View Full Version : Purist
skinnbones
02-17-2016, 18:30
Please correct me if I'm wrong. A hiker is on the A.T. following the white blazes. This hiker then follows the blue blazes into town for shower, resupply, and whatever else. Is only the purist backtracking to the original spot where this hiker left the white blazes. Do some skip white blazes after town visits? If so, is this like cheating? Thanks for your thoughts.
Casey & Gina
02-17-2016, 18:45
There's different degrees of purism, but yes, being sure to not skip any of the white-blazed trail is one of the common things associated with purism. Another would be not slackpacking. There are some places where the AT goes on a roundabout long path, where there is a shorter blue-blazed trail that is shorter. Some don't see it as a big deal to do some blue blazing. Where the trail runs parallel to a river, some like to aqua blaze (take a raft down the river instead of hiking). Some even consider yellow blazing (skipping miles by hitchhiking or otherwise getting a ride) to be okay. It's your hike, do it as you please. But it likely may not be something you have the chance to do again, so bear that in mind and make it a trip you enjoy and can be proud of. :)
Sarcasm the elf
02-17-2016, 18:45
Since all rules are self imposed, it's only cheating it you want it to be. Just my two cents.
Do whatever works for you, nobody's keeping score.
For me, I tried to always start from where I left off. I can say I walked evert inch of the AT. However I didn't worry about which side of the road I started on after hitching to and from town. I didn't do blue blazes or any yellow blazing but pretty of people did. No big deal.
People lie. Most skip blazes somewhere on their long hikes. Now, how are you going to determine YOUR character is the ultimate decision that needs to be answered.
Please correct me if I'm wrong. A hiker is on the A.T. following the white blazes. This hiker then follows the blue blazes into town for shower, resupply, and whatever else. Is only the purist backtracking to the original spot where this hiker left the white blazes. Do some skip white blazes after town visits? If so, is this like cheating? Thanks for your thoughts.
The purist will try not to miss any white blazes. Do as you conscience guides you. It's your adventure.
I've missed a few white blazes here and there, but in some cases the path I took between them was longer (and certainly more interesting) than the official trail. If I take a blue blaze (or the old AT) by accident I just shrug and carry on.
In SNP I made a point of walking along the parkway for a few miles. Many of the very early thru hikers did that routinely. I wanted to taste that part of the experience, if just for a bit.
Woodturner
02-17-2016, 19:52
The main reason for taking the long hike I'm planning for this summer is to fill gaps where I missed white blazes. Of course, I did miss quite a few of them. On my first attempt at a thru hike I was religious about it until just after SNP with two exceptions. The biggest was two days out of Pearisburg where the trail had a big, impossible to follow, reroute right after the old Big Pond LT. I also skipped the Albert Mountain rock climb. I may or may not get those two filled in this year. But I do plan to fill them.
I do hope to fill in all the blanks north of SNP this trip.
There are several shelters that have northbound and southbound paths branching off the AT instead of just one path leading to them. If you come in on, say, the northbound path to the shelter I see no need to retrace your steps on the same path back to the AT.
Slo-go'en
02-17-2016, 20:57
It depends on how anal you want to be about it. There are places where the trail to a shelter enters at one point and can return at another a couple hundred feet away. So, do you take the "short cut" leaving the shelter or do you return back the way you came as to not miss that couple 100 feet? Guess what most everyone does.
Road walks have for the most part been eliminated, but there are a few places the trail leaves a road, goes up a stupid hill for no good reason, then comes back to the road at a point 1/2 mile up the road from where the trail detoured. Do you do the pointless scramble or do you just continue down the road?
There are also foul weather blue blazes. Does it still count if you take the by-pass and it isn't foul weather? Or is this a valid alternative route?
The way I see it, if you walked the whole distance between here and there, even if you took some alternative paths, your good.
