how many hikers actually
have completed the whole trail this season? A few obviously are still finishing southbound.
Less than 20? I said "whole"!
Numbers overall were down from what I heard...still plenty of end to enders will be thruhikers...just the way it is.
Out of four end to enders I have done, I am still amazed at how many I know for a fact didnt even come close to a thru hike submit a Thruhike paper...but if thats what they want to do, fine by me. It really shouldnt matter to any one but the hiker who is out there what their journey ends up being.
We finished July 3 at Katahdin.
If You Live in a Glass House....
LK--
What years were your four "end-to-enders?" When I met you when you were making your movie I don't remember hearing that you were a four timer. That's a lot of miles.
Only reason I'm askin is you mention that a lot of people make fake claims, so it's kind of a strong thing to say.
So just out of curiousity when were you four completed thrus?
Didnt say thrus...said end to enders...From Georgia to Maine in aprox 6 months inOriginally Posted by Shrike
GA_ME--- 98',
Waynesboro - --DWG 99'
GA-ME--- 00',
GA-DWG, KENT CT-New Hampshire--- 01'
, John Muir--- 02',
AT again filming--- 03'.
Erwin to Damascus, The Whites, Springer to Dicks Creek ----04'
and yeah, that is a lot of miles...and I dont mean to insult anyone as I dont care how any one hikes. I do it all, I do it my way, and I enjoy it. I was just saying you cant go by the count as to how many actually did it, because it isnt completely accurate.
New term?
What's an "end to ender" anyway, I've never heard the term. Does it mean you visit both ends for photographs but skip a lot in the middle? Soryy, but I'm new to this and don't know what you mean.
Nobody has hiked the trail, it's all a conspiracy.
How many more of our soldiers must die in Iraq?
I saw Elvis out there the other day!
Means the same thing as thru-hiker. Probably the term used before thru-hiker was coined. sometimes 2000 miler is used as well. though 2000 miler could be anyone who completed the trail.
Yellow Jacket -- Words of Wisdom (tm) go here.
Definition of End-to-Ender
There are various sources for definitions of AT related terms and they don't always agree. There is even one under the Information tab on the top of WhiteBlaze.net's pages, but I don't know its origination. The one I would suggest is the one that ALDHA publishes in their Companion, it is online at: http://www.aldha.org/companyn/appndx04.pdf .
Youngblood
If it's not a new term, let's start it. I've decided if I ever hike 'end to end' I'm going to do it by blue blazes and let the AT be the connector trail. So then will I be an "end to ender'
"It was on the first of May, in the year 1769, that I resigned my domestic happiness for a time, and left my family and peaceable habitation on the Yadkin River, in North Carolina, to wander through the wilderness of America." - Daniel Boone
Joined today did you...I know who you are...did you ever make up that Glencliff to Hanover segment last year???
End to end to me is from Georgia to Maine... ask anyone I hiked with, I hike a lot, never called it a thru- hike, and if you dont like how I hike, dont approach me, or question it.
The trail is a place for those who choose to do what they want to do just that, and people who question others ways of doing it are just &*%$# annoying.
Its the biggest problem with our country right now, others complaining or questioning what others do because it is differnet,if it aint your way it is wrong, well thats BS, I blue blaze, I Aqua blaze, and if I so choose, I yellow blaze, but What I do not do is judge and worry about what anyone does, I answered a question, and if you see my name in the ATC for these years past 98, then screw with me. and when people bring that out here, it makes the freedom of choice and the love of personal experiance a test of others opinions, and no one elses opinion of my free will makes a damn to me.
There are a few putzes I have meet a few different years (some of them a couple of times) and they so hate it that I and others do what we want, and they make a BIG point of telling everyone they meet what everyone does, how they hike, or dont hike. And whats funny about that is, those people you see turn around and say stuff like "Man, I wish that guy/girl would stop running his/her mouth about everyone."
Its my adventure, and anyone else who is out here is free to do what they want, and those of you who dont like it, stick it in your proverbial arse.
Its sad when the politics of the whole 'it has to be this way or it isnt right' thing has to be brought out here...if I ever clock in with anyone out here then and only then will my ettiquette be what they wish it to be.
ANd no other time.
HYOH
By not coming close, do you mean they stop before reaching Katahdin, or that they skip sections of the trail altogether by catching a ride? Just curious.
Frosty
back to topic
hhmmmm To answer the original question that started the thread..... I'm guessing here , but I'm thinking your guess of 20 isn't too far off the bullseye.
THE Mairnttt...Boys of Dryland '03 (an unplanned Billville suburb)
http://www.AT2003.com
[email protected]
http://www.myspace.com/hudson_hartson
2004 Thru-hiker Estimate: Northbound (As of Nov. 29)
Springer Mtn., Ga. 1,535
Neels Gap, Ga. 1,305
Fontana Dam, N.C. 864
Harpers Ferry, W.Va. 660
Katahdin, Maine 289
NO DATA yet from ATC concerning 2004 SOBO-ers
You're right that it shouldn't matter to others, Lion King, but only until they choose to seek ATC recognition for completing the whole trail. Once they do seek 2,000 miler recognition for a hike that's clearly incomplete, I agree that others' emotions include amazement (among other things). I don't know what kind of history you and Shrike have, but based on your initial post I would have taken it to mean you had completed the trail four times. I have always understood an "End to Ender" as the equivalent to a 2,000 miler. Still do. Thanks for clarifying.
With the exception of 99, I've got 1500-2000 miles every other year.
So I would say I have section thru-hiked at least 3 times.
I hike because I love it, I hike because I love the people, The Militant Holier then thou hikers make it seem to much like being at a job with people of the high school attitudes of 'Im better" or "My way is the only way" sensibility and it sickens me.
This is about freedom, and it is one of the only places left that we as a people can truly be free to have our own opinions and our own experiance. NO ONE should have to judged out here, and as I stated, you will not see my name in the ATC news, or any other publication, or will you see any certificates saying I did thru-hikes for any other year.
Its important to let those who choose to walk from Georgia to Maine, no matter how, do it. Life leads you in different directions, choices come, things happen, some of us do not have the money to hike they whole way, some of us do. I am not one who has the money, I try to make what I have last as best I can, and if that means when I get to Pennsyvania and I dont feel like rock hopping for two weeks, then by God I will not do it.
Or If I get a ride into town, a trail angel takes me home, and that leads to something bigger that just happens to take me further up the trail great man, I have had a wonderful life experiance, I have shared company with a quality human being I have smelled life on a different plain, and nothing makes someone feel worse then to return to the trail after a wonderfull experiance like that and have some buttmunch give them the 'eye' when they walk into a shelter..."How the hell did you get here? I was three days ahead of you?"
---instead of
"Hey man, great to see you again!" which is what they should say...but sucky people do judge.
No one should have to be made to feel bad for choosing their own path, thats what this is suppoused to be about.
no one did. Your getting defensive! They just wanted to know whether you had hiked all the miles. They didn't pass judgment on you!
Just say that you hiked a bunch of miles each year and don't keep track.
As with the post, not saying you guys, saying some people on the trail, and why it is wrong to judge what and how others hike.
Not getting defensive, being straight about what goes on and how silly it is.
All apologize if it came across any other way.
Most people could care less about how others hike. Although, it is bothersome to many of those same people if others blatantly lie about what they have hiked.
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