
The First Thru-Hike of the Mexican Border - bacon_waffle
https://www.outsideonline.com/2333816/two-women-just-completed-first-border-thru-hike
======
Tempest1981
I like this: "I’ve been a lot of strange places in my life, but once I went
there, they weren’t so strange anymore."

------
RileyJames
“As they planned the trip, however, Ostrem and Wernstedt-Lynch noticed a
pattern. People who lived in the borderlands—the activists, ranchers, and Rio
Grande guides they contacted while mapping out their route—tended to be more
encouraging than those who lived in the hikers’ respective home states of
Kentucky and Maryland.”

This mirrors most of my experience for travel advice. Why do people give
advice when they haven’t been there and don’t know anyone that has?!?

~~~
gumby
> Why do people give advice when they haven’t been there and don’t know anyone
> that has?!?

Well, TBF you probably wouldn't give advice to visit, say, Aleppo right now,
or jump off a cliff, even though I doubt you've done either.

And so I think people generalize with the same heuristic: Someone from
Minnesota or someone from Brownsville sees the same Fox News and gets the same
fear; they know it's OK where _they_ are so the danger must be someplace they
_haven 't_ been.

It's the same reason a person might be racist or have strong prejudicial
opinions even though they know and are friends of the prejudiced group: "well
my friend is the exception". I have actually been on the receiving end of
that!

I agree it's dumb, but the above seems like a reasonable explanation.

~~~
RileyJames
I agree that’s a reasonable explanation of why it happens, I still find it
frustrating.

Aleppo is a great example. Why would I advise someone not to go? Without
knowing who they are, when they’re going and for what purpose, it seems
preposterous that any advice would be given at all. Asking a few questions
would highlight if they’re making an informed decision and if they possess the
information I hold. There are reasonable reasons to be going to Syria
(soldier, aid worker, contractor, reporter) and repeating the last headline
read is not useful.

As for jumping off a cliff, isn’t that cliff diving? If you mean suicide,
hopefully you have first hand experience on the value of life, which could be
provided as useful advice.

My frustration is how quickly people provide their opinions as advice, often
oblivious to how informed the receiver is on the given subject.

------
mehwoot
_The country was still adjusting to the soon-to-be presidency of Donald Trump.
“It felt really wrong and go out and disappear into the wilderness for five or
six months,” Ostrem says._

Seems like a good response to me

------
briandear
They are naïve if they think it wasn’t luck that got them safely through.

~~~
tjr225
Are you kiddin' me? They've completed the AT and the PCT. they're insanely
experienced hikers.

I consider myself a pretty experienced hiker and I wouldn't even attempt
either of those two. Not sure where you're getting your information but it
doesn't seem to be this article.

~~~
steve19
No amount of hiking experience is going to stop you getting shot by a human
trafficker or drug runner... That requires a different skill set.

~~~
fipple
Exhibit: [https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/07/world/asia/islamic-
state-...](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/07/world/asia/islamic-state-
tajikistan-bike-attack.html)

~~~
bacon_waffle
What motivation would the GP's hypothetical smuggler have, to cause harm to a
couple backpackers? I can imagine a person in ISIS might be motivated to harm
a couple Americans, but am not seeing the connection here.

~~~
RaceWon
I street raced in the Bronx and NYC during the mid to late 70's: packs of wild
dogs roamed the streets, burned out buildings as far as the eye could see, and
every drug known to Man was sold openly. Back then it had the highest murder
rate per capita in the country. I lived through it... but I was lucky I was
never shot--came real close from a Crip one night after I waxed his ass, but
he didn't fire the gun he had pointed at my face, sheer luck that. Criminals
kill people just because they can. That's a fact. You probably never spent
enough time alone in a dangerous place frequented by dangerous people.

~~~
arakobama
Boy thats an exciting story, and written from the perspective of such an
interesting character! My favorite part of the story is when the protagonist
met the gang member.

Some notes: crips didn't really exist in nyc until about 20 years ago, so it
might be more believable if you changed the gang member's affiliation (Latin
Kings maybe? I think they were around then). Also, no one says "waxed his
ass", it makes you sound super corny. Keep at it though, eventually you'll
nail that hard-boiled detective thing you're going for :)

~~~
RaceWon
I know, you're right; it was complete BullShit, and the reason he didn't kill
me Was Not because I matter of Factly told him "I don't give a fuck" when he
screamed "I'm gonna kill you" while pointing make believe gun at me.

But whatever... you're the big expert on my life (and phrases racers say and
the timeline of the arrival of gangs in NYC,) and have certainly mixed with
more dangerous people than I have. ;)

And yep, for sure nobody ever got shot for no real fucking reason in the city
back then, nor in Mexico nowadays. Crime is made up by Fox News.. and gangs--
they don't exist.

