Cleveland Man Hikes AT (That's Cleveland, N.C.)

[The Old Chief]

I would really appreciate comments on this article in the local newspaper in my area. I plan on getting in touch with the reporter and referring him to Whiteblaze to read the comments.

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/loc...e32831577.html

[Moosling]

I enjoyed the article, that is a serious shoestring budget and this part irritates me


As he watched, occasionally someone would walk up to him and ask him what he was doing, and he’d tell them he was hiking the trail when he ran out of food.

Then they would leave.
“That’s when you realize you’re being treated more like an animal than a person,” Angst said. “One woman told me that youth was wasted on the young.”

Maybe we can discuss this a little bit and figure out just where it was, no one should ever be treated this way.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/community/garner-cleveland-record/article32831577.html#storylink=cpy"

[Slo-go'en]

I enjoyed the article, that is a serious shoestring budget and this part irritates me


As he watched, occasionally someone would walk up to him and ask him what he was doing, and he’d tell them he was hiking the trail when he ran out of food.

Then they would leave.
“That’s when you realize you’re being treated more like an animal than a person,” Angst said. “One woman told me that youth was wasted on the young.”

Maybe we can discuss this a little bit and figure out just where it was, no one should ever be treated this way.

Why not? The huts are under no obligation to feed someone who ran out of money. So he had to wait until the paying guests finished their meal before he could eat. That's the way it works. He's lucky the AMC allows thru hikers to stay and eat effectively for free.

[Snowleopard]

It sounds like an AMC hut in the White Mts; the hut crew did feed him after they fed the paying customers. I've only stayed in an AMC hut once; they have gotten pretty expensive. In the area where the huts are there aren't many stores even if you do have money. Usually when I'm backpacking I carry too much food and would give extra to a thru hiker. If I were hiking using the huts, I wouldn't be carrying food except for maybe a lunch (I'd buy dinner and breakfast at the hut).

It sounds like this guy didn't know about work for stay at the AMC huts.

$1800 is a cheap hike. He could have planned resupply better. If his parents were sending him food, they could have sent him a package at Pinkham Notch or other places. Running out of food, especially in the Whites or Maine is bad; you need the fuel to prevent hypothermia.

[The Old Chief]

I guess the part of the story that really irritated me were his comments that suggested that since he was a hiker who said he was starving that he should have received preferential treatment over the paying guests at the hut. Anyone who hikes from Ga to NH knows all about the hut system long before getting to one. He should have expressed gratitude in the article for receiving food and probably a place to sleep inside the hut for the night without doing a work for stay. What you want to bet he received breakfast before he left the next morning? He obviously has a problem with people who have money to spend on their vacations also. If he was out of money and had no food when he entered the Whites that was nobody's fault but his. If he had money to buy food he should have hitchhiked into one of the towns he was near before entering the Whites. If I remember correctly every two or three days you reach a road crossing that will enable you to get to food and a shuttle is available at Glencliff for resupply.
But I'm more than likely wrong. The hut crew should have fed him first since his vacation was a lot more important than the vacations of the paying guests. And I'm also in doubt of his claim that he only spent two nights in hotels and the rest of the time "under the stars." A very brief search of Trailjournals shows he spent two nights in Hot Springs in a cabin and another night with about eight people total in a hotel room on the trail and two nights at Kincora Hostel.

[Moosling]

Why not? The huts are under no obligation to feed someone who ran out of money. So he had to wait until the paying guests finished their meal before he could eat. That's the way it works. He's lucky the AMC allows thru hikers to stay and eat effectively for free.

I'm not saying he should have been fed first or anything of course the paying customers should have been taken care of, I'm just suprised about the attitude displayed, like why even ask him what he was doing when it should have been obvious. And if your going to ask at all bring him a snack or something. This is just the way the article reads though it could have been a totally different situation, he may even have had some jealousy issues because he did a poor job planning.

[Pedaling Fool]

I'm not saying he should have been fed first or anything of course the paying customers should have been taken care of, I'm just suprised about the attitude displayed, like why even ask him what he was doing when it should have been obvious. And if your going to ask at all bring him a snack or something. This is just the way the article reads though it could have been a totally different situation, he may even have had some jealousy issues because he did a poor job planning.

I take that article with a huge grain of salt. Just looking at this excerpt, I can see how things were distorted:

"“I sat in the corner and watched 30 or 40 people just eat,” Angst said. “Just gorge themselves.”

As he watched, occasionally someone would walk up to him and ask him what he was doing, and he’d tell them he was hiking the trail when he ran out of food.
Then they would leave.

“That’s when you realize you’re being treated more like an animal than a person,” Angst said. “One woman told me that youth was wasted on the young.”
After they were finished and went off to bed, the staff gave him the leftover food. He ate it, but no matter how much he ate, he couldn’t get full."

A couple examples.

-- The story made it sound as if they treated thru-hikers as children and sent them to their corners. BTW, he apparently didn't have to work for his food


-- People walked up to me all the time asking me about my thru-hike, including in the huts thru the whites. I'm sure that's what was happening here, but it made it sound as if people were being judgmental or something of the guy -- they want to hear stories of thru-hikers.

If they simply did just walk off, it's probably because the guy was sounding like a whiner -- this story was full of whining.


-- Never once did I feel as though I was being treated like an animal vs. a human This guy is mis-characterizing the AT experience.


-- Youth is wasted on the young. There's no context, but there sure is an innuendo.




I don't know who's most at fault, the reporter or the hiker.

[Moosling]

I take that article with a huge grain of salt. Just looking at this excerpt, I can see how things were distorted:

"“I sat in the corner and watched 30 or 40 people just eat,” Angst said. “Just gorge themselves.”