Tuckahoe
02-17-2016, 21:06
1) With this discussion and the on going topic if fording/ferrying the Kennebec River... Remember the ferry is the official AT :p
2) You're not a real thru-hiker if you consumed store bought trail mix:D
No Directions
02-17-2016, 21:58
There's different degrees of purism, but yes, being sure to not skip any of the white-blazed trail is one of the common things associated with purism. Another would be not slackpacking.
Just curious, do you carry all of the food and water you will need for the entire thru hike with you when you begin? If not then you are slackpacking to a certain extent. You still walk all of the trail. My pack doesn't really care if we hike or not.
1) With this discussion and the on going topic if fording/ferrying the Kennebec River... Remember the ferry is the official AT :p
2) You're not a real thru-hiker if you consumed store bought trail mix:D
At least, if you bought it at Pump 'N Pay.
Rain Man
02-17-2016, 22:49
My two cents, nothing more.
Now, how are you going to determine YOUR character is the ultimate decision that needs to be answered.
Yep. As the adage goes, reputation is what you do when others are watching; character is what you do when no one is watching.
... nobody's keeping score.
Actually, if you report an AT thru-hike, then lots of people are keeping score, not the least of which is the ATC (based entirely on the honor of the hiker), and everyone who sees/hears/reads of the (alleged) thru-hike, and obviously, the hiker himself/herself.
If so, is this like cheating? Thanks for your thoughts.
I'm not anal. If you skip a dozen white blazes here or there, more or less, it's no skin off my back. But if you skip large amounts of the AT footpath, and then claim you thru-hiked the AT, then yes, that's when it becomes cheating. Definitely HYOH, but don't do that, then claim you hiked some other form of hike. That's what natives call speaking with forked tongue.
As far as slack-packing, that has nothing to do with thru-HIKING. It's not called thru-backpacking for a reason.
Hangfire
02-18-2016, 03:14
I don't recall the purist thing being talked about much on the trail, but if you were carrying your pack the whole way and following the white blazes you definitely noticed those around you who were doing the same.
Pedaling Fool
02-18-2016, 07:16
In 2006 I was hiking (unofficially) with two brothers. I stopped for a break in some park in SNP and they stopped at the same place as they started back up I watched them walk back in the direction they came from, thinking they may be starting off going in the wrong direction (but I didn't say anything, since they were a little annoying...:D). However, they stopped once they got back to the trail and started debating where exactly they got off the trail, this was so they wouldn't miss one inch of the trail.:datz
I'm not exaggerating this story, they literally were trying to determine the exact spot they got off the trail so they could get back on in the exact same spot:rolleyes:
Probably had something to do with them being a little annoying to be around...I guess you can just chalk it up to the hiking community being wound tight:)
Actually, if you report an AT thru-hike, then lots of people are keeping score, not the least of which is the ATC (based entirely on the honor of the hiker), and everyone who sees/hears/reads of the (alleged) thru-hike, and obviously, the hiker himself/herself
Well the ATC does ask for documentation if your want the 2000 Miler award.
Of the "everyone else" most probably don't know what a Thru-hike actually is. In fact that definitions isn't even agreed on here.
And if the hiker themselves isn't going to be honest they why would they even care?
Gambit McCrae
02-18-2016, 09:22
I have accidentally taken a different connector to the trail for instance Blackburn has two connectors, I took the wrong one resulting in a 1 mile backtrack, my friends waited for me, and I carried my pack for no reason..5 days later, I took the yellow blaze down old stony in SNP by accident, I cussed all the way back up the AT to the top to turn around walk back down, my friends waited :) Southbound leading into Damascus there is a nice segment of the creeper that can be taken, my buddy had walked from Maine, he took the creeper, I stuck it out on the whiteblazes,
" He did his trip perfect and so did I" :) I like that I just made it up
Uncle Joe
02-18-2016, 09:53
You should absolutely hike your own hike. Just remember to be honest about your hike. If you can skip a section of the trail and still tell someone you thru-hiked the AT you likely skirt around a lot of things in your life. But if you say, "However, I missed a section in Virginia and plan to go back and hike it" you get my respect.
