Hike Your Own Hike

[rickb]

Oso Loco's thru hiking papers included a good take on this, here:

http://www.spiriteaglehome.com/THP%20hyoh.html

I particularly liked his discourse on the "second part" of HYHO. Giving that some thought might lead to a better AT experience, I think.

We are all impacted by others choices to some degree, but more so when in a totally new environment surrounded by others who are "more expert", I think.

[SGT Rock]

R is for Rong.

[George]

Rock what is military slang for a coerced hike (forced march)

[SGT Rock]

I don't think I ever heard one.

[theinfamousj]

Road march?

[Desert Reprobate]

Day at the Office

[George]

OK if a bad day hiking is better than a good day at the office, than is a 95F 30mi forced march on asphalt w80lbs on a crappy frame still better than an AC office

[Garlic]

In 1994 when I was thru hiking, I was troubled with all the opinions others had on how people should hike. I made that statement and wrote it in a register somewhere in PA. Years later, people started saying HYOH. I was amazed - I never heard that phase before the time I just blurted it out thinking it didn't make too much sense at the time. Kinda funny

[Wise Old Owl]

Oh I so see a damn new t-shirt with polyester coming.....

[Avalanche1]

You can hike whatever hike you want to hike, as long as you're honest about it.
Can you honestly say you backpacked the AT if you slack packed, blue blazed, yellow blazed, and bypassed sections? I'm interested in hearing the answer to that question.

[hikerboy57]

You can hike whatever hike you want to hike, as long as you're honest about it.
Can you honestly say you backpacked the AT if you slack packed, blue blazed, yellow blazed, and bypassed sections? I'm interested in hearing the answer to that question.

IMHO,i dont think it matters if your honest about it or not, as long as you're honest with yourself.. you know what you did, and if you did it.we've already been through the earl shaffer debate, and anyone who walks from springer to K has quite an achievement under his/her belt, whether they blueblazed or not the trail itself changes from year to year, so not everone has taken the same steps.the barefoot sisters blueblazed, but i still consider them thru hikers.purism is delegated to the purists, who set their own "rules".

[bamboo bob]

If you were an AT purist you would hike on past every white blaze without exception. Resupply by pre-hike hidden caches and never go into a town for any reason. No Zero days. No hostels. No cell phone. If you are not doing that then you are hiking your own hike. Thus the expression, coined by Earl Schaefer, so he could eat dinner with the farmers he met.

[Mags]

http://www.pmags.com/hike-my-hike-damn-it-hmhdi

[max patch]

If you were an AT purist you would hike on past every white blaze without exception. Resupply by pre-hike hidden caches and never go into a town for any reason. No Zero days. No hostels. No cell phone.

w_t_f are you smoking?

[rocketsocks]

Hey You On Hash

[Miner]

Forgive me for the thread drift, but...

Does anyone actually Hike Their Own Hike? I mean people say they are. But from my experience aren't most people actually hooking up with other hikers and hiking their hikes instead of their own, sometimes to the detriment of their their bodies that can't keep up or their wallets in town for zeros that they didn't originally want to take. I mean, unless you are primarily hiking solo, you pretty much are going to compromise what you do unless you are the alpha male of the group (assuming it isn't hike by committee which might explain some of those extra zeros ).

And it seems like its lost some of its meaning the last few years. Some of the biggest users of this phrase that I've encountered mean don't judge my unacceptable behavior that is annoying the crap out of people or leaving bad karma with trail angels and town folk rather then about my gear selection, path choosen, or pace. That and the newer phrase, "What happens on the trail stays on the trail" makes me want to roll my eyes when I hear someone say it.

[hikerboy57]

Forgive me for the thread drift, but...

Does anyone actually Hike Their Own Hike? I mean people say they are. But from my experience aren't most people actually hooking up with other hikers and hiking their hikes instead of their own, sometimes to the detriment of their their bodies that can't keep up or their wallets in town for zeros that they didn't originally want to take. I mean, unless you are primarily hiking solo, you pretty much are going to compromise what you do unless you are the alpha male of the group (assuming it isn't hike by committee which might explain some of those extra zeros ).

And it seems like its lost some of its meaning the last few years. Some of the biggest users of this phrase that I've encountered mean don't judge my unacceptable behavior that is annoying the crap out of people or leaving bad karma with trail angels and town folk rather then about my gear selection, path choosen, or pace. That and the newer phrase, "What happens on the trail stays on the trail" makes me want to roll my eyes when I hear someone say it.

even if you're "hooking up with others", youre still hiking your own hike. you're not hooking up with people with differrent pace, different outlook, different mental makeup. those people you may hike with for a day or two, but once you see the're either hiking too fast/too slow/too many zeros/not enough zeros, you'll start looking for others to "hook up "with and leave the others behind, although you may run into them further along..