Entitlement
There were some damn funny threads lately. At least that’s what I assume. They were funny because they had to be. There couldn’t possibly be people who really believe some of the things they were saying, could they? I suppose the entitlement deal isn’t new, and although I’m a cocky bastard full of optimism- I doubt this will solve it. But as the week went on I couldn’t seem to walk past the issue.
Part of the problem is age I suppose; you got a bunch of crusty old timers on one side of things, a bunch of young punks on the other. Or maybe you have some folks humbled by age and wisdom and some folks reveling in the blissful ignorance of youth. Some worn down old bums lamenting the loss of the good Ol’ days, some youthful energy and enthusiastic people trying to do something new. I’m pretty sure it’s not age though, even though that’s how it seems to play out.
I’ve been doing this thirty years. I started out “old school” I car camped with my family. I was a day hiker, Cub Scout, Boy Scout, Eagle Scout, and Explorer. I sold gear, was an instructor, guide and teacher. I built slowly over the years. I didn’t just use external frame packs, heavy boots, or carry a fifty pound pack; I enthusiastically taught others how to join me. You see, the only weight guideline we followed, was that your pack should be between ¼ and 1/3 of your bodyweight. So even an eighth grade 120 pound kid could be equipped safely with a forty pound pack. At 160 pounds I was considered safe to fifty pounds. 200lb Dad’s carried sixty pounds. We did five to eight miles a day. It was awesome.
Back then the focus was never really on gear. The focus was on knowledge, self-reliance, and what many of you younger folks may be most shocked by; repairing your gear. See even at fifty pounds, and despite the fact that all that heavy gear was “bomb proof”- it broke, often. Thru-hikes were not a journey to the holy land to answer a higher calling, every day hiker was granted that privilege. There was no ultralight, no purists, no speed hikers, not even backpackers really. Backpacking was always a means to an end, just the stuff you brought because the stuff you wanted to see was too far from the car to make it in a day. There was only one goal, one pinnacle in our sport; becoming an outdoorsman. (A non-gender title many women bear with pride) Learning to travel where others cannot.
Things are way better, easier. I used to go out with ten pounds or less. Twenty plus years ago I did that by bringing a knife, a Point Blanket, and knowledge. Today I can carry a full set of gear and even a few luxuries. If I want to go crazy, I’ve gone down to under five pounds. Ten years ago I was proud to get a full pack for a week trip together at thirty pounds, proud to hit a twenty mile day. Today, without trying, I can do the same with twenty pounds and hit thirty mile days, sometimes forty.
On one hand, I’m a crusty old hiker. An old school outdoorsman who knows it’s not gear, or miles. That the woods don’t give a rat’s ass about me and that I am nothing special. That a thru hike is just that, a hike down any trail from one end of the trail to another. On the other hand, I’m thirty-five. I can mince gear lists and grams with the best of them. I’m not sitting on the trail wheezing at you young whippersnappers to slow down; I can wipe the trail with your ass if I want to. Not because I’m better, but because I’m an outdoorsman; and many of you aren’t.
Both sides are wrong, and both sides are right. And I’m in the middle.
The AT is probably the best long distance trail in the world. A thru-hike is something special. I still haven’t hiked the whole thing. I broke my leg a thousand miles into my attempt. X-ray and a bottle of pills in hand I was told to go home. I went another 120 miles over two weeks through Pennsylvania on that broken leg before I went home, it would be a year before I could backpack again. A completed thru-hike is a gift, just the opportunity to try is a privilege. You aren’t entitled to anything by taking it on, you are indebted to the trail for the opportunity to travel on it. The fact that someone with my experience failed, should only serve to show what a rare thing it is to finish one. We can all sneer at the naïve folks who show up and quit by Neel’s Gap, but even when you want, or even earned it- you’re still not entitled to it.
It’s also not that hard. Finishing sometimes boils down to just dumb luck. While that might sound bitter coming from me, it’s not. It’s why some outdoorsman have some issues with thru-hikers. The AT, for all its greatness, is just another trail. Not only that, but it passes town after town. Fellow hikers and total strangers go out of their way to help you finish. Services and businesses’ cater to your every need, not because you’re special, but because you’re customers. You rarely need to travel more than fifty miles at a crack away from civilized help. For some of us old school folks, the major milestone of an outdoorsman’s travels, when you could start to call yourself experienced, often centered around two things; a winter trip and a ten day trip without resupply. Neither condition is met by the average thru-hiker.
