Date: 2007-11-15
To: Warner Robins
Miles today: 0.0

Not taking things too seriously and trail weirdoes; hope I don¢t ruffle any sensitive ¢trail¢ feathers.Possibly the greatest lesson I learned the last four months was to not take this thing TOO seriously. That is, the whole AT Thru-hike status-culture coupled with the unwritten-unsaid ¢you¢re tainted if you don¢t finish¢ attitude or ¢that person skipped some miles or hiked in the wrong direction so they¢re not in the club¢ and on and on and on.   Section hikers are second-rate citizens and day-hikers, well, we all know about day-hikers. Slackpackers are bottom-feeders, period. Geeze. Understand that I was almost thrown off a balcony because some ¢pure-arse¢ stated that ¢¢¦ my thru-hike was invalid since I slack-packed 27 miles into Duncannon¢ (see TJ Sept 09, 2007). Guess that incident was instrumental in shaping my AT perspective.Yes, it¢s an incredible achievement, yes it¢s a milestone adventure, yes yes yes, it¢s an extraordinary life-event, ¢¦ but it¢s also just going for a walk (extended perhaps). Enjoy the hike whether it be for ten miles or ten hundred miles. IMHO the hiker who gets pleasure out of a ten mile hike is far better off than the person who pisses and moans for the last thousand miles ¢ daily cursing the weather, the trail, and every other person and is constantly wishing for ¢IT¢ to be over. Who is the real winner? There is a very fine line between a hiker and a hobo. Or a crazy person for that matter. Mostly that the hiker has money (at least some potential source) and a life to go back to. I had a great time meeting people on the trail, hikers and hobos alike. The trail attracts such an interesting cross-section of outdoorspeople from ALL walks and flavors of life, and I was unquestionably happiest when I was walking with good company. However, I kept rediscovering from said people that it¢s possible to make way too big a deal out of hiking. It¢s a hobby or a pastime, not a religion. Alpine had a great term for the extremists: ¢Trail Weirdoes.¢ Ok, so it¢s one thing to carry something sentimental, e.g. a pebble from Katahdin or a memento from a friend or relative, or to not cut your beard until you finish. That¢s harmless fun to me. However, things like ¢I¢ve been carrying this (insert heavy useless item) with me the whole trip so I can (insert pointless task) at Springer¢ to me are just a scream for help. Instead, inserting phrases like ¢I¢m taking this trail WAY too seriously and I want people to remember me not because I¢m a cool hiker person but because I have a gimmick and a weirdo nickname¢. And speaking of nicknames, for the longest time I had a big problem with the concept of taking a trail name. But looking back on it, that was probably my fault because I was guilty of taking the name-game too seriously. That is, the new moniker had to be perfect. Earlier on, it just seemed to me that it was a way to escape your ordinary life and pretend you¢re a superhero, like World of Warcraft or Crystal Meth. Eventually I saw through this guise as just fun also. So I let go of my apprehension and took a trailname myself. I made a conscious effort to ask people who¢ve hiked other long distance trails if the whackos are there or not. The UNANIMOUS response: ¢hell naw, man, it¢s something about the AT.¢ The strange thing is, even when normal folks stay in this environment long enough, they start taking it seriously too. The similarities are a little like someone getting hopelessly drawn into a pointless video game or getting hooked on hard drugs.What¢s scary is that all the trail drama makes perfect sense until you step back and realize that, hey, I¢m spending money with no income, AND spending most of my days isolated or completely withdrawn from society, AND I¢m going around telling everybody my name is fricking ¢Dr Jekyll.¢ HA! It¢s quite likely I¢ve become one of the weirdoes I¢m talking about. Having said all of the above, keep in mind I wish nothing but the best for everyone out there. This whole journal is simply the thoughts and opinions of one hiker dude; I¢m no authority whatsoever. I suppose I have an obtuse perspective because I really like hiking but never got into the ¢trail culture¢ like a lot of hikers do. Don¢t call me a hiker, because I¢m not. I just like going hiking, that¢s all. Ha! Best that I can tell, the truly serious ones are pretty rare and hard to find, and I really appreciated meeting them and hearing what they had to say whenever the opportunity presented itself. The overwhelming majority were super-cool, down-to-earth people who loved the outdoors. I made some great friends, and met some people who are much much better than me.Had enough yet? Next entry I want to tackle ¢head games¢, i.e., some of the personal mental stuff. Difficult to tell if putting these musings on paper is of any value to anyone out there, but I think it helps me to clear out some lingering cobwebs. And I feel the need to do that while the impressions are still fresh.Hope this finds everyone well.Thanks for reading.   ~ Dr Jekyll (Obie)   ME-GA 07PS:   It IS tough out there, and I wish the very best for ALL those who hike the trail, but please remember that you put yourself in that position.