As he watched, occasionally someone would walk up to him and ask him what he was doing, and he’d tell them he was hiking the trail when he ran out of food.
Then they would leave.

“That’s when you realize you’re being treated more like an animal than a person,” Angst said. “One woman told me that youth was wasted on the young.”
After they were finished and went off to bed, the staff gave him the leftover food. He ate it, but no matter how much he ate, he couldn’t get full."

A couple examples.

-- The story made it sound as if they treated thru-hikers as children and sent them to their corners. BTW, he apparently didn't have to work for his food


-- People walked up to me all the time asking me about my thru-hike, including in the huts thru the whites. I'm sure that's what was happening here, but it made it sound as if people were being judgmental or something of the guy -- they want to hear stories of thru-hikers.

If they simply did just walk off, it's probably because the guy was sounding like a whiner -- this story was full of whining.


-- Never once did I feel as though I was being treated like an animal vs. a human This guy is mis-characterizing the AT experience.


-- Youth is wasted on the young. There's no context, but there sure is an innuendo.




I don't know who's most at fault, the reporter or the hiker.

True, you would at least think he would thank them for letting him dry off and get out of the woods for a little while. And TOA's research on trailjournals pretty much sums this kid up.

[Studlintsean]

The entire article was poorly written. Good for him for finishing but I agree with most of the comments above.

[Googan]

maybe he should have foraged for food

[Traveler]

An interesting tale of woe in the Whites. I nearly wept.

I would say its good that a youngster learns life lessons they bring upon themselves, but in this instance I doubt there was a lesson of any type learned except how to yogi food from the Huts without having to work for it. Clearly he survived well enough to find his way to somewhere he could connect with parents to supply him with food and cash to finish the walk.

A nice vacation with a brief period of being a little hungry near the end.

[Moosling]

"A fan of Lord of the Rings, he said he liked the idea of going on a journey through the woods. Angst has always been one who liked to explore. He used to go on hikes with his father. When he was a baby his father held him over the ledge of a mountain."
SimbaBeingHeld.jpg

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/loc...#storylink=cpy

[xMagnolia]

Sorry, but as Queen of the Drama Queens, I think he's a bit of a Drama Baby and didn't learn any lessons of the trail,such as gratitude, consequences of your actions/planning, self reliance.

[stumpknocker]

The Trail teaches lessons all the time.
Sometimes the lesson is harder like this one.
They are all usually memorable.

[DavidNH]

it seems to me that a budget of 1800 dollars for an AT thru hike is ridiculously low. No restaurants, no hotels,running out of food? who wants that? I would not budget less than 5000 to do the hike today!

[Astro]

Poor Planning leads to Poor Performance.
I am glad he finished his hike, but no tears from me.

[Kenai]

It seems like the reporter did not do any research about how the work for stay program at the AMC huts work, or was trying to make some sort of social statement about class distinction, and "wealthy hikers". He is painting an inaccurate portrait of the AMC for some personal agenda IMHO. A get mental picture of this poor starving young man, waiting in the corner, while the wealthy folk gorge themselves on lavish fare.
“The hut crew caters to these people and gives them huge lavish dinners and things like that,” he said.
He asked the staff, what he could do for food. One of the staff members said that he would have to wait in the corner until everyone was done and he’d get the leftovers.

I SAT IN THE CORNER AND WATCHED 30 OR 40 PEOPLE JUST EAT. JUST GORGE THEMSELVES.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/loc...#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/loc...#storylink=cpy
If the young man felt that way, so be it. I would think he would have heard from other hikers, what he was in for in the Whites. Maybe he should have waited for a mail drop, before he hit that section of the trail? Hindsight is 20/20.
The fact of the matter is that they fed him, just like they would any other thru hiker who stays at the huts for free, and we don't know if he worked for it of not. If he was in dire straits he could have asked for rescue, and gotten off the trail. He certainly could have got a cheap pair of new shoes at the local Wally world.
Poor journalism me thinks.

[Five Tango]

Speaking as a person well known for conservative views,no matter how dramatic or entitled the young man may have appeared,it would not have hurt anyone to have bought him a meal.Had I been there he would not have had to eat scraps off someone else's plate.Period.

[Traveler]

Speaking as a person well known for conservative views,no matter how dramatic or entitled the young man may have appeared,it would not have hurt anyone to have bought him a meal.Had I been there he would not have had to eat scraps off someone else's plate.Period.

I believe the poorly written article said the boy got the left overs from the prepared meal for the paying guests. The Hut "Croos" feed hikers of this type left overs, these are not scraps removed from plates, but food that remains uneaten in the pots after the meal is finished. I am not sure where you read the boy had to eat scraps from the plates of others, but it wasn't in the article I read.

Starting that particular section without food, or what he knew would not be enough food, was either not very bright or he knew he could beg food from more responsible people. I don't believe either scenario qualifies him as being resourceful or for applying to MENSA.

[Kenai]

"After they were finished and went off to bed, the staff gave him the leftover food. He ate it, but no matter how much he ate, he couldn’t get full."


The young man did not eat leftovers off other peoples plates. He was fed by the Croo, just like any other "work for stay", thru hiker would, and he ate quite a bit, from what the article said. What we don't know, is if he worked for his meal.
If he had done a little research about how things work at the huts, he might not have felt so much resentment for the people who were paying between $109., and $131., per night, for their stay at the hut, or the Croo that fed him for.

http://www.outdoors.org/lodging/rates/index.cfm?method=search :Nightly rate at Lake of the Clouds

http://appalachiantrials.com/thru-hi...mc-hut-system/ :Thru hiker ettiquette at the huts.

This reporter is really giving a" bum rap" to the the huts. The article is poorly written as well.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/loc...#storylink=cpy