Has anyone heard from the Rifle man.

[Rasty]

when he started he wanted nothing but attention. things go bad and now it's unwanted? can't have it both ways.

Nope- disagree. When you start a journal, you know people will be reading it. He was starting really early on the trail, so everyone would be watching him. It's a given. He did get on here and NOT take advice of WBer's on when he should start his hike.... he's a young guy. It's not the first time a person won't take good advice, and it won't be the last. So, you really have to believe that you can get inside someone's head to KNOW that they started a thread with the pure intention of grabbing as many people's attention for his hike as he could.. really?

He DID NOT realize that he had done anything WRONG, in carving the shelter. You can believe that or not. I believe him. People had a right to let him know how they felt about it... no prob. Do peeps HAVE to mean and ugly about it? NO WAY!

When people crapped all over his journal , threw everything ugly and rude at him- to include mentioning his faith in God-that was proof right there ,for me, that those people were pure haters.

Why in the world would anyone be shocked that he would start deleting those comments and then shut his guest book down.

When people are mean, ugly and out of control- what choice do you really have? I don't buy - "when things go bad".... NO WAY!! There's no way that he did ANYTHING to give haters a right to pour out their hate. NOTHING. That is a reflection of THEM not him.

He was a young guy that was putting himself out there. He learned some important life lessons, for the world to see.

This guy can't win for loosing b/c, even now, no one seems to remember that he did apologize. He's only remembered for being a smart arse? Doomed to fail?
OKay... NOT.

WM... I don't get your comment - God's fault... it doesn't make any sense. nor do I understand your comment either, KK. Whatever...

It could be the Tooth Fairy's fault or Santa Clause or how bout the Easter Bunny's or no ones FAULT.

It's all about living life, making mistakes,people's reactions & interactions with others. Sometimes, you don't get it RIGHT... Right? Do you or have ya'll always got things- RIGHT?

He didn't know carving into a shelter was wrong. Sorry but he knew it was wrong and did it because he thought everyone else is doing it.

[IrishBASTARD]

He didn't know carving into a shelter was wrong. Sorry but he knew it was wrong and did it because he thought everyone else is doing it.

EXACTLY, but if everyone did it, we would surely have tooth picks, where the shelters once stood. He knew better to do it, and blamed others who couldnt defend themselves. Say put the name in a journal, oddly though he posted a picture here, knowing full well the outcome, and pleading ignorance. Though I do find irony in all this, as sadly he does have frostbite, though he is a strong believer in the Bible and Christ Our Lord, perhaps an eye for an eye, who is truly to say.

[rocketsocks]

EXACTLY, but if everyone did it, we would surely have tooth picks, where the shelters once stood. He knew better to do it, and blamed others who couldnt defend themselves. Say put the name in a journal, oddly though he posted a picture here, knowing full well the outcome, and pleading ignorance. Though I do find irony in all this, as sadly he does have frostbite, though he is a strong believer in the Bible and Christ Our Lord, perhaps an eye for an eye, who is truly to say.

Wait, so Moses should have been brought before Medusa....say what!

[HikerMom58]

LOL... that's seriously hard to believe. Almost like saying I beat my girl friend, but she deserved it.

Again... you don't have to believe him... your choice. People will make excuses for their behavior..... true.

In the example you gave, they sometimes believe their own lies. You have to have serious issues going on to beat up on another person. I'll continue my thoughts to Rasty....

He didn't know carving into a shelter was wrong. Sorry but he knew it was wrong and did it because he thought everyone else is doing it.

Sorry but if he realized that it was wrong/acceptable -why would he have posted a pic of it on his TJ? Now, you are having to believe that he is a smart ass, on and on....
There are MANY people on this site that don't feel that carving is a shelter is wrong. Just like mooning or whatever.

I honestly don't believe he thought it was wrong/unacceptable. He said he didn't. After everyone jumped on him & told him why they were offended and why they thought it was wrong, he agreed and apologized to everyone.

"Sorry but he knew it was wrong and did it because he thought everyone else is doing it."

How in the world can anyone make a bold statement like this? It's like saying- I have the power to get inside someone's head and know exactly what they are thinking.....
If you take this position, you would have to look him in the eye & tell him he's a liar.....I don't believe he's lying.

[Rasty]

LOL... that's seriously hard to believe. Almost like saying I beat my girl friend, but she deserved it.

Again... you don't have to believe him... your choice. People will make excuses for their behavior..... true.

In the example you gave, they sometimes believe their own lies. You have to have serious issues going on to beat up on another person. I'll continue my thoughts to Rasty....

He didn't know carving into a shelter was wrong. Sorry but he knew it was wrong and did it because he thought everyone else is doing it.

Sorry but if he realized that it was wrong/acceptable -why would he have posted a pic of it on his TJ? Now, you are having to believe that he is a smart ass, on and on....
There are MANY people on this site that don't feel that carving is a shelter is wrong. Just like mooning or whatever.

I honestly don't believe he thought it was wrong/unacceptable. He said he didn't. After everyone jumped on him & told him why they were offended and why they thought it was wrong, he agreed and apologized to everyone.

