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#s this yr

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    • Muddy,

      They are posting on some of the FaceBook group pages. From what I have seen this years group includes more than the usual number leaving too early not prepared for winter conditions and with too little money or experience. Yah, I know, nothing new, but it seems to be worse. I have seen several posts from people throwing in the towel at Neel Gap, and some stories about 'rescues' in the Smokies.

      There was a discussion in Miss Janet's FB page about these early starters, so I might as well share here what I posted there...

      The early starters seem to have certain traits in common.
      1) Impatience: They cannot wait to start on their adventure so they begin before they can save enough funds, before they can gain even backyard experience with their newly purchased equipment, and begin in a season that greatly increases the likelihood of failure.
      2) They Don't Listen: They will not consider the reasoned advice from the 'haters.' They just want to listen to an echo chamber and prove that the rest of the world is wrong.
      3) Inability to Adapt: When their unrealistic expectations meets reality, they do not adjust and adapt, they snap and quit.
      It is such a shame because I truly believe that walking heals, and that the trail can transform. If these folks could just get outside their own head for a bit and take in what nature has to teach they would gain more from the experience.
      “Of all sad words of tongue or pen,
      the saddest are these, 'It might have been.”


      John Greenleaf Whittier
    • IMScotty wrote:






      The early starters seem to have certain traits in common.


      1) Impatience: They cannot wait to start on their adventure so they begin before they can save enough funds, before they can gain even backyard experience with their newly purchased equipment, and begin in a season that greatly increases the likelihood of failure.
      Putting aside the people who have to start early because of a work or school schedule that is inflexible, I've never understood why people leave so early that not only do they start in bad weather, but they will finish in the summer. And missing New England in the Fall oughta be a crime.
      2,000 miler