adam Harris - USA
      MSgt Eden Pearl - USMC
    • Having attempted a thru, I have loads of respect for thru hikers. Having finished the trail over the following 17 years, I know a bit about section hiking as well. I suppose I'm really just a LASHer, and I'm perfectly fine with that. The thru attempt went about 650 miles, the sections anywhere from 13 to just under 600 miles.

      I don't really get the alleged elitism of thru-hikers, nor have I experienced it on the trail. Some of my sections were deliberately timed to meet the NOBO thru-hiker wave. When I hiked SOBO from Katahdin (exactly 25 years ago, today) I timed it to meet hikers I'd started with in Georgia earlier that year. I met several of them -- Tree and Sprout, Dead Ahead, Cosmic Charlie, Dan and Alan Adsmond, Geek (Jim Adams), Lagunatic (class of 90 traveling-trail-angel) Wingfoot and Ward Leonard. Save for Ward, all our meetings were pleasant and fun.

      Section hikers get to choose their seasons, thrus don't. Section hikers can hike at whatever speed they like, while thrus have to maintain a certain minimum daily average. Section hikers have to be more familiar with road crossings and access points, just to get on and off the trail. For short sections, zero days may be skipped entirely. I mean, why bother, right? Similarly, for sufficiently short sections, re-supply may be a non-issue. Section hikers can mix up NOBO and SOBO as they please, and hike the trail in whatever order they choose. I did the two ends first, and the middle part last. Thru-hikers, by the time they get to Maine, are often weary and worn out. Section hikers don't have that problem.

      These are all simple logistical issues. Both strategies require dedication and perseverance. No easy way from Georgia to Maine on the AT.
    • rafe wrote:

      Having attempted a thru, I have loads of respect for thru hikers. Having finished the trail over the following 17 years, I know a bit about section hiking as well. I suppose I'm really just a LASHer, and I'm perfectly fine with that. The thru attempt went about 650 miles, the sections anywhere from 13 to just under 600 miles.

      I don't really get the alleged elitism of thru-hikers, nor have I experienced it on the trail. Some of my sections were deliberately timed to meet the NOBO thru-hiker wave. When I hiked SOBO from Katahdin (exactly 25 years ago, today) I timed it to meet hikers I'd started with in Georgia earlier that year. I met several of them -- Tree and Sprout, Dead Ahead, Cosmic Charlie, Dan and Alan Adsmond, Geek (Jim Adams), Lagunatic (class of 90 traveling-trail-angel) Wingfoot and Ward Leonard. Save for Ward, all our meetings were pleasant and fun.

      Section hikers get to choose their seasons, thrus don't. Section hikers can hike at whatever speed they like, while thrus have to maintain a certain minimum daily average. Section hikers have to be more familiar with road crossings and access points, just to get on and off the trail. For short sections, zero days may be skipped entirely. I mean, why bother, right? Similarly, for sufficiently short sections, re-supply may be a non-issue. Section hikers can mix up NOBO and SOBO as they please, and hike the trail in whatever order they choose. I did the two ends first, and the middle part last. Thru-hikers, by the time they get to Maine, are often weary and worn out. Section hikers don't have that problem.

      These are all simple logistical issues. Both strategies require dedication and perseverance. No easy way from Georgia to Maine on the AT.
      Nor have I, only in on-line rhetoric does the snobbery seem to exist.
    • When I say there's an element of elitism about a thru hiker it isn't suggesting they are all snobby types. Some are but certainly not the majority. There is however a few that think that they are special. The same ones are frequently the same people that give hikers a bad name. There are also some people who are not thru hikers that think thru hikers are special. These feed the vanity of the few. Thru hikers just have more time. Like many I don't like coolers marked for thru hikers only. Trail magic is for all not a select few.
      Resident Australian, proving being a grumpy old man is not just an American trait.
    • rafe wrote:

      I suppose I'm really just a LASHer
      One proverb of modern life that I learnt about twenty years ago: "'Just' is a four-letter word." (At least in the sense of describing the diminutive significance of something. Using it to describe something that is right: "The decision was just", or something that has recently occurred "Hey, I just woke up!", is fine.)

      When you're tempted to describe someone's project as, "You mean you just..." or "Why don't you just...?" When you say "I'm just a LASHer," "I'm just a programmer," "I'm just a nurse," "I'm just the assistant manager." When you whine "I just want..." When you rush to defend a small infraction: "The litter was just a candy wrapper," "He was just there for an hour." When you use it to deprecate your ability to effect any sort of change: "I just work here." The sentence almost always says a different thing, and is more accurate, when you leave out the word 'just': 'She's a nurse.' 'Why don't you try it this way?' 'I work here.'

      'Just' in that sense is begging the listener not to think clearly about the statement that follows.

      Judith Martin once wrote, "I used to be just a secretary, but then i got a promotion and now I'm a full secretary!"
      I'm not lost. I know where I am. I'm right here.
    • SarcasmTheElf wrote:

      Astro wrote:

      I wish I had of worked it out where I could of hiked the AT for my dissertation. :P
      You're a better person for not having done so...
      There are enough masters' feces and doctoral defecations lying about near the trail as it is.

      (I can't believe I just wrote that. But I find it interesting how many hikers have it Piled High and Deep.)
      I'm not lost. I know where I am. I'm right here.
    • AnotherKevin wrote:

      SarcasmTheElf wrote:

      Astro wrote:

      I wish I had of worked it out where I could of hiked the AT for my dissertation. :P
      You're a better person for not having done so...
      There are enough masters' feces and doctoral defecations lying about near the trail as it is.
      (I can't believe I just wrote that. But I find it interesting how many hikers have it Piled High and Deep.)
      Makes sense to me, most PHD candidates I've met are used to living on a shoestring budget and bouncing between jobs and different schools. It actually seems like a lifestyle that would lend itself well to long distance hiking.
      Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.
    • hikerboy wrote:

      all hikers matter

      Alright with me as well.

      I survived, along with around 300 other people, a hurricane at sea aboard a US Navy destroyer called Camille. I've hiked, and walked, in California, Texas, Mississippi, Georgia, and Maryland. With some small bits in Maine and Alabama.

      I hope to get on, and at least do 100 miles of, the BMT next year. Maybe part of the AT for my Old Geezer birthday year in 2017.

      edit: the hurricane was called Camille. The ship wasn't named that.
      --
      "What do you mean its sunrise already ?!", me.

      The post was edited 1 time, last by JimBlue ().

    • OzJacko wrote:

      When I say there's an element of elitism about a thru hiker it isn't suggesting they are all snobby types. Some are but certainly not the majority. There is however a few that think that they are special. The same ones are frequently the same people that give hikers a bad name. There are also some people who are not thru hikers that think thru hikers are special. These feed the vanity of the few. Thru hikers just have more time. Like many I don't like coolers marked for thru hikers only. Trail magic is for all not a select few.
      I agree, I've met some awesome folks that thru-hiked the trail, and some that are almost finished.