"Sorry but he knew it was wrong and did it because he thought everyone else is doing it."

How in the world can anyone make a bold statement like this? It's like saying- I have the power to get inside someone's head and know exactly what they are thinking.....
If you take this position, you would have to look him in the eye & tell him he's a liar.....I don't believe he's lying.

I'm comfortable with my position on this.

[HikerMom58]

I'm comfortable with my position on this.

That's mighty judgemental of you.....

[Rasty]

I'm comfortable with my position on this.

That's mighty judgemental of you.....

Sorry but he lied. Sometimes it is that simple.

[Lone Wolf]

he knew damn well what he was doing was wrong. just another 20 something-year-old messin' up

[The Cleaner]

I went up to Jerry's Cabin shelter last Friday to clean-up and met 4 thru hikers.I asked them if they had heard the Rifle saga.They said yes and that a USFS Ranger was looking for him.Since this happened several weeks ago maybe he is no longer an active case.Or maybe one of the reasons he hasn't posted anything lately......

[TD55]

Some of you should consider coming out of the "I'm always right" bubble. Not everyone thinks carving their name on a secluded box in the woods is a major crime, or even wrong. Folks have been doing it for longer than most of you have even known what an AT shelter was. Some folks just like to bully on this site.

[Lone Wolf]

Some of you should consider coming out of the "I'm always right" bubble. Not everyone thinks carving their name on a secluded box in the woods is a major crime, or even wrong. Folks have been doing it for longer than most of you have even known what an AT shelter was. Some folks just like to bully on this site.

vandalism is wrong dude. ain't nothin' "bullying" about saying he was wrong

[bfayer]

+1 to LW.

I will give the kid some slack because he did put out a public apology, so I'm good with him and wish him the best if he gets back on the trail.

Any 10 year old with half a brain knows vandalizing public property is wrong. To argue that there are people out there that don't know its wrong is just silly.

[Ender]

Guys, this thread, and this issue, are well over two months old now. The kid messed up, and then apologized for messing up. Let's just move on already.

[MDSection12]

A long distance hike is a long distance hike. While some may consider it a vacation, I don't think walking 15-20 miles a day is a vacation. It may be time away from a paying job (if you have one) but it's still a lot of work.

A vacation to me is car camping at a national park, sitting on a tropical beach, or visiting museums in Europe.

YMMV.

Why in these discussions do people always forget that words have definitions? We don't need you to tell us what a vacation is, there is an objective definition of the word we can use...

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vacation

Seems to me a thru-hike is absolutely a vacation. In fact, if you thru-hike and take a week off to do something else then you'd be taking a vacation from your vacation. That doesn't devalue a thru-hike, it's just a simple fact.

[Pingus]

Maybe its a south verses north thing. One time years ago I stopped to help a guy in GA with a broken down car. Once we got the car running, he offered me a $20 and I said no thank you. He tried to give it to me again and I said no again. At that point he got very angry and tried to shove it in my pocket, I went from being his best friend to worst enemy in 30 seconds.

I was born and raised in Michigan and that was one of my first trips down south. Since then I have learned if a southern gentleman tries to give you something, you take it and smile. The same rule applies to southern ladies and food

When I take my kids back up north (both born and raised down here), they always ask me "why are people up here so rude". I just smile and tell them "they're not rude, just another flavor of nice"

One of the best posts I've ever read, on any site.

[HikerMom58]

Sorry but he lied. Sometimes it is that simple.

You don't know that he lied.. there's no way you can know that. I won't say that he didn't lie because I don't know that for a fact.. All I'm saying is I believe him. Ya'll are calling him a liar... I'm not. I don't know what I dislike worse... liars or people who judge others...

Rasty, you can say that you don't believe him.. I'm fine with that. When you say emphatically that he lied, you are just taking this whole thing to a different level.

[Rasty]

Sorry but he lied. Sometimes it is that simple.

You don't know that he lied.. there's no way you can know that. I won't say that he didn't lie because I don't know that for a fact.. All I'm saying is I believe him. Ya'll are calling him a liar... I'm not. I don't know what I dislike worse... liars or people who judge others...

Rasty, you can say that you don't believe him.. I'm fine with that. When you say emphatically say that he lied, you are just taking this whole thing to a different level.

He's fairly intelligent as evident from his trail journal. If he's smart enough to write a trail journal then one could assume he knows right from wrong and chose wrong. Pretending to not know vandalism is wrong is just silly.

[MDSection12]

He didn't know that it is wrong to carve his name into something that did not belong to him... Seriously?

[ChinMusic]

You don't know that he lied.. there's no way you can know that. I won't say that he didn't lie because I don't know that for a fact.. All I'm saying is I believe him. Ya'll are calling him a liar... I'm not. I don't know what I dislike worse... liars or people who judge others...

Rasty, you can say that you don't believe him.. I'm fine with that. When you say emphatically that he lied, you are just taking this whole thing to a different level.

This .......

[bfayer]

Hey guys, I think at this point if we are going to keep talking about this we should start a "trail vandalism" thread and let this one die.

This guy is probably off the tail, and there is no value in keeping this going in his name.