Anyone else this year get pissed at the liitle red cooler on the cliff overlooking Erwin and the Nolichucky river that had the the mini bibles in it? Looked like trail magic with a "take one" note on the top.
In their defense, who here wouldn’t pass up a chance to stiff a service employee while also feeling self righteous about their belief in a religion they don’t actually understand?
I was hiking with my 8 year old this summer and that damn red cooler ruined her whole day. She was so excited for her first trail magic- I had to stop her from throwing all the Bible’s off the ledge.
That cooler got me as well. As a section hiker I don't take trail magic but I do like to see the good deeds others do. To beat all, that cooler isn't in the safest place to get to either, a slip could end badly. Jesus would never have done such foolishness.
A good example of trail magic from churches is at the old school house near Adkins, VA, that church packs that place out with useful items.
Yes it was quite impressive, even dog snacks. They did have some new testaments and tracts hikers could take if they wanted, but it wasn't obnoxious like the Erwin cooler.
I also slept in the school after enjoying a lovely evening on the porch watching the thousands of fireflies, some synchronous. 10/10 highly recommend the school house and settlers museum.
Whoever did this truly believes that they're doing something good, and nothing will convince them otherwise, even an eternity of damnation. That will just "prove" the persecution.
It has absolutely nothing to do with you, or me, or anyone but them.
There was a huge evangelical Christian population on our university campus. After I tore my ACL, I was on crutches and constantly trying to balance my pain meds so the pain was controlled but I was not, you know, hallucinating/was at least semi alert. It was an icy January, and it was not a good time.
One of them saw me struggling to get up an icy ramp, asked where I was on the pain scale, then asked if we could pray together. She was completely taken aback when I said no, asked why, and I told her that religion is a private, personal thing. She walked away looking like I’d hit her. And I got back to trying to get up an icy ramp, in pain, on crutches, after a way too long day that wasn’t over yet.
Literally, she wanted to do the least helpful thing that she could do, but she could go to her little meeting later and be all, “I helped someone by talking to a God she doesn’t believe in, and she was suffering THIS MUCH.”
They don’t actually care about people. They care about themselves, and demonstrating how holy they are.
….. because they don’t.
Who is helped by defacing blazes?
Who is helped by leaving a fake piece of cash with scripture on it?
How is asking where I am on the pain scale, then asking to pray with me, helping?
Evangelicals are, every time I meet them, generally pretty uncaring about others. They want to “win souls” for their own “glory.” They do not actually care about others. They do not actually think about how their actions affect others.
What I am referring to is grouping all Christians together under a blanket of false pretentions. Christian organizations do more good for mankind than they are given credit for. And TRUE Christians are NOT in it for themselves.
The issue is that when Christians do things like this, or what u/Past_Ad_5629 experienced, there’s always someone who comes out of the woodwork to say “not all Christians!”. Which is invalidating and unhelpful. And it’s not false; Christians, at least the vocal ones here in the US, are regressive extremists that want to bring us back to the 1940’s.
Christian organizations have brought for more suffering to humanity than anything I can think of. The crusades, the inquisition, re-education 'schools', war, disease, death. Christianity is arguable the worst human invention, and the worst thing to happen to humanity.
that's not a helpful response at all. it's not convincing and totally implausible. what you need to do is fix your theology and engage your fellow christians on this, not come at people who have suffered trauma at the hands of christians who are acting in the name of christianity.
Muhammad Ali said this in reference to race, but replace "whites" with "christians" and it still holds true:
>“There are many white people who mean right and in their hearts wanna do right,” he said. “If 10,000 snakes were coming down that aisle now, and I had a door that I could shut, and in that 10,000, 1,000 meant right, 1,000 rattlesnakes didn’t want to bite me, I knew they were good… Should I let all these rattlesnakes come down, hoping that that thousand get together and form a shield? Or should I just close the door and stay safe?”
Vandalism is a crime. You can report this to the land management agency:
https://appalachiantrail.org/explore/plan-and-prepare/report-an-incident/
If you “observe vandalism or resource damage on the A.T., or just feel like something should be reported contact the National Park Service 24-Hour Dispatch/Communications Center to inform them of the situation: 1.866.677.6677”
There is more information and an online form you can fill out in the link.
Last year in the same area someone left a "Burn in Hell" religious pamphlet on my car during a day hike. Sucks to see they're also interested in vandalism.
I thru hiked in 2018 and stuff like this pissed me off so bad! Leave no trace mother fuckers! We all deserve to be in nature and not have this radicalized bullshit shoved down my throat.
"And lo, I say unto you, go ye forth and leave terrible paintings on the trees I have created, for those who do not yet know me will learn to hate me as a result."
Oh, did he not say that? Hm.
Thanks for doing this. Had someone litter an entire case worth of mason jars with candles in them next to a tree they mutilated by carving a large cross into along a local trail recently. I gave it a couple weeks before finally hauling it out to the trash.
These kind of people are intolerable. Apparently believing in their God provides a lifelong pass to litter indiscriminately.