Puddlefish
02-18-2016, 09:56
Actually, if you report an AT thru-hike, then lots of people are keeping score, not the least of which is the ATC (based entirely on the honor of the hiker), and everyone who sees/hears/reads of the (alleged) thru-hike, and obviously, the hiker himself/herself.
I'm kind of a statistics purist. I never trust self reported studies. For that matter, I don't take part in studies. I did register my start date, just out of courtesy for crowd control purposes, but I doubt I'll register my completion.
If I manage to walk from Georgia to Maine, it will be my accomplishment, that's all that matters to me, not so much the color of the blaze.
I don't recall the purist thing being talked about much on the trail
I sure do, and that was a long time ago.
Most purists that I have met on the AT never finished. In my estimation they take a AT thru-hike too serious and it becomes their downfall. Just remember HYOH and walk all the way from Springer to Katahdin and you "thru-hiked. It doesn't matter if you passed every white blaze as long as you walked the whole way.
Something I learned this summer, and it was a surprise to me -- apparently there are short stretches up in the Presidentials where the official AT is actually blazed in yellow. I think this was near Mt. Jefferson.
I learned this from a northbound thru-hiker passing me on the ridge, extremely upset at having missed the official AT by following a white blaze. "Made it from Georgia to here without missing one," he said. Until just then.
Wet Foot
02-18-2016, 11:03
So, I meet a hiker. He says he "thru-hiked" the AT. "What did you think about the trail thru the SNP?" He replies, "I didn't do it. I aqua blazed it."
Well, do what you like, but don't skip almost 10% of the AT and tell everyone you thru-hiked it.
Casey & Gina
02-18-2016, 12:20
I have heard a multiple-time thru hiker claim that you haven't hiked the entire AT unless you ford the Kennebec. :p I hear tale of others who insist that every mile must be green- or amber-blazed. ;)
Personally, I'd endeavor to cover the whole white blazed trail. I'd go back out of shelters on the same path I came in on, and if I got off the trail I'd try to come back to the same spot, more or less. But I wouldn't think less of others who chose to do differently or be a snob about it to others or think myself better, because that's much less "pure". And if some situation arose where I failed, I wouldn't stress about it and would just move on. I am not opposed to slackpacking as it's not really any different than going more ultralight or mailing heavier gear home when you don't need it, though I wouldn't seek it out either and may well turn it down if offered the opportunity...don't really know.
I wouldn't think of someone who aqua-blazes or blue blazes or takes shortcuts or slackpacks to not be a thru-hiker - they just chose a different adventure than I would. That said, I don't think of people who choose to yellow blaze as thru-hikers, unless they go back and hike the skipped section(s). That's just a personal perspective and nothing official.
In any case, it's not anybody else's judgement you need to worry about - it's just what feels best to you!
Seatbelt
02-18-2016, 12:35
I have only section-hiked a few hundred miles of the AT so far, but to those who want to hike past "every white blaze", I would say that some of them are so far apart that I wonder how many I missed!!:confused:
So, I meet a hiker. He says he "thru-hiked" the AT. "What did you think about the trail thru the SNP?" He replies, "I didn't do it. I aqua blazed it."
Well, do what you like, but don't skip almost 10% of the AT and tell everyone you thru-hiked it.
Check your math, SNP is less than 5%.
kickatree
02-18-2016, 17:36
Hike and enjoy the heck out of it.
Sent from my LGL41C using Tapatalk
MuddyWaters
02-18-2016, 18:01
To imply there is a pure thru hike is ridiculous. No such thing. This is an individuals attempt to convince others their hike was superior to others.
skinnbones
02-18-2016, 19:06
Thank you. I have a clearer picture now.
swjohnsey
02-18-2016, 20:09
To say you thru-hiked the AT implies that you hiked ALL the trail. As for carrying your pack ever step of the way . . . I did, even up Katahdin.
