Triple Crown Record

imported
#1

Ok, I haven’t posted in awhile(maybe never), but I had to say something about this.
Why is there so much hoopla about this guy named Squeaky from the UK? I did think it was a tremendous event when Flyin Brian did the Triple in a calendar year, but now this guy comes along and does it one trail after the other. This is also a tremendous undertaking. But has anyone read about what he had to do to get this done?
-Average of 40 miles per day? A magazine article
quoted him as saying he averaged 3.5 mph. Did he
ever look up from the trail?
-His mentality every moment of every day, awake or
asleep, had to be about time and miles: How long
can I take a break? How can I eat and still do the
miles? Am i wasting time stopping and talking to
this hiker?
-The food he ate and carried? Pop Tarts, Power Bars,
protien bars, and Frito lay Munchies? Day after day
after day? Come on people! Fess up! You know you
really wouldn’t eat like that! This is crazy!
-South of Crawford Notch his pack weight was 8lbs?!
He wore the same clothes every day! I wouldn’t want
to stand downwind of him, much less stay in the same
shelter!

There are many more points i could make. One other is the fact the guy wants to come back and do a new speed record on the AT—WITH A CAMERA CREW IN TOW!!!
I’m sorry but if i was doing the AT I would consider that to be an intrusion on my hiking experience. This guy is going to turn the trail into a media circus.

This competition to be the fastest hiker, have the highest mileage day, or the lightest load is getting ridiculously insane.
I know everybody hikes their own hike, but where does it stop? When will it end? Am I supposed to stop and let a speed hiker by just so he can get in his daily quota?
How many of you out there have set up camp for the night or been in a shelter and encountered an ultralite hiker who doesn’t have enough food or sufficient warm clothing or wishes he/she had hot food to eat instaed of power bars? Did they mooch off you? Did you feel sorry for them? Don’t be!
We’ve all had occasions when we have had to go without because we didn’t have dry clothes, or enough food or water, of a piece of equipment won’t work, etc. But these things do happen. An ultralite hiker puts themselves into the higher possibility factor that these things will happen and many of them hope and depend on the generousity of others to help then out.
I do share and help out others, and they have reciprocated. BUT, I not help out moochers repeatedly.
It is not fair to myself or to others who shoulder the burden of a heavier pack only to have it lightened by the so-called enlightened.

LET ME HEAR YOUR THOUGHTS PEOPLE!!!

different socks

#2

Socks – Look at what you posted. Can you read it without your eyes screaming? Try paragraphs next time. Something like this:

Ok, I haven’t posted in awhile(maybe never), but I had to say something about this. Why is there so much hoopla about this guy named Squeaky from the UK?

I did think it was a tremendous event when Flyin Brian did the Triple in a calendar year, but now this guy comes along and does it one trail after the other. This is also a tremendous undertaking. But has anyone read about what he had to do to get this done? Average of 40 miles per day? A magazine article quoted him as saying he averaged 3.5 mph. Did he ever look up from the trail? His mentality every moment of every day, awake or asleep, had to be about time and miles: How long can I take a break? How can I eat and still do the miles? Am i wasting time stopping and talking to this hiker?

The food he ate and carried? Pop Tarts, Power Bars, protien bars, and Frito lay Munchies? Day after day after day? Come on people! Fess up! You know you really wouldn’t eat like that! This is crazy!

South of Crawford Notch his pack weight was 8lbs?! He wore the same clothes every day! I wouldn’t want to stand downwind of him, much less stay in the same shelter! There are many more points i could make. One other is the fact the guy wants to come back and do a new speed record on the AT—WITH A CAMERA CREW IN TOW!!!

I’m sorry but if i was doing the AT I would consider that to be an intrusion on my hiking experience. This guy is going to turn the trail into a media circus. This competition to be the fastest hiker, have the highest mileage day, or the lightest load is getting ridiculously insane. I know everybody hikes their own hike, but where does it stop? When will it end? Am I supposed to stop and let a speed hiker by just so he can get in his daily quota?

