5 y/o Completes the AT

**skaredshtles** · 09-09-2021, 08:52 AM

Originally Posted by Timberridge

Back when the West was settled, the pioneers used to take their kids on arduous journeys into the then unknown in all sorts of weather and teeming with hostile natives. If it wasn't for these brave parents and children we wouldn't have places like Vail, Aspen, or Sun Valley. I don't even know if TGR would exist today.

"You have died of dysentery."

**BmillsSkier** · 09-09-2021, 08:55 AM

Originally Posted by dunfree

he’s five.

now begins the rebel heartifucation of the thread where all the cube monkeys defend the “real dreamers” of the world

Hey, they thru-hiked the AT, it’s not like they lived the #Vanlife

Those are the true dreamers.

Originally Posted by Timberridge

I know a guy who took his kids to Busch Gardens in VA and told them it was Disneyworld.

I like how this thread is lining up and people are taking sides. It bodes well for some stimulating discourse in the coming pages.

That’s cold.

And yeah, this is setting up to be a 10 pager by sundown.

Originally Posted by ötzi

Or Oklahoma.

Originally Posted by skaredshtles

"You have died of dysentery."

You took the quote right out of my keyboard. Well done.

**jackstraw** · 09-09-2021, 09:04 AM

Originally Posted by ötzi

There's no way a 5 year old is capable of making the decision that he wants to through hike the AT. So it was the parents' decision, and they did it for their own reasons. And those are open to question. Whether it will be beneficial or detrimental to the kid's ultimate physical and social development i obviously don't know, but somehow I doubt it. Yes it's better than playing video games. Is it better than living a "normal" life? You tell me.

This is all about the parents. Nothing more, nothing less. 15 minutes of fame and their kid is in the Guinness book now? Yeah!!

**BmillsSkier** · 09-09-2021, 09:13 AM

I knew a family growing up who's parents had a sabbatical year. They sold their house and bought a sailboat and lived on it, sailing everywhere from the Caribbean to the Panama Canal and up the West Coast.

They had 3 kids, the youngest was around 6 or so I think.

This was pre-social media. I wonder if those parents would be met with the same questions. I know they had a killer slide show when they got back the next year.

**ötzi** · 09-09-2021, 09:17 AM

Well if they made the kids row the boat to get around I might have an issue with that too.

**dunfree** · 09-09-2021, 09:24 AM

Originally Posted by Timberridge

Back when the West was settled, the pioneers used to take their kids on arduous journeys into the then unknown in all sorts of weather and teeming with hostile natives. If it wasn't for these brave parents and children we wouldn't have places like Vail, Aspen, or Sun Valley. I don't even know if TGR would exist today.

if they don’t die dysentery is the kind of adventure a kid will remember for the rest of their life

**Timberridge** · 09-09-2021, 09:35 AM

Originally Posted by ötzi

There's no way a 5 year old is capable of making the decision that he wants to through hike the AT. So it was the parents' decision, and they did it for their own reasons. And those are open to question. Whether it will be beneficial or detrimental to the kid's ultimate physical and social development i obviously don't know, but somehow I doubt it.

My parents made me move to Buffalo in Jr. HS. Was it cruel? Yes. But look at all the contributions I can now make to the Upstate thread.

**skaredshtles** · 09-09-2021, 09:36 AM

Originally Posted by Timberridge

My parents made me move to Buffalo in Jr. HS.

This sure explains a lot.

**BmillsSkier** · 09-09-2021, 09:43 AM

Originally Posted by ötzi

Well if they made the kids row the boat to get around I might have an issue with that too.

Everyone works on a boat.

Originally Posted by Timberridge

My parents made me move to Buffalo in Jr. HS. Was it cruel? Yes. But look at all the contributions I can now make to the Upstate thread.

But was it worse than Disney?

**hatchgreenchile** · 09-09-2021, 09:43 AM

I expected a better trail name than "Little Man"

**mud** · 09-09-2021, 09:46 AM

Originally Posted by ötzi

If they dragged you to the beach every day for 8 months and made you build 10 sandcastles a day, every day, rain or shine, would you remember it as fondly?

Well yeah overall, Mom was going to the beach so I was going to the beach. Dad only had Sundays off so we are taking the boat out. Rinse and repeat until I got old enough to go on my own. The kid probably is not going to remember all the details but looking back probably will appreciate his parents did something besides watching tv and staying inside.

**Timberridge** · 09-09-2021, 09:49 AM

Originally Posted by BmillsSkier

But was it worse than Disney?

I dunno.

If only Scott Norwood made that kick, I think it would have been different.

Rumor also has it had the son of the city, Rick James, not whipped out his privates in front of the record execs who were deciding to promote his next album or Lionel Ritchie's, things would have been different.

**Dantheman** · 09-09-2021, 09:52 AM

Originally Posted by mud

I wonder what the parents do for a living where they can take off 8 months.

I was wondering the same.

**ötzi** · 09-09-2021, 09:52 AM

My son and I were talking about nicknames the other day and "Nor-wide" got a mention. My cousins lived in Wanaka when we were growing up, to this day you probably shouldn't mention Scott Norwood in their presence.

**BmillsSkier** · 09-09-2021, 09:53 AM

Originally Posted by hatchgreenchile

I expected a better trail name than "Little Man"

Right? They only had 8 months to flesh out a good one.

**dunfree** · 09-09-2021, 09:58 AM

Originally Posted by Dantheman

I was wondering the same.

dirt pimps

**mud** · 09-09-2021, 09:59 AM

I dated a girl in Jackson that took her 2 year old son backcountry snowboarding. She would toss him in a backpack and hike up to Glory bowl all the time. Saw one 5 year old kid at Berthoud Pass hiking up with his Dad.
I can respect parents that don't let having a kid get in the way of their fun.

**Timberridge** · 09-09-2021, 10:02 AM

Originally Posted by Dantheman

I was wondering the same.

If they were both getting unemployment along with the federal Covid boost, it could answer that. How much does it cost someone per day or week to hike the trail?

**BmillsSkier** · 09-09-2021, 10:04 AM

Originally Posted by Timberridge

If they were both getting unemployment along with the federal Covid boost, it could answer that. How much does it cost someone per day or week to hike the trail?

Didn't fastfred thru-hike it?

**skaredshtles** · 09-09-2021, 10:06 AM

Originally Posted by Timberridge

<snip> How much does it cost someone per day or week to hike the trail?

Not sure... but when I thru-hiked the Colorado Trail, I can tell you it didn't cost much. That's some cheap living, right there.

**Benny Profane** · 09-09-2021, 10:56 AM

Originally Posted by Timberridge

Or perhaps this is just a footnote in more greatness to come?

Jeez, y'all sound like Benny today.

Sounds like child abuse. Now they should buy him a tennis racket and turn him into a very depressed tennis pro in twenty years.

**NW_SKIER** · 09-09-2021, 11:01 AM

If the kid joins this forum someday, his handle could be "festering blister."

**jackstraw** · 09-09-2021, 11:04 AM

Originally Posted by mud

I dated a girl in Jackson that took her 2 year old son backcountry snowboarding. She would toss him in a backpack and hike up to Glory bowl all the time. Saw one 5 year old kid at Berthoud Pass hiking up with his Dad.
I can respect parents that don't let having a kid get in the way of their fun.

^This is not remotely close to hiking the AT. Having hiked sections (the better sections imo) and know many thru hikers, there is very little appeal to me personally. Blackflies and mosquitos are highlights. Ticks are only in the lower elevations.