An article by Grayson Haver Currin that showed up yesterday on the “Outside” magazine web site talks about the important topic of the privilege of pandemic hiking. And, although I only uploaded my previous hiking post at the beginning of the week, I wanted to toss this out there for you to see.

Currin writes about the first two people known to have finished thru-hikes on the Appalachian Trail this year. Like so many other things during this pandemic year, the count of hikers will take a hit in 2020. These two hikers, though, will be part of the final tally.

So far, no big deal. Someone has to be first each year. But the author makes very clear that these hikers pushed through to the end illegally. They walked through parks and forests that the authorities had closed. They did not follow stay-at-home orders in the states they walked through. And they intentionally avoided or disregarded law enforcement officers along the way. These two hikers happen to be young white males. Therein lies the privilege.

Currin tells us that “the pandemic and concurrent protests over racial injustice are timely reminders of entrenched patterns in the thru-hiking community—it remains, overwhelmingly, the domain of educated white men.”

These hikers’ “decision to press on along the Appalachian Trail highlights questions of privilege and pride that have long plagued the outdoor industry. “By hiking now, you have created a narrative that says, ‘My personal needs and desires outweigh a greater societal mission. At the end of the day, what’s really important is what I want,’” says Sandi Marra, the ATC’s president and CEO.”

So, yeah, these two guys spent 4 months walking the 2,000+ miles in 14 states that constitute the Trail. But even out in the woods some things are exactly like they are in the city.

Here’s the article: “The Thru-Hikers Who Finished the AT During the Pandemic“