[pct-l] O.d.Coyote

[Ginny & Jim Owen]

Reinholt wrote:
>He knows many off the old timers and  attended the earlier
>ALDAH-West meetings until he developed a anti-establishment mentality

A lot of us "old-timers" have an anti-establishment mentality.

>He purposely skipped 5 feet of the CDT as a protest against the Triple 
>Crown
>award which, he claims, is for glory and publicity hounds not for hikers 
>who
>hike for the pure joy of hiking.
>I disagreed with him of course, but his mind is set.

Why would you disagree with him about that?  He's largely right. The Triple 
Crown award may not have been intended that way, but it's certainly become 
largely what O.d. claims.  If you pay attention to the words of those who 
want to hike the CDT next year (or those who've hiked it over the last 5 
years), you'll find that the great majority of them are doing it only for 
the Triple Crown - not for love of the trail.  This has been an increasing 
trend for the last few years.

Fact is that of those who actually are Triple Crown hikers (i.e. - all three 
trails) only about half (or less) are listed as such by ALDHA-W.  And if I'd 
known how the meaning/value of the award would be diluted over the last 5 
years, there'd probably be one less.  We didn't (and don't) hike the trails 
for glory or awards or publicity.  We hike because we love the trails, the 
country, the people, the lifestyle - and our fellow hikers, regardless of 
their motivation.

BTW, that "dilutiion" is not the fault of ALDHA-W or any individual or group 
of individuals.  Rather, it's a cultural artifact that's inevitable with 
respect to ANY award in our society - even  among the hiker community.  We 
can discuss that if you like.

Mmmm - if you believe the meaning/value of the award hasn't been diluted 
then, your being an "old-timer," I'd have to assume you've not been paying 
much attention to the CDT community.  But Ginny and I do - we just finished 
our second CDT thru and are looking forward to another one - after I get my 
knees fixed.

>DO  ANY  OFF  YOU  OLD  TIMERS  REMEMBER  ''ODE  COYOTE''?

A copy of O.d.'s "Slackpacking Papers" resides about 10 ft from where I'm 
sitting right now.  He also gets honorable mention in the Thruhiking Papers 
at http://spiriteaglehome.com/THP%20top.html

Walk softly,
Jim


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