How many of you out there have set up camp for the night or been in a shelter and encountered an ultralite hiker who doesn’t have enough food or sufficient warm clothing or wishes he/she had hot food to eat instaed of power bars? Did they mooch off you? Did you feel sorry for them? Don’t be!
We’ve all had occasions when we have had to go without because we didn’t have dry clothes, or enough food or water, of a piece of equipment won’t work, etc. But these things do happen.

An ultralite hiker puts themselves into the higher possibility factor that these things will happen and many of them hope and depend on the generousity of others to help then out. I do share and help out others, and they have reciprocated. BUT, I not help out moochers repeatedly. It is not fair to myself or to others who shoulder the burden of a heavier pack only to have it lightened by the so-called enlightened. LET ME HEAR YOUR THOUGHTS PEOPLE!!!

Grammar Coach

#3

Different Socks (lol): you might have to eat a couple snickers bars to make up for the calorie loss due to that lenghthy rant. :wink:

I feel impelled to address a few of your concerns.

I have often found that when i am upset about what someone else is doing, ususally it is because i am upset with a part of myself. For example, if another’s egotism is bothering me, its normally because of my own egotism.

Breaking records, pushing the limits is a big part of human nature. Take a look at the Guinness Book of World Records - there’s probably a farting record in there somewhere.

I ran into Squeaky twice last year on the PCT. I can assure you that he didn’t mooch off any of his fellow thru-hikers. In fact, he left money at VVR for a surprise dinner for Dave & Michele (the next hikers behind him in the Sierra’s) I would be REALLY suprised if you could find a single PCT, CDT, or AT thru-hiker that ran into Squeaky that was in any way offended by him. 2005 was an extreme year on the PCT & i think he really helped the vast majority of thru-hikers psychologically by showing that it would be possible to hike through the Sierra in such a heavy snowpack year. If you actually meet Squeaky, you would probably like the guy!

Your concerns about the “media circus” are probably unfounded. David Horton set the speed record last year on the PCT and he had quite a bit of media coverage, but this did not impact the rest of us at all. The media blitz when Earl Shaeffer hiked in '98 didn’t adversly affect the thru-hikers that year. If you want to complain about the impact of the media, you would be better off picking on Bill Bryson’s “A walk in the woods.”

I welcome the diversity of thru-hikers on the trail. If we all hiked the same way with the same gear, the hike would be much more boring. I’ve met hikers with 95 pound packs and hikers with 5 pound packs. I’ve seen hikers that take as much time as possible on a thru-hike, and others who really enjoy pushing themselves to their limits (or i should say closer to their limits).

Squeaky himself has made some intersting statements, literally and figuratively. It seems that his biggest motivation is to illustrate that we all limit ourselves all the time. If we can ‘free our mind’ to a greater degree, then things that we believe are impossible, will become possible. This concept is not limited to phsical achievments. I enjoyed chatting with him and talking about this idea. He inspired me last year, not to go out and try to set a speed record, or hike a high mileage day, but to look at all my own self imposed limitations. If i see him on the AT this year as i hike NoBo, i don’t think seeing a camera crew at a road crossing will bother me.

Happy Trails, freebird

freebird

#4

different socks why are you making assumptions on who i am and labeling me as a moocher. you need to atleast have an idea of what you are talking about before running your mouth off. to hike the 3 trails end to end in the same year meant hiking them all out of season. i rarely saw another thru hiker, there were places where i didnt even see a person on the trail for weeks. some moocher!!!

the deserts in full bloom, the sierras under record snow pack, courting mountain lions, bears with cubs, wolfs, thunder storms on 13,000 foot ridges, summiting 12,000 foot peaks under a full moon, early season snows in the san juans, wading in ice cold water because the 100 mile wilderness was flooded, hiking through a nor’easter, snow shoeing the mahoosucs and white because of record snow, frostbite…but more importantly i saw inside myself, and i liked what i saw!!!

ask your self who got to see more of your all important views and scenery. someone who hikes the AT in 7 months or someone who hikes the PCT, CDT and AT in 7 months.

get your facts straight on how the filming is being done before you run your mouth off about that also. what is the difference between holding a camcorder rather than a camera?

i have seen thru hikers carrying camcorders before. whats your point?

no hard feelings just dont run your mouth off about me when you dont even know me, let alone never meeting me.:cheers

squeaky

#5

Wow, I hope I never run into “different socks” on the trail. I go to the trail specifically to get away from people with this mentality.

