View Full Version : Are you a thru hiker?
squeezebox
09-09-2015, 02:29
A point can be made that you are not really a thru hiker until you finish. What happens if you break your ankle 1/2 way up Katadyn? I got my picture taken in Harpers Ferry before even stepping on the trail. I was knocked out by a bad fall a week later. I feel like the best answer to the question, "Are you a thru hiker" is "not yet" . And there are the aqua blazers and such, and the purists who say you are not a thru if you missed 0.1 mile going out the "wrong" blue blaze to a lookout etc. And there is the GSMNP's 50 mile rule. I guess I lean towards a purist definition but don't much care what you do.
your opinion?
Lone Wolf
09-09-2015, 05:29
you're a wannabe until you finish
you're a wannabe until you finish
And when you finish you are a former thru hiker.
Ergo, there are no thru hikers.
And when you finish you are a former thru hiker.
Ergo, there are no thru hikers.
Thats good!
Starchild
09-09-2015, 07:27
There are many definitions, I believe I read ATC considered one a thru hiker once they start the attempt, This has the unusual effect that people who start the approach trail in GA are considered thru hikers, before even setting foot on the AT, and can abandon the attempt before ever setting foot on the AT. Once the attempt is abandoned they are no longer thru hikers, but they were for a time, so by extension of this definition they would be former thruhikers. Once a thru hike is completed the person is forever a thru hiker, as that is the check box ATC asks for.
To me it is a state of the heart, a inner knowing and connection to the trail and the thru hiker family.
Some people are born thru hikers, the call of the trail will lead them to thru it. It's already done, all that's left is the walking. The trail itself it part of the person's life's journey that has to be taken.
It is also something of the heart, something you know if you are a thru hiker. One can thru hike the trail and not be a thru hiker at heart, the person will know, it will or will not resonate with them. This does not take away the accomplishment of the trail, but the heart must agree with it, if it does not then the motivation of the thru may be indirect, may be for a different motivation of the heart, they will simply not feel the connection to the thru hiker trail and family. Again taking nothing away from their accomplishment, their heart is elsewhere.
And sometimes life gets in the way, one great example is a 'informal/unofficial' hostel owner in NH who was preparing for a thru hike when a stove explosion left him partly parallelized, which at least for that moment ended his physical attempt at thruing the AT. Talking to this man I know that he is a thru hiker at heart, not the typical hostel owner which is a different calling, wonderful in itself and can co-exist with being a thru hiker, but it is very obvious to me that he is first and foremost a thru hiker - a direct brother of our common parent 'the AT'. Also the strength of his heart is something so strong that if there is a way for him to overcome his disability he will complete the trail.
LittleRock
09-09-2015, 08:05
I'm a thru-hiker. I'm just taking 355 zero days per year and 15 years to finish the trail.
Old Hiker
09-09-2015, 08:38
Not yet. Hoping to be next year.
Traveler
09-09-2015, 08:49
And when you finish you are a former thru hiker.
Ergo, there are no thru hikers.
Succinct and spot on!
And when you finish you are a former thru hiker.
Ergo, there are no thru hikers.
IMO - former once you leave the finish point, so hang a few hours on K to savor it - just do not spill the bubbly
I suggest the optimal response to this perennial question is "un-ask the question". Or just "mu" : http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/M/mu.html
I'd also suggest that it would be healthy for us to de-emphasize this artificial, binary "thru-hiker or not" mindset and terminology, and instead use the term "long distance hiker". In that context, the person doing their first long distance hike isn't one yet when they first start hiking. Stay on the trail long enough and then they are.
Particularly if they turn out to be a repeat offender. I.e., I guess I could suggest that a person who does one thru-hike but then never again hikes a trip of, say, more than a couple of weeks --- that person isn't so much a long distance hiker as someone who wanted to experience it once in one grand adventure.
And maybe the best answer of all is "who cares?" :)
Traveler
09-09-2015, 13:51
I'd also suggest that it would be healthy for us to de-emphasize this artificial, binary "thru-hiker or not" mindset and terminology, and instead use the term "long distance hiker". In that context, the person doing their first long distance hike isn't one yet when they first start hiking. Stay on the trail long enough and then they are.
A good idea and fodder for a thread having a hundred pages with various definitions of what constitutes a long distance hike.
Odd Man Out
09-09-2015, 14:23
Thru hikes can be successful or unsuccessful. But a section hike can never fail, at least until you die, at which point you won't care.
Odd Man Out
09-09-2015, 14:24
Despite the complexities of the question, the answer is surprisingly straight forward:
NO
Labels, ugggggggghhhhhh. Then, we debate the definitions of the labels, uuuuggggggggggghhhhhhhh.
JaketheFake
09-09-2015, 14:39
I am attempting a thru-hike. Never would I call myself a thru hiker until I have thru-hiked. I am very careful not to rip off that well earned label when sharing with people what I will be attempting to do next spring and summer. I will worry about what I call myself after I am successful until then.
Thorfinn
09-09-2015, 14:44
What is GSMNP's 50 mile rule?
Starchild
09-09-2015, 15:11
Thru hikes can be successful or unsuccessful. But a section hike can never fail, at least until you die, at which point you won't care.
Or you are kicked out of Baxter State Park and asked never to return before summiting Katahdin.
rocketsocks
09-09-2015, 15:30
A point can be made that you are not really a thru hiker until you finish. What happens if you break your ankle 1/2 way up Katadyn? I got my picture taken in Harpers Ferry before even stepping on the trail. I was knocked out by a bad fall a week later. I feel like the best answer to the question, "Are you a thru hiker" is "not yet" . And there are the aqua blazers and such, and the purists who say you are not a thru if you missed 0.1 mile going out the "wrong" blue blaze to a lookout etc. And there is the GSMNP's 50 mile rule. I guess I lean towards a purist definition but don't much care what you do.
your opinion?
if I walked from Georgia the Maine, got to the top of Kahtahdin, and someone later told me that I forgot to touch the sign...I'd tell em to go shyte in their hat.
Another Kevin
09-09-2015, 15:31
I defend my 'clueless weekender' status, despite the fact that I attempted a thru-hike of an intermediate-length trail (Northville-Lake Placid, 135 miles) last fall, and completed it within a year of starting. I call it four section hikes, the longest of which took a four-day weekend. So I've done the entirety of that trail and remain a clueless weekender. Thru-hiker? Not me!
(In short, Gadget's right: who cares?)
Traveler
09-09-2015, 15:36
Labels, ugggggggghhhhhh. Then, we debate the definitions of the labels, uuuuggggggggggghhhhhhhh.
Only if the definitions discussion lasts through April. That way its worth while :D
FlyFishNut
09-09-2015, 20:44
I'm a thru hiker trapped in a "Weekend warrior- dad with a job-can't get enough days off- arm chair white blaze reading- gear fondling- wannabee's" body.
I always told people "not yet" when I was asked and a lot if them got a kick out of it.
I told them I was thru hiking.