[pct-l] Thru-Hikers Against Thru-Hiking

> Hey all,
> Since I re-joined this list a week back, I have had inquiries from a few
> people asking what T.H.A.T.H. is about and whether it's a joke or not.
I'm
> not quite sure about the second question, but in response to the first, i
> worte up this little manifesto.  Thought it might be of general interest:
>
> T.H.A.T.H. (Thru-hikers against thru-hiking) was something the Menacing
> Vegetables came up with this last year as we were hiking the trail.  You
> see, we had planned for years to do a thru-hike of the PCT, Mexico to
Canada
> and all that.  So we started out on April 11th (way ahead of the "pack"),
> full of vim and vigour, with no hard deadlines except what the weather
gods
> were planning on serving up in Washington.  Very soon on our hike,
however,
> we realized that we were going to have to make a decision:  either hike to
> Canada in one marathon effort, or spend the entire season enjoying the
> scenic wonders of the PCT and the dubious delights of trail life, without
> necessarily attempting to do the 2600 miles in 5-6 months.  We chose the
> latter, and THATH gradually arose from that decision.  THATH is about
> convincing people that they are not "failures" if they do not reach
Manning
> Park in one year; that in fact, completing the entire PCT in one season
may
> be mutually incompatable with having the most enjoyable possible
experience
> over the course of 4-6 months on the trail.
>
> The PCT, we learned, is not like the AT back east-- the latter trail takes
> you to most all of the high points (figurative and literal) of that
mountain
> range.  the PCT, by contrast, merely takes you near many of the
attractions
> along the western mountains.  Dozens of lakes, summits, swimmin' holes,
hot
> springs, and the like lie 5 miles or less from the PCT; contrary to what
you
> may read, the PCT does not always take the most interesting, most direct,
or
> most wilderness-oriented route.  One quick example:  Mt. San Gorgonio, at
> 11,500 feet the highest point in southern California, lies at the heart of
> of San Gorgonio wilderness, the largest wilderness in Southern California.
> The mountain's thick forests and alpine plateaus are a stark contrast with
> the scraggly desert/scrub country surrounding the wilderness.  The PCT,
for
> some unknown reason, bypasses this wilderness entirely.  We decided that
it
> was silly to hike the entire length of California without paying a visit
to
> this landmark summit, so when we reached Big Bear City, we took a
three-day
> detour to the wilderness and climbed the snow-clad peak.  I found the
climb
> up Gorgonio (and the Glissade down!)to be one of the true highlights of
> Southern California.  From San Jacinto all the way to the North Cascades,
I
> felt like some of the best hiking I did, many of the most memorable spots
I
> reached, were areas that didn't lay directly in the path of the PCT.
These
> were places that were visited by very very few thru-hikers, although they
> lay as little as 0.2 miles from the trail.  Despite what Ray Jardine and
PCT
> orthodoxy claim, I don't think you can really have a quality wilderness
> experience at 25-35 miles a day, day after day after day after day....
>
> All this side-tripping came at a price, of course:  I didn't finish the
PCT
> this year.  I missed out on much of the trail community, made up of those
> who hike fast enough to keep up with one another (although our early start
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