[pct-l] Hitching

Fri Jun 9 17:04:12 CDT 2017

I'm sorry. Maybe I was unclear. What I was saying is please do not apply for a PCT finishing medal or a Triple Crown. No one is required to do the trail in any manner other than they choose.  Doing any part of it is valuable and something of which to be proud.
 It's simple what the standard is. Hike on foot from Mexico to Canada on the PCT with reasonable alternative routes( on foot). The PCT is just like any long distance trail. It does not matter if you do it north, south,flip flop,with a pack or without ,sleep on the trail or in a motel every night, take one season or 20 years to complete the trail. You just have to have a continuous footpath. Or if a horse person on horseback.
No one is devaluing anyone's hike. It's tough to be that person who can't afford to stay in a motel or has to feed themselves out of the hiker box.  I've seen and been both over the years. It used to be common to hike close to a town,camp, hike in to resupply then hike out to bathe in a stream. It just doesn't matter how you do it---just that you do. Continuous footpath. Every person is out there for their own reasons. At the end you value what you have done not what you have not.
As I said before there are trails I have not finished. They may always stay that way. That is was is true. I don't get to claim them as finished. I just hiked on those trails in certain years. It's not a high bar---just at times a hard one. I only called it a task because at times is difficult. That's when people hop in a car or go home. I've been injured so badly that I had to go home. I know what it feels like.
Marmot

Sent from my iPhone

On Jun 9, 2017, at 1:23 PM, Camille Tardy <c.tardy at hotmail.fr<mailto:c.tardy at hotmail.fr>> wrote:

Marmot Marmot,

We understand your point, and yet in a way it sounds very patronizing to us, which is actually what saddens us the most about the trail.

We agree with you in that each hiker should be humble and honest about what they did and what they didn't do. Let's imagine one person who hitched one small section of the trail because of an injury. That would be lying indeed if that person claimed "I have hiked every mile of the trail" when he/she did not. But if that person is honest about it, then your claim that at the end of the day, when he/she gets to Manning Park, he/she has not hiked the PCT? That seems very snobby and unfair in our eyes.

Your message raises the ever-debated question of what it is to hike the PCT. For you, it seems to be principally (if not only) about hiking every mile of it in the purist way. But for Mr X, it will be more about the overall experience of it, no matter if he has to skip 30 miles at some point. For Mr W, it will be all about the human relations, and he will not care if he has to skip 20 miles two or three times to catch up with the trail friends that give his hike a meaning. For Miss Y, it will be about being as lost in the wild as she can, even if that means skipping one or two road sections that give her no joy nor pleasure whatsoever. But at the end of the day, these people will all have ached, blistered, marvelled, learnt, and had an experience of the PCT from Mexico to Canada that has real meaning for them. In our eyes they will all have "hiked the PCT", although they will not necessarily all have "hiked every single mile of it". Saying "I have hiked the PCT" is not the same thing as saying (and is actually so much more than saying) "I have hiked every mile of the PCT".

If every one judges others according to their own personal definition (which seems like a big waste of time in the first place, but anyway), then nobody is considered as hiking the PCT anymore. Mr. A is staying in motels and eating in fancy restaurants every time he hits a town? Mr B would considered he has it too easy and is not hiking the PCT the right way. Miss C had her parents pay for all her gear and send her only nicely home-cooked food in every town so she never has to resupply with crap food? Miss D would feel very frustrated about it as she saved money for the last 3 years for this hike and yet she still has to choose the cheapest noodles every time she resupplies. Miss C is not worth being considered a real hiker in her eyes. Mister E is on an tight visa-schedule and would like to make the best of his time in the US to go visit family in Los Angeles for 5 days, but that will mean he will have to skip the next 5-day trail-section. Ah, screw international people, Mr F thinks! Too bad for him if he can't make both, he's out of the game. Etc, etc.

No, the PCT is not a "not so complicated but clear task". It's not even a task for that matter. We are sick of seeing so many judgmental hikers on the trail, who will take every opportunity to say to others: "You went off trail for 5 days?! Is that even allowed?" Allowed by whom, exactly? "You hitched to the supermarket? Oh that's cheating." Cheating according to what rules? "You're skipping the Sierras and going back to it later? You're taking the easy way, that does not really classify as thru-hiking." And because that doesn't classify as thru-hiking in the head of that person, then everybody is made to feel like a big bag of crap for not being "right" enough. If people want a competition kind of thing, they should have considered doing something else.