I recently read an article about Squeaky completing all three trails and I was blown away by his achievement. I love speedpacking and could relate to his desire to hike long and fast.

Phreak

#6

So…your point is? Squeaky lied about what he ate?

zamboner

#7

A. I don’t know why I am even bothering to reply to alot of the tripe you write, but as a mum reading your bull**** I am not happy with your attitude.

  1. My son has never been a ‘Mooche’ and is always giving to others and thinking of himself last. Like ‘Firebird’ said, “he left$ for Dave and Michelle” coming out of the Sierra’s knowing how bad it was in their and wanted them to have a hot meal when they got too VVR.

  2. He carries light-weight, but amongst all his gear is always the right equipment and food supplies to get him through where he needs to get too. Many times last year he was very very low on food as the weather conditions caught him out on the Mountains in terrifying conditions, to alot of people they would given in not Matthew ( Squeaky ) he has the determintion to do what he sets out to do, wether or not it is Munchies, PopTarts or Protein Bars he eats. If you look at the ingredients you can read, there is alot of what he needs to fullfill he needs, he was not crazy in yours words, but very smart to carry light and cover what his body needed to take him to where he had to go to.

  3. One day you will bump into him and hopefully then eat your words as too what a humble guy he is. He actually goes out there to challenge his own body and do what he does for himself, never starts out to think he can ‘Mooche’ of anyone. ‘Squeaky’ has met alot of good guys on the ‘Trails’ in all the years he has been hiking and I feel quite content as a Mum sitting back in England and worrying every time he goes off on a trip, but at the back of my mind I always know, and as Matthew has always quoted " The Americans are among one of the most generous people he has ever met, the whole world should be like the hiking world and it would be a happier one. When travelling to and from towns to re-supply they always stop to give a lift and sometimes back again, if this is Mooching for a lift then all hikers do it.

  4. To end it all as I could go on forever, I think you may be a bit jealous, sorry this is my opinion and to be honest I am glad Matthew, Squeaky laughs at all the comments sometimes half wits make, but me I always get annoyed when the odd person like you comes along and trys to ‘stick your oar in’, (an English term). Even if your not a long distance hiker, do not look at all the other guys out there who do it there way, the world is made up of all kinds of people, thank the Lord for that.

From a Mother who cares. (Using the post under Squeakys name.)

A big thanks to all of you who followed and give Matthew your blessings last year, your stars.

Stephanie

#8

Different Socks-

Your original post was entitled “Triple Crown Record” not “ultralight hiker mooching”, and it was clearly a personal attack on Squeaky & what he was accomplishing. Anybody who can read English can go back and see for themselves. Your aggravation with ultralight hikers & their apparent mooching appears in just the last two paragraphs (the Grammer Coach version) of your post. Thankfully you have appologized to Squeaky for your mistaken assumptions about him.

When Yogi entered the thread, the subject turned into the singular attack on hikers that mooch. At one point she writes, “I’m all for helping out someone in need; but I don’t spend the off-season working 60 hours a week, never going to movies, never going out to dinner, never spending money, just so I can go on a long trail and be take care of an adult who should know better.” I kinda felt sorry for her (seriously), until i remembered this post from her CDT journal (8/10/04):

"Hello from Wyoming! I’ll be periodically posting future maildrop locations. Getting care packages and letters is like having Christmas on the trail. I’d love to hear from you. Care packages don’t have to be huge. Smaller is better…

A few people have emailed saying they’d like to send money to my Paypal account. That would be great, too! My Paypal account is yogihicker@hotmail.com. Don’t forget the “c” in yogihicker. Extra cash will buy me a prime rib dinner, motel room, prime rib dinner, tasty beverages, and maybe a prime rib dinner.
Thanks, and stay tuned! yogi"

This certainly takes yogi-ing (mooching) to a new level! Getting readers of your Trail Journal to send food and money during a thru-hike - now that’s ingenious!

