The thing that I liked most about the video we saw in class
on hikers on the Appalachian Trail was the fact that we really got to see just
how huge the range of people that hike the trail is. One of the more memorable
hikers was Nemo, the extremely energized talkative hiker that had very poor
dental hygiene. Her persona was really entertaining and she just was not the
kind of person that you see every day. Oopala the flute player was also a riot. He seemed
like the kind of guy that one would likely never run into over the course of
their life if they did not do something like the Appalachian Trail hike. Almost
everyone filmed in the video seemed to have something unique going on with them
besides their dedication to hiking the trail.
One thing that I did not expect was the amount of stopping in towns
and rest areas the hikers took. It seemed like they were constantly going into
town to grab a bite to eat or a drink at the pub before resuming their hike. I
can see how that might have something to do with how the film was edited but
regardless it was not what I expected. I had the mental image of the hikers
very rarely leaving the trail and sleeping on the trail itself but it became
clear to me that a lot more non-trail interaction occurred than I first
realized.
Something that I found both hard to understand and also very
impressive was the extent to which individuals would continue on with their
trail trek no matter the conditions their bodies were in. Some of the injuries
were fairly mild in context, like nasty sores on their feet that simply slowed
them down a little and hurt. Although I am not sure I would be able to do so
myself I can easily see how someone would be both capable of and motivated to
continue their Appalachian Trail journey despite having such an injury. But
some injuries that hikers tried to fight just seemed like too much, for example
the hiker with broken ankles. I really think that it is insane for someone in
that condition to even try to go on for even a single day, but I can say that I
do admire their tenacity no matter how ill-advised their actions might be.
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