[pct-l] further thoughts on attitude

[jape at nethere.com (jape)]

>From my journal reading this year, it would seem
that hikers are not accepting the actions of trail
angels as serendipitous good fortune,  but rather
as a mandatory pre-requisite to a successful hike.
Or, to put it another way, an attitude that
anticipates and expects the free service of trail
angels, rather than feeling blessed with a gift of
kindness.

If you've read of the 9 or 10 hikers who escaped
from the rain storm at Chihuahua Valley road by
breaking into the garage of an unoccupied home,
you might get a sense of what I'm talking about.
Each of the accounts that I've read tries to
justify this behaviour.  It is not my place to
make a judgement of their excuses, but I did find
it interesting that despite all the reasons for
doing so, (i.e. potential hypothermia, the house
was "abandoned", others were already there), each
account was careful to mention that a note and
money had been left for the property owners.

I don't think that what I see in an attitude
change is a matter of how difficult the trail is.
Every year the journals are filled with ugly
blister stories, leg injuries, close calls
involving personal safety and so on. Each year,
some hikers, heck, a lot of hikers decide for a
multitude of reasons that their thru hike is
over.  Some want to stop hurting, some want to
stop feeling dirty, some miss their families, and
some just can't_______.

I like to imagine, "what if".  It would be
interesting to read the journals "if" there was no
ADZPCTKO, no water caches, no accompanying
vehicular support (I mean, c'mon on...toting
hikers from Whitewater creek to a truck stop for a
shower?").

Well, I'll qualify these thoughts again, by saying
that I'm not nor have been a thru hiker, and am
reacting only to what I've read.

Eckert