Another Kevin
02-18-2016, 22:04
I'm emphatically NOT a thru-hiker. The longest trail I've done in its entirety is the (138.4-mile) Northville-Placid Trail.
I was obsessive enough to go back to Long Lake village after I'd "finished," to pick up a half-mile of roadwalk that I'd missed by heading the wrong way on the road to town and then picking up a snowmobile trail into the village. But I didn't pass every blue marker. There was a huge field of blowdown in the Cold River section that was just impassable. I must have done a three-mile bushwhack parallel to the trail (some of which was marked with flagging tape, and some of which I was just making my own way with map and compass).
There was also a spot where the blazed trail led straight into some fresh beaver activity. I didn't fancy swimming the trail. I detoured around the pond and picked up the blazes on the other side.
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3954/14966947604_bae111bbe5_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/oNzw5L)
Beaver dam spillway (https://flic.kr/p/oNzw5L) by Kevin Kenny (https://www.flickr.com/photos/ke9tv/), on Flickr
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3933/15563998676_90eff343cf_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/pHkyyL)
There's the dam (https://flic.kr/p/pHkyyL) by Kevin Kenny (https://www.flickr.com/photos/ke9tv/), on Flickr
Not that I didn't wind up swimming the trail! When I fell in the Chubb River, I didn't trouble to go back and try to do the ford again to make sure I didn't miss any underwater trail. I might have failed to pass a blaze on the river bank. Just at that moment, I was rather more concerned with getting a fire going and not freezing. Wiping out on a ford in 35°F temperatures is ... invigorating, to say the least.
There was one place where I also took a bit of a "bee-tour" because I had to "bee-ware" that the trail was "bee-ing" occupied by a very angry colony of Colletes inęqualis (http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?search=Colletes+inaequalis&guide=Colletes_female). And there were a couple of spots where I wasn't sure if I was on the trail or not. It's got stretches where you might see a blaze every quarter mile or so.
I tend to the 'purist' side of the spectrum, but I still felt comfortable putting in for the patch. That trail is ... approximate.
(It's also stunningly beautiful, and remote - New York's counterpart to the Hundred Mile Wilderness. It has villages that are convenient for resupply, so doesn't have any long food carries, but it has two 40-mile sections that don't cross even logging roads and have no shorter way out than the trail. I don't think that the HMW ever has a 40-mile walk that doesn't come close to some sort of road access.)
Another Kevin
02-18-2016, 22:05
I'm emphatically NOT a thru-hiker. The longest trail I've done in its entirety is the (138.4-mile) Northville-Placid Trail.
I was obsessive enough to go back to Long Lake village after I'd "finished," to pick up a half-mile of roadwalk that I'd missed by heading the wrong way on the road to town and then picking up a snowmobile trail into the village. But I didn't pass every blue marker. There was a huge field of blowdown in the Cold River section that was just impassable. I must have done a three-mile bushwhack parallel to the trail (some of which was marked with flagging tape, and some of which I was just making my own way with map and compass).
There was also a spot where the blazed trail led straight into some fresh beaver activity. I didn't fancy swimming the trail. I detoured around the pond and picked up the blazes on the other side.
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3954/14966947604_bae111bbe5_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/oNzw5L)
Beaver dam spillway (https://flic.kr/p/oNzw5L) by Kevin Kenny (https://www.flickr.com/photos/ke9tv/), on Flickr
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3933/15563998676_90eff343cf_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/pHkyyL)
There's the dam (https://flic.kr/p/pHkyyL) by Kevin Kenny (https://www.flickr.com/photos/ke9tv/), on Flickr
Not that I didn't wind up swimming the trail! When I fell in the Chubb River, I didn't trouble to go back and try to do the ford again to make sure I didn't miss any underwater trail. I might have failed to pass a blaze on the river bank. Just at that moment, I was rather more concerned with getting a fire going and not freezing. Wiping out on a ford in 35°F temperatures is ... invigorating, to say the least.
