Last night on the trail (and this is really what it looked like!) |
September 24 -- Day 177
Destination: Katahdin Stream Campground/Millinocket
Today’s miles: 0
Trip miles: 2161.8
I was just lying here in the Pamola Inn, watching the Olympics, and one athlete made the comment, "If you don't enjoy the journey and your whole focus is the destination, it can be devastating if you don't get there." I'd say that's pretty applicable to a thru-hike, wouldn't you? My pen had been hovering over the paper, as I wasn't feeling particularly inspired to write, when I heard that statement. It helped me get started at least.
Well, here's what I was going to babble about the past couple of days but didn't get to....
When I stopped in at Rainbow Stream Lean-To for a mid-morning snack, I read a three-page, essay-like entry written on loose-leaf paper and stuck into the register. Here's a summary of what I read: The author began by listing some of his hiking experience, including 850 miles of the A.T. in multiple sections, parts of the "West Coast Trail" (which I believe meant the P.C.T.) "before it became a tourist attraction", as the writer put it, and the Long Trail north of Killington, where it and the A.T. diverge. The list went on, and he concluded that paragraph with the statement that it was not included for the purpose of bragging but, apparently, to give his opinion more clout. The next paragraph was sarcastic, calling himself a "lowly section-hiker", which, he said, placed him in the "heirarchy" somewhere between a day-hiker and a thru-hiker. He went on to claim that there is now a "new breed" of thru-hiker on the trail, one that brings "competitiveness" and "commercialism" to the A.T. and sees the trail as a "medal" that can be pulled out in social settings to impress and make one feel superior. The diatribe then went into what he feels every thru-hiker should think and feel about the trail and the experience, about how the trail should humble us all, how we should all think about "The Creator", appreciating the waterfalls and stars and ... well, you probably get the gist of it by now.
Okay, so here's my soapbox speech. Ready? *Deep breath*
First, the writer's basic feelings about the trail, about hiking and nature, were very nice, and there's always something to be gained by sharing ideas and feelings. What happened in this case, however, is that the messenger got in the way of the message. For one, he hypocritically listed his own hiking resume, while it really had no bearing on the validity of his sentiments. And he implies that thru-hikers, by and large, aren't humble enough?
Secondly, the whole hierarchy thing is, in my opinion, a bunch of hooey. Other than those who never before set foot on a trail prior to the beginning of this long journey, thru-hikers have day-hiked, weekend-hiked, or section-hiked the A.T. and/or other trails--and more than likely will again. I believe that the hierarchy, "elitist" bull is a figment of the imagination of those with some sort of insecurity (not that we don't all have some of that), projecting such attitudes on others. We can't all be a part of every social group. We can't do everything everyone else does just to be "one of them". If we're doing something that others are doing, whether it's thru-hiking or boating or skydiving--you name it--then we tend to relate to and socialize with those people because of that common denominator. I, personally, have never once seen or heard a thru-hiker being rude or derogatory to someone not hiking the A.T. end-to-end or even remotely close to a long-distance trek, based on some sort of ridiculous class notion.
As far as "competitiveness" is concerned, that, to me, is just as ludicrous. There’s not a single thru-hiker I have ever encountered who's of the mindset that he or she is in a race or out here to do more miles a day than anyone else as some sort of competition. If that was ever the mindset of any would-be thru-hiker, I would go so far as to suggest that that alone wouldn't be enough to get that person through the journey. And if it was their driving motivation and they did succeed in their goal, well, to each his or her own mind and heart. I say, so what?
The writer of that long entry was likely magnifying a microcosm of register entries he's read or comments he’s overheard during these final miles of the northbound thru-hiker’s journey, when that thru-hiker is, in fact, excited about having come this far, when the adrenaline is pumping and emotions are running high and deep. The writer's generalizations were unfair and, at best, inaccurate. I later met the man who wrote the holier-than-thou entry, and (without telling him I'd read that entry, but knowing he’d authored it) he mentioned many thru-hikers he'd met briefly over the past few days in the Wilderness. (He's hiking from Monson to Katahdin.) Not one of those people he mentioned, all of whom I know personally, is anything like he implied in his essay. I'm wondering, then, where he's coming up with this junk.
Sorry to have gone on about all that. It just ruffled my ramkitten feathers, and I thought about it a lot as I hiked.
Before I put my journal back in its Zip-Loc for tonight, I'll just say a heart-felt thank you in advance to everyone who's shared this experience with me in one way or another. I've enjoyed sharing with you what little of it I was able to put on paper and, through the generous fingers of my transcriber, Yogi, put on the web as well.
As always, it’s time to climb out of my sleeping bag for the nightly ritual in the bushes on my last night on the trail (for now). Night, everybody.
--Ramkitten