Or Yogi, how about the (shameless?) plug of your book on all of your posts here on Trail Forums. “www.pcthanbook.com”

Isn’t that sorta mooching free advertising on a Public Website that is devoid of sponsor advertising? Or is that just mooching from some trail buddies - Leif & ZipDrive?

I think this is a case of the “pot calling the kettle black.” There is a bit of hypocracy in some of these posts.

The ancient Greek axiom “Know Thyself” is appropriate. When a fault in others bothers us, this is an indication that the same fault is part of our own human personality. Only by ‘seeing’ our own faults, can we overcome them. All of us have lots of faults to overcome.

I haven’t met you Different Socks, but i think you were sincere in your posts. Yogi - I think you’re sincere as well and i do appreciate all the work you have done to help out PCT hikers. Happy Trails to you both - i hope i didn’t offend either of you.

Sincerely, freebird

freebird

#9

Just one thing I did forget to mention, one of Squeaky’s generousities, was on completion of the Triple Crown and getting ready to head to Miami for the New Year, he came across a hiker in the Lobby of the ‘Amicalola Falls’, saw her backpack weighed 80lbs, Squeaky and Nean set about lightening her load to under 40, he gave her his 0 degrees sleeping bag , thermo rest, head light and stove, As too Nean’s shock ‘You cannot give her all your gear’. The girl was going out on her first ever hike and Squeaky said, "I have just come down the AT and if she has no protection she will freeze to death’, point taken says Nean.
Matthew will always help and put other peoples interest first at his own expense.
The girl in question is still on the trail and emailed a friend to say without the sleeping bag especially she would have frozen,
so I suggest you head off into a different forum and look for more whingers like yourself.

Stef

Stephanie

#10

very valid points Freebird. Yogi maybe you should be working 70 hours a week instead. hahaha

Freebird you seem to be very intelligent for someone who gives out wedgies 10 year olds on the trail !!! hahahaha:cheers

squeaky

#11

Again’ I’d like to say that even though this thread started out about Squeaky, I did apologize to him about my assumptions. And yes, we did get onto another track. But that’s exactly what we did and that’s exactly what I was commenting on in my last two posts. I don’t even mention Squeaky. That is done and over with.

This seems to be a hot issue with many people so I’m going to leave it here and thank all of you for your input. I sincerely enjoyed reading all of them, even the critical ones.

different socks

#12

Freebird: If you want to believe that I’m a hateful inconsiderate moocher, go ahead. If you want to believe that the post from my CDT journal was born from my wanting a free ride, go ahead. Neither one is true. Believe whatever you want. I don’t care.

Zamboner: Conversations evolve. This thread started out discussing Squeaky’s 2005 hike. Then it evolved into a discussion about prepared vs unprepared hikers. Keeping the discussion within one thread allows the reader to read from beginning to end, following the train of thought. I certainly never said Squeaky was unprepared. When discussing unprepared hikers, the topic had evolved away from Squeaky. In true troll fashion, you did a good job twisting the discussion back to Squeaky. Congratulations, you accomplished exactly what you wanted.

Squeaky and Mum: Like I said to Zamboner, my comments about moochers and unprepared hikers had nothing to do with Squeaky. I was never referring to Squeaky in an unflattering way, and if that’s what you thought, I apologize.

The problem with internet lists is that those who wish to twist words and meaning around to attack others can do so very easily. This thread is a perfect example.

yogi

www.pcthandbook.com

yogi

#13

Yogi, it’s called: 's t a y i n g o n t o p i c."

But since you’ve adjudicated that this thread isn’t about Squeaky anymore, here we go. You change the rules to suit your ends, when it suits you. You missed Freebird’s point with your reactionary response. Nobody faults you for merely creating conditions that are favorable for the appearance of Trail magic, honest! If that’s your way, no problem.
HYOH, right?

And it’s certainly a challenge to the sanctimonious and short attention-spanned among us to stay on topic.

High five to freebird. Excellent post.

Yogi = To mooch without obviously mooching.

All of this kind of nonsense is why I stay quite clear of these Web sites, though this is the best one on the 'net.

Zamboner