There was one place where I also took a bit of a "bee-tour" because I had to "bee-ware" that the trail was "bee-ing" occupied by a very angry colony of Colletes inęqualis (http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?search=Colletes+inaequalis&guide=Colletes_female). And there were a couple of spots where I wasn't sure if I was on the trail or not. It's got stretches where you might see a blaze every quarter mile or so.
I tend to the 'purist' side of the spectrum, but I still felt comfortable putting in for the patch. That trail is ... approximate.
(It's also stunningly beautiful, and remote - New York's counterpart to the Hundred Mile Wilderness. It has villages that are convenient for resupply, so doesn't have any long food carries, but it has two 40-mile sections that don't cross even logging roads and have no shorter way out than the trail. I don't think that the HMW ever has a 40-mile walk that doesn't come close to some sort of road access.)
Who cares about standards set by other people? Is this tyranny or what?
Do what is important to you. In the end, blazes don't mean much IMO.
At least, I feel sorry for you if that's what you focus on.
swjohnsey
02-19-2016, 00:12
You know if you hiked the whole trail or not.
Most purists that I have met on the AT never finished. In my estimation they take a AT thru-hike too serious and it becomes their downfall. Just remember HYOH and walk all the way from Springer to Katahdin and you "thru-hiked. It doesn't matter if you passed every white blaze as long as you walked the whole way.
Why do you think it matters if you walked the whiole way?
Last spring I hiked over a very steep hill along the Virginia stretch (can't remember exactly where now), but when I got to the bottom of the downside there was a trail crew working on a relocation. The crew leader informed me I was the last hiker to take the route over the hill, and the trail now goes around it.
Did I go back to hike the brand new relo just to say I didn't miss any part of the trail? I don't think so.
Something I learned this summer, and it was a surprise to me -- apparently there are short stretches up in the Presidentials where the official AT is actually blazed in yellow. I think this was near Mt. Jefferson.
The trails through the White Mountains pre-dates the AT by about 50 years. The AT is using existing trails that was blazed, marked, and built long before any through-hiker.
4eyedbuzzard
02-19-2016, 11:19
Something I learned this summer, and it was a surprise to me -- apparently there are short stretches up in the Presidentials where the official AT is actually blazed in yellow. I think this was near Mt. Jefferson.
I learned this from a northbound thru-hiker passing me on the ridge, extremely upset at having missed the official AT by following a white blaze. "Made it from Georgia to here without missing one," he said. Until just then.There are yellow blazes (and some white ones as well), and cairns with yellow rocks on top, on the Gulfside Trail (which is the AT) which runs from Mt Madison to Mt Washington (Mt Jefferson is roughly in the middle).
The trails through the White Mountains pre-dates the AT by about 50 years. The AT is using existing trails that was blazed, marked, and built long before any through-hiker.AT trivia: There are 32 local trails (and trail names) that the AT is routed over from Hanover, NH to the ME border. All were in existence before the AT was constructed (which in NH meant simply routing the AT over them).
YAWN........................
Bill Murray was right in Meatballs:
"I just doesn't matter!" "I just doesn't matter!" "I just doesn't matter!" "I just doesn't matter!" "I just doesn't matter!"
Wayne
Part of the reason why I'v veered away from alphabet soup routes is that it is closer to how I originally backpacked: You find or plan out a good route, walk it, perhaps modify it on the fly. At this point in my hiking life, I look at designated routes like a recipe: A suggestion that may or not fit my needs or preferences at the time.
I don't think I can ever truly be a thru-hiker again.
A person who is outdoors for an extended period of time again? Yes.
A thru-hiker following a designated trail only? Probably not.
TexasBob
02-19-2016, 18:29
Who cares about standards set by other people? Is this tyranny or what?
