Registered: 02/05/03
Posts: 3293
Loc: Portland, OR
You may see and appreciate the view, but you'll never really get to know the place intimately.
I seem to be the sole volunteer to state the thru-hiker's POV, since I do section hikes and therefore seem to be the nearest equivalent to a thru-hiker hanging out here.
Anyway... a thru-hike for most of the folks who do it is a once-in-a-lifetime event. They'll have decades of their lives to devote to knowing some place intimately. I'm pretty certain most of them do (or, in the case of oldster thru-hikers, did) that. So, while they are two different things, they not mutually exclusive in the course of a hiking "career".
Our long-time Sponsor, BackcountryGear.com - The leading source for ultralite/lightweight outdoor gear:
Affiliate Disclaimer: This forum is an affiliate of BackcountryGear.com, Amazon.com, R.E.I. and others. The product links herein are linked to their sites. If you follow these links to make a purchase, we may get a small commission. This is our only source of support for these forums. Thanks.!