It seems to be universal.. both here and among hikers elsewhere to speak of "thru" hikers rather than "through" hikers. I've even written it as thru hiker myself, even on my resume!

why the unique spelling? I'm wondering if it might not be better to write "through" hiker in writing that would be read by non-hikers (resume, stories to be published in magazines or submitted to a writing contest).

The watermanfund.org has a writing contest for which I am working on an essay and am wondering which spelling of the word is best to use?


Thanks,


DavidNH