Again, we insist on the fact that we agree with you about the importance of honesty and humility. No, it's not okay to say you hiked every mile of it when you didn't. But likewise, it's not okay to take away from honest people the fact that yes, they did hike the PCT in their own way even if they skipped some 25 miles at some point, just because what has meaning for them obviously doesn't have meaning for you, and what has meaning for you obviously doesn't have as much meaning for them. It would be far more interesting to ask each person what they mean when they say "I hiked the PCT" to understand what it meant for them in the first place and how they believe they achieved that goal, than holding them accountable of big lies just because everybody's definition and interpretation differ. But if it matters most for some people to impose their views and try to bring down others for not living up to their high standards instead of bringing out the best of them discussing constructively why we are all having the experience of a lifetime in different ways while hiking the PCT, then it's just distressingly sad, and hopefully it does not become the major trend on the trail in the future.

Happy trails,

The Mermaids

-------- Message d'origine --------
De : marmot marmot <marmotwestvanc at hotmail.com<mailto:marmotwestvanc at hotmail.com>>
Date : 08/06/2017 11:17 (GMT-08:00)
À : "pct-l @backcountry.net<http://backcountry.net>" <pct-l at backcountry.net<mailto:pct-l at backcountry.net>>
Objet : [pct-l] Hitching

I would have never thought that it would have become normalized that hitching part of the trail was "hiking the PCT". The task is not that complicated (difficult and long and arduous) but clear. A continuous footpath along the PCT with reasonable alternatives. The conversations on line talk about huge numbers of hikers hitching when they are bored,hot tired.
I certainly hope that these hikers don't diminish the finishing PCT metal by applying for one.
Definitely "hike your own hike" but that does not include a lie or taking credit for something not done.
Maybe you can practice saying "I hiked part or most of the PCT". That has enormous value and is impressive and also the truth. That to me is something of which to to be proud.
And please don't ever apply for a Triple Crown---given out on the honor system ---if you have skipped or hitched parts of the trails. I know of many hikers who had to skip parts of the trails due to injury or personal reasons who went back and did those skipped sections.
The trails have been on roads in the past and sometimes return to them due to snow,fire,avalanche,
poodle dog bush grizzle bear etc etc. Sometimes due to injury the only way to stay on the trail is to find an alternative route on roads. That can mean limping and healing all at the same time. What ever the yearly problem is. Then the road becomes the trail. The road through Agua Dulce is the trail. It's part of the experience.
The walk along the aqueduct is the trail. Yes it's hot ---that is part of the trail. Do you really think that Ravensong('76)Jean Ella('76) Lynn ('76)or the those amazing guys from '77 or Martin Papendick('52) Eric Ryback('70)
hitched because they were bored, lonely or wanted to get to the party being thrown by a trail angel.
Don't put an asterisk on your hike unless,of course, you want one. Then ,by all means make your own choices and be honest about it. Doing as much as you can has its own value and its own lessons.
Not everyone will finish the trail. The first time I did the PCT ,I believe ,75  started. We think that 25 finished the complete trail. That rate of completion has stayed pretty standard except in high snow years. If I had done the trail in '93 or '95 I most likely would not have finished. I didn't have the snow skills.  I would have just had to hurt about it and come back and try again. Quit my job,come down from Canada and start over again.  I was just lucky to choose '94. PCT has always had higher completion rates than the AT or CDT.
We now have a net work of people who help the hikers. It means that people who never dreamed they could hike the PCT will go out there and try it. That's fantastic. Many of those people will hike large sections.
Strider used to give a speech at the KO taking about valuing just the attempt to do the trail. I know that all of us who have done the trail (all or parts of it)cheer you all on. And we share your tears when you fall short of what you imagined you wanted to do. I have a trail that I was rescued from that will always remain unfinished. That's on purpose. It means something of value to me to leave it that way. I hiked parts of the OCT because my hiking partner refused to hike a few of the road walks. Because I wanted to stay together I chose to live with that feeling that I had not done the whole trail. It felt bad but it is reality. Disappointments can be part of what the trail gives to you. I believe our long trails can be our replacement for what older cultures had in walkabouts or quests. A way of finding out who you are, what you want and how to live a life that you value.
Marmot

Sent from my iPhone
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