True story. This was an article in that ridiculous magazine "backpacker" last month: https://www.backpacker.com/stories/essays/youre-still-a-backpacker-even-if-youre-not-thru-hiking-a-long-trail/
And here's a quote from that story:
Turns out that "It’s easy to dismiss this as self-inflicted paranoia, and it’s true that most backpackers are happy to let each other hike their own hikes. But like many activities, that seems to change in the upper echelon, where progressive tick-lists get more important and where there’s a small but vocal minority that does question the validity of other people’s outdoor adventures."
So let's just be clear about this. Backpacking is not a sport; it's recreation. People do it for fun, to get out into the wilderness and enjoy nature. There are no losers--except, perhaps, those backpackers who think there are ways to "win" at backpacking.
And if you backpack because you want to make it to that so-called "upper echelon" where people judge you based on how many long through hikes you've done, we feel sorry for you. But you're probably not reading this blog anyway. You're probably out there hiking....
Hmmm. That doesn't sound bad, after all...
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