Do what is important to you. In the end, blazes don't mean much IMO.
At least, I feel sorry for you if that's what you focus on.
Help me to understand what you said. -----"Who cares about standards set by other people. Do what is important to you" but if you focus on the blazes then you violate my standards and I am going to judge you and feel sorry for you. Is that about right?
peakbagger
02-19-2016, 19:31
Those who hike the AT in the whites miss a few real nice summits. The Crawford Path (the AT) skips Eisenhower and Monroe both nice summits. The Gulfside (the AT) skips Clay (great views into the Great Gulf, Jefferson and Adams two real nice summits). The AT route is the foul weather route while the nice weather routes over the summits are blue blazes. They can be climbed and backtracked but it adds a mile or so for each summit on what normally are long days.
My observation is there are a lot more purists near the beginning of a hike than the end of hike.
Those who hike the AT in the whites miss a few real nice summits. The Crawford Path (the AT) skips Eisenhower and Monroe both nice summits. The Gulfside (the AT) skips Clay (great views into the Great Gulf, Jefferson and Adams two real nice summits). The AT route is the foul weather route while the nice weather routes over the summits are blue blazes. They can be climbed and backtracked but it adds a mile or so for each summit on what normally are long days.
My observation is there are a lot more purists near the beginning of a hike than the end of hike.
Its fun to bag those summits, but the views are not all that different since you are already above treeline.
peakbagger
02-19-2016, 21:29
I expect more than few folks will disagree, each one of those summits have their distinct differences.
Part of the reason why I'v veered away from alphabet soup routes is that it is closer to how I originally backpacked: You find or plan out a good route, walk it, perhaps modify it on the fly. At this point in my hiking life, I look at designated routes like a recipe: A suggestion that may or not fit my needs or preferences at the time.
I don't think I can ever truly be a thru-hiker again.
A person who is outdoors for an extended period of time again? Yes.
A thru-hiker following a designated trail only? Probably not.
I see the Hayduke in your crystal ball, Paul. A route/no-route with more options for extended detours than you can shake a hiking stick at. And no one worries about purism or what other hikers may be doing, since there are but a handful out there anyhow, and because you'll be plenty worried enough about yourself!
I see the Hayduke in your crystal ball, Paul. A route/no-route with more options for extended detours than you can shake a hiking stick at. And no one worries about purism or what other hikers may be doing, since there are but a handful out there anyhow, and because you'll be plenty worried enough about yourself!
I love the Colorado Plateau. I've spent a good chunk of time on it over the years.
But, and this on me, anything with a map set and a Facebook page with honest-to-goodness "Class of XXXX" discussions no longer appeals to me.
Again, that is on me and is not reflection on the routes themselves.
To imply there is a pure thru hike is ridiculous. No such thing. This is an individuals attempt to convince others their hike was superior to others.
100% this. Hit the nail on the head.
Traveler
02-20-2016, 16:33
I hear if you don't physically touch each and ever white blaze the ATC takes your birthday away.
100% this. Hit the nail on the head.
Just a word chosen decades ago to describe one way of hiking the AT.
Those who want to be offended by the word are free to do so. Those who feel a need to assume the word implies an intrinsic value judgement are free to do so (even though it does not).
Everyone of my hikes have been a thru-hike. I hiked from over there thru to over there. Class of XXXX. He he he :D
Did a CFB Trail Yoyo today in record FKT fashion ....Couch to Fridge to Bathroom back to Couch to Fridge to Bathroom. Tomorrow I'm doing a Starbucks Tr yoyo. Car to SB to car. Celebrating both my wonderful accomplishments I've decided to release early my CFB Tr and SB Tr Guidebooks to you Mags. Don't forget to visit my Facebook page and sign in for my newsletter, "The ABCs of backpacking the CFB and SB trails." Look for your free CFB Tr and SB Tr patches.
