Triple crown - Continental Divide Trail

imported
#21

Purists and certificate hikers. Ugh. I can’t stand them on trail or in the workplace where can be found employee manual in hand and company logo on their shirt.

Purism came about when trails became blazed, mapped, and well known, and when guidebooks became akin to Holy Writ and when the old school hikers, who were all about adventure and individuality, were supplanted by the collective-minded farming mentality that invariably follows in the footsteps of the frontiersmen.

oso loco–you are correct in your assessment. Hatch is a bureaucrat.

Jason

#22

Hey!!! I am a personal purist but for you and for anyone else…their version of hiking is OK with me. But if the topic is ‘who was the youngest hiker to do the triple crown’, then the definition of the ‘triple crown’ should be sort of established.

I’ve not been on the PCT and not been on the CDT. (Yet.) And I don’t sit in judgment of anyone. But if the subject is who set a given record as the youngest to hike the ‘triple crown’…it seems reasonable to be a purist about what the triple crown is, exactly.

And ANY youngster who came even CLOSE has hiked places I’ve never (yet) been. OK, I agree. But still…

Not trying to be a crank. Just sayin’…

JohnMcC

#23

Hey different socks. Eric Ryback did the PCT in 1970. Do you have any idea what that would mean? Your right the Folks at Wilderness Press did a hit piece on him because his book wasn’t controled by them. Then they put up a guy that was supposed to be the first hiker to complete the PCT (ever heard of him and why not?) Meet the guy and see his slides of his trip like I did at the Kick Off and then see if you want to put down his amazing feat.

Jay

#24

Thanks for the shout-out Freebird! It’s good to see you here. :slight_smile:
For what it’s worth, when i completed the CDT and the triple crown in 2006 I was one day short of 21 and a half. It is very possible that there are people who are younger than me that have completed the triple crown, though probably not many.

My first trail was the AT. When I hiked it i had the exact same opinion as “hatch” regarding purity. Two long trails later and my opinion has changed completely. Purity is not just ridiculous on any long trail other than the AT, it is impossible. In 2005 we spent roughly 200 miles on snow in the Sierras. Was i following the trail? Generally… but not by AT standards. In 2006 we didn’t know where the CDT was roughly %40 of the time. Again, does that mean that i didn’t hike the trail? Come talk to me and hear my stories, and I dare you to say that. For what it’s worth, my own personal standard for myself is having a continuous line of steps from border to border. Anything more would be patently absurd. Mind you, I am not judging other’s hikes here, just my own personal standard for myself.

Please, Please, Please, if you have only done the AT, do not think you can comment on the other trails authoritatively. If you have not thru-hiked a trail, do not think you can be authoritative about the thru-hiking experience. And, please, can we all just be a little less judgmental? This is such a ridiculous thing to argue about…

Remy Levin

#25

Hey everyone, it’s Remy Levin! Mr. Levin, I hiked the PCT the same year as you, and I can even remember meeting you! And I just wanted to note, in defense of other people being ignorantly authoritative on this thread, some people are just like that. there’s always some obnoxious guy thinking he knows exactly how things are. It’s often the case that, too, that guy is in his early twenties. Maybe with a pony tail. Who speaks too loudly and is VERY judgemental and argumentative.

Man, hmm. Who does that sound like?

Magic Rob

#26

Remy, well put.

Purity is ridiculous and is nothing more than one person having done something and then petulantly demanding that everyone who comes after does it the same way.

Country-club-stupidity.

And Rob–spot on with your “specimen”.

Here to HIKING, not bureaucratic purists: :cheers

Jason