[pct-l] Vagrancy Issues, calve muscles & combat boots

[bluetrail at aol.com]

Whoa!  You're implying a whole lot here (but you might be right on some points).  As my house is a little less than a mile off the Florida Trail, over the years I've had probably close to 100 long-distance hikers staying and being fed at my house.  One came in 1995 and is still there.  So maybe there is something to the sex appeal of hiker stink and hairy, muscular calves, those his are more sinewy than big muscled.  

I hike (99.5% day hike) myself, lead activities for the Florida Trail Association, and volunteer for my county natural lands program.  I've been to ALDHA (east) three times, and have presented at ALDHA on the topic of doing trail support for a long-distance hiker.  For the hiker who stayed, I've shipped packages for about 14,000 of his more than 15,000 backpacking miles.   The first time the hiker who stayed thru-hiked the PCT, here are the instructions I got:

"Here's the book with all the places I'll need a mail drop marked.  I'm using the 5-month schedule.  On those highlighted in yellow, I'll need complete food resupply too.  Here are the maps:  you can figure out when I'll need each one.  Tear the appropriate pages out of the guidebook and mail them with the maps.  Here's a bunch of signed, blank checks to pay my bills and buy the food and postage.  You know what I like to eat."

And he was off to California the next day.

So, I'm not unacquainted with the genre.  What amused me most at the time I picked up the "heavy trucker," was that Nimblewill Nomad (Eb Eberhard) was already staying at my house that same day.  We took a photo of the two men with their packs--a real study in contrast as Eb was going quite lightweight.   I'm just saying that even then, seeing someone with such a heavy, shabby pack and crummy visible "gear" was outside the thru-hiker norm, and much closer to what I see panhandling at Orlando street corners.  But the muscular calves were the giveaway.

And yes, if I saw you doing an FT road-crossing, I'd probably pick you up too. 

Telling way too much,
Joan



-----Original Message-----
From: Reinhold Metzger <reinholdmetzger at cox.net>
To: pct-l <pct-l at backcountry.net>; Hiker97 <Hiker97 at aol.com>
Sent: Thu, Nov 29, 2012 1:08 pm
Subject: [pct-l] Vagrancy Issues, calve muscles & combat boots


[pct-l] Night Hiking in the Mojave / Vagrancy Issues
Joan,
hat you saw was a "HEAVY TRUCKER."
eavy Truckers are "Old School" and are known to carry oversize,
eavy packs to be prepared for anything they may or can reasonable
xpect to encounter on the trail.
hen I hike with my wife or the Scouts, I am a "Heavy Trucker" because
 want to be prepared for anything I can reasonably expect to encounter
n the trail...in other words, I don't take any chances when hiking with
y wife or the Scouts.
owever, on my "solo" JMT "fast-packs" I am willing to take chances and
o "UL" to the extreme.
And yes, I do look like a filthy, scroungy rat on those fast packs and
ould very easy be mistaken for a "hobo" or "homeless"
Now "SWITCHBACK",...you could never mistake for a "hobo" or "homeless."
witchbacks wears the finest and most fashionable garments available.
 mean Switchback looks like he just stepped out of a fashion clothing
tore, all perfumed up and spick & span clean.
TW....Switchback also does not have that malnourished look....he appears
o be well nourished.
Say Joan,....Would you pick me up if you saw me, all grubby and scuzzy
ooking, but with well developed calve muscles?
Seems like the girls are very fond of calve muscles.
So, if you guys want to increase your chances of getting a ride from a girl
hat fancie calve muscles,...."wear combat boots."
othing turns women on like "hairy legs in combat boots"....especially if
ou have well developed calve muscles.
JMT Reinhold
our hairy legged trail companion in combat boots
--------------------------------
oan wrote:
 once drove by an FT thru hiker thinking he must be homeless because
is gear was so oversized and shabby.
hen I saw the muscles in his
alves and turned around and picked him up.
ust one more way to differentiate the homeless from hiker trash.
In all fairness, his pack weighed more than 60 lbs.)
Joan
------------------------------------
einhold wrote;
es,
t is very difficult to tell "hiker-trash" from a "hobo" or "homeless."
 mean, let's face it, what is the difference between sleeping on the
rail somewhere for 5-6 month or sleeping in an alley somewhere?
ot much,.......except you will never see a self respecting "hobo" or
omeless" wear "Gortex".
nother way you can tell a "hobo" or "homeless" from "hiker-trash"  is
leanliness.
omeless seem to be much cleaner.
omeless" also seem to look less malnourished and don't have that wild,
eranged,far away look in their eyes, like "hiker-trash" does.
o you see, unless you know what to look for,it is very difficult to tell
 "hobo" or homeless" from hiker trash...they are the same breed of cats.
ne prowls around in alleys,.... the other prowls around on trails.
JMT Reinhold
our JMT prowling alley cat
------------------------------------------
 BF wrote:
...have any of you PCT thru hikers ever had any //problems with being
onfused being homeless during your travels on and off //the trail? /
--------------------------------
adar wrote:
 was viewed as a 'hobo' by the driver who picked me up outside Mojave
n that same trip.
ome people don't seem to even comprehend what backpacking is never
ind the more esoteric experience of long-distance hiking.
adar
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