Sarcasm the elf
02-21-2016, 05:58
Everyone of my hikes have been a thru-hike. I hiked from over there thru to over there. Class of XXXX. He he he :D
Did a CFB Trail Yoyo today in record FKT fashion ....Couch to Fridge to Bathroom back to Couch to Fridge to Bathroom. Tomorrow I'm doing a Starbucks Tr yoyo. Car to SB to car. Celebrating both my wonderful accomplishments I've decided to release early my CFB Tr and SB Tr Guidebooks to you Mags. Don't forget to visit my Facebook page and sign in for my newsletter, "The ABCs of backpacking the CFB and SB trails." Look for your free CFB Tr and SB Tr patches.
Not to argue, but I believe the trail that you refer to as the SB Tr is actually called the BCT or Burnt Coffee Trail. There is already a guide for it under the Gut-twister app. :D
lonehiker
02-21-2016, 10:45
This topic was more prevalent, and heated, 10+ years ago. There is an inverse relationship between the number of participants, in anything really, and the concept of "purism".
Road walks have for the most part been eliminated, but there are a few places the trail leaves a road, goes up a stupid hill for no good reason, then comes back to the road at a point 1/2 mile up the road from where the trail detoured. Do you do the pointless scramble or do you just continue down the road?
There's a place like that just north of I-40 near Davenport Gap on the north side of the GSMNP. Go under the interstate, up a dirt road just a bit, and leave the road. Go way up a hill, down the other side, and you come right back to the dirt road, maybe 1/4 mile in total. Then you cross the road and go up for quite a while. I told my hiking friends "I could have done without the first pointless hill". Maybe if there was something to see, but it was just dirt up, and dirt down.
4eyedbuzzard
02-21-2016, 18:36
It depends on how anal you want to be about it. There are places where the trail to a shelter enters at one point and can return at another a couple hundred feet away. So, do you take the "short cut" leaving the shelter or do you return back the way you came as to not miss that couple 100 feet? Guess what most everyone does.
Road walks have for the most part been eliminated, but there are a few places the trail leaves a road, goes up a stupid hill for no good reason, then comes back to the road at a point 1/2 mile up the road from where the trail detoured. Do you do the pointless scramble or do you just continue down the road?
There are also foul weather blue blazes. Does it still count if you take the by-pass and it isn't foul weather? Or is this a valid alternative route?
The way I see it, if you walked the whole distance between here and there, even if you took some alternative paths, your good.The ATC is the only officially sactioned organization of any sort and they pretty much see it your way as well. From ATC 2000 miler application: "In the event of an emergency,such as a flood, a forest fire, or an impending storm, blue-blazed trails or officially required roadwalks are viable substitutes for the white-blazed route. Issues of sequence, direction, speed, length of time or whether one carries a pack are not considered. ATC assumes that those who apply have made an honest effort to walk the entire Trail, even if they did not walk past every white blaze."
There's a place like that just north of I-40 near Davenport Gap on the north side of the GSMNP. Go under the interstate, up a dirt road just a bit, and leave the road. Go way up a hill, down the other side, and you come right back to the dirt road, maybe 1/4 mile in total. Then you cross the road and go up for quite a while. I told my hiking friends "I could have done without the first pointless hill". Maybe if there was something to see, but it was just dirt up, and dirt down.True, but then again, the entire trail is pretty much just dirt up and dirt down a series of PUDS and MUDS (okay, with some rocks, roots, mud, other obstacles, and "Kodak moments" thrown in just for the fun of it). And taking 6 months of ones' life to walk from GA to ME just to get there is about as pointless as it gets. Most of the sights and features that people "ooh and ahh" about can be done on day hikes or short sections. So there must be another reason.
In the final analysis, it must be all about the journey, and not the destination. Otherwise, there is no point to it.
So either HYOH or HMHDI (http://www.pmags.com/hike-my-hike-damn-it-hmhdi) . There are no other options.