Consider the shelter, one of the inspirations for this post. You see, for an outdoorsman, a shelter is a bit of an oddity. 99% of the world’s trails don’t have them. If it rains for five days, there’s nowhere to go, the only shelter is your skill. Putting in a thirty, or worse thumbing it, doesn’t whisk you away to a town so you can dry out. 99% of the trails out there are not so well blazed and marked that you need no other form of navigation but those markings. 99% of the woods don’t even have trails. Not needing a map and compass, or the skill to use them- easy. Not finding a space at a shelter- well we didn’t expect to even find the shelter in the first place- the fact it even exists is pretty neat.
A thru-hiker, in the mind of an outdoorsman, isn’t entitled. Just the opposite. You’ve earned yourself a place of great responsibility, incurred a massive debt. You won the lottery. You see for us outdoorsman, a thru-hiker should be something special. You should be the best of us, the greatest among us. The most knowledgeable, humble, wisest. You shouldn’t just have a sweet set of gear, your gear should be the least impressive thing about you. We expect you to be able to start a fire, pitch a tarp in a storm, and know how to bushwhack across fifty miles of trackless wilderness to reach help to save someone’s life if it’s required. We expect you to be at peace with the trail and everyone who travels it.
Many of the clueless weekenders, section hikers, heavy haulers, slow-pokes, and old school hikers you click clack your poles past or look down upon can do all those things. I’ve literally saved the lives of over fifty people in the woods. Some of them thru-hikers on the AT. Not because that’s my job, or I’m great- but because I’m an outdoorsman. You’d probably hear the same from other outdoorsman. You’d probably hear that most of us consider the AT to be a series of back to back weekend trips, pretty easy stuff all things considered for most of us.
The AT is physically and mentally difficult. You deserve credit for that part of your accomplishment, nobody wants to take that from you. In fact, just the opposite, we want you to understand what you’ve done, what you’ve been given, what you’ve earned. You are only entitled to one thing; that is the opportunity to learn.
Now I’m just as guilty as you young punks. Probably more so because I should know better. This last year I got into speed hiking, pretty hard core. Like any new boy in church who sees the light I was preaching the good word pretty hard. So I understand what the newness of your hike can do to you, what it’s like to be a zealot and miss-understand. To say some pretty stupid stuff because you are all fired up. To forget you owe more than you could ever pay.
But I got some good news for you. I haven’t given up on you yet, nor have most of the other outdoorsman. As far as we’re concerned you’re off to a hell of a start on a fine career as outdoorsman. You just need some time to put the pieces together, a little time for your eyes to adjust after staring into the sun. The real good news; you’re entitled to it.
An outdoorsman earns their place. It takes time, it takes going off the deep end every once in a while. Maybe some of the crusties giving you a hard time should remember that lesson.
But once you’ve earned your place, paid your debts- things start to go your way real fast. I promise you that. An outdoorsman knows this, knows that once you join the club you’re covered for life. You don’t have to prove it to us, or even yourself. You have to prove it to the trail. It might be awhile. One trip, no matter how long; won’t do the job. Even if you turn around and triple crown it; you’ll still need some time to put all the pieces together, to show the trail you’re in it for the long haul.
Once you do you’re entitled to a nice pension and retirement plan from the trail. It’ll take care of you in ways you can’t conceive are possible. Not to start the trail magic fight again- but there’s a hell of a lot more out there for you than scoring a snickers when you’re hungry. You’re entitled to all it has to offer.
Call it a cheap plug if you want, but I’m not just running my mouth. I just put up a trip report. It was about my speed hiking mistake, but it also covers this problem too now that I look again. A description of the error of my arrogance, the mistake of entitlement. I tried to take something that wasn’t mine. For most of you, well that just amounts to getting in a little tiff on a forum. But as you get a little deeper, the stakes get a little higher. For me, it involved getting my ass kicked. But I got things straightened out. I learned my lesson and was entitled to what I got.
I’m an old piece of dirt, and a young punk. And I’m entitled to everything I get.
Read my trip report if you want to know a little more, or if you’re done reading my yappin’, well you’re entitled to tell me all about it below.
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/show...ke-trip-report
Walk in peace-
Just Bill
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Originally Posted by Lone Wolf
