Lori. You have criticized my post twice. You call the author mentally ill. In perspective her mother died of cancer at an early age. Would that not affect you? Also it is apparent that I am the only one who does my best problem solving when hiking. Colin Fletcher has stated that he would go hiking to sort out details of stories he was writing. If I am odd in my problem solving while hiking then I am in good company with Mr. Fletcher. Backpacking and hiking is not the same for everyone as we are all different
A book that creates controversy is a great book.
Lori often disagrees with me. I just consider she has a lot of different experiences and she often sees things from a different perspective. Disagreements are good, because those are the things I learn from.
I would agree that Cheryl was not a backpacker first. Backpacking was a means to work out her mental injuries. It sounds like she made a lot of progress on that. To me, this doesn't mean she wasn't a backpacker. She just wasn't stereotypical for a thru-hiker. But then, I don't think there is a stereotype.
When I hike alone, I often disappear into the nothingess in my mind, not paying attention to anything. After the hike, I couldn't tell you a thing about what I saw except what I saw inside. That's where the real hike was.
There are backpackers books come out of. Cheryl Strider, Bryson (I really wish Katz wrote a book), Bert Nemcik, Jennifer Pharr, etc. Often these books aren't even about backpacking. It's from the thinking that happens on the trail when life is simplified.
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