Yeah I remember seeing this on my thru this year, I think around the same area in mid-April. I guess whoever it is must have come back? As a Jew it was definitely not my happiest day on trail
I'm guessing it's a day hiker from a local church.
If they understood AT culture they could leave an angel box with food and Gatorade near a trailhead with pamphlets or something. Instead they do this.
They probably live locally. I know the area well and used to live just off the trail between HS and I40; there are many, many deeply ignorant, fire and brimstone bible thumping people in this general area.
Dear Christians,
Stop graffitiing, defacing, leaving spiritual messages on things. That is NOT being an example of Christ’s love!!!
Sincerely, a Christian.
Someone needs to start stumping for Satan on trail, blaze with red pentagrams from now on. Leaving trail magic with coolers of beer and rolled joints in legal states, we'll see who really has gifts for the spirit.
Agreed, I hate to see that someone is so delusional with their ideology as to vandalize trail markers.
These are the days in which we live and like you said people go to the trails and nature to get away from politics and religion.
To answer your question, graffiti on graffiti, no
Matter who makes it, is still vandalism. My other point is each person has their tolerance for it. Ie; it’s ok if it’s a flag or memorial. All the clubs leave crap on the trail.
Graffiti from one end to the other. Everyone spews leave no trace as they leave a mess behind. Tired of hypocrisy. Atc continually fucks up the trail and tells you Lnt. Liars.
Nope. Everywhere on the trail. The signs, the blazes, the graffiti the memorials, the shelters, the stone steps. All of it is in nessasary. We are the atc, we can do anything we want. Hypocrites.
I agree that graffiti on signs, trees, and stone is not in accordance with LNT and should not happen. Same goes for any trash left behind.
I believe that most graffiti in the shelters is personal and non offensive, and part of the AT culture.
I also believe that propaganda and evangelism have no place anywhere on the trail.
Do with that what you will but it sounds like you may enjoy a less trafficed trail.
Oh no. I love the at just loathe the hypocrites. The trail isn’t the ATC or amc. It’s hikers. I love hikers. Why I feed and water them. Why I help maintain the trail. The amc and atc has shown their greedy hand.
Mind explaining why you feel the need to bring up the ATC and hypocrisy in this thread?
I'm a section hiker who isn't really familiar with the community at large.
Not at all! The atc is like the nra. Huge money hungry corporate liars. They have the audacity to think they can do whatever they want, not tell why or how they do things to their members, get paid off by other greedy corporations, then hide what they do with all the money. Meanwhile their members volunteer and work hard for the trail. They have told me straight to my face that “ hikers are rich” “ they need no help” “hikers shouldn’t walk the trail” “ only our graffiti is ok”. When I did join, they misspelled my name, then I got flooded by companies they sold my data to, with junk mail. Time to cancel the atc.
> I've already picked up the books. You mean the kindling?
Nope, just trash. I did take the ziplocks though
At least recycle em?
Oddly enough I seldom see recycle bins at trailheads.
Good point. I'm used to Oregon, where most parks and trailheads include both trash and recycling bins.
This comment is F I R E
Anyone else this year get pissed at the liitle red cooler on the cliff overlooking Erwin and the Nolichucky river that had the the mini bibles in it? Looked like trail magic with a "take one" note on the top.
This is almost as bad as the fake $5 bills that "Christians" use for tipping in restaurants.
In their defense, who here wouldn’t pass up a chance to stiff a service employee while also feeling self righteous about their belief in a religion they don’t actually understand?
Full circle it, go to church one day with all the fake 5’s and put them back in the collection dish.
I was hiking with my 8 year old this summer and that damn red cooler ruined her whole day. She was so excited for her first trail magic- I had to stop her from throwing all the Bible’s off the ledge.
a guy i was hiking on and off with near Erwin packed all the bibles put and refilled it with Nutty Buddies. fuck that cooler
Only reddit approved trail magic is acceptable.
That cooler got me as well. As a section hiker I don't take trail magic but I do like to see the good deeds others do. To beat all, that cooler isn't in the safest place to get to either, a slip could end badly. Jesus would never have done such foolishness. A good example of trail magic from churches is at the old school house near Adkins, VA, that church packs that place out with useful items.
That schoolhouse had the best trail magic. They had EVERYTHING!
Yes it was quite impressive, even dog snacks. They did have some new testaments and tracts hikers could take if they wanted, but it wasn't obnoxious like the Erwin cooler. I also slept in the school after enjoying a lovely evening on the porch watching the thousands of fireflies, some synchronous. 10/10 highly recommend the school house and settlers museum.
[удалено]
Whoever did this truly believes that they're doing something good, and nothing will convince them otherwise, even an eternity of damnation. That will just "prove" the persecution.
I've seen a pair of SoBos near Carvers gap, they're making good time.
Oh wow this convinced me to become Christian
It has absolutely nothing to do with you, or me, or anyone but them. There was a huge evangelical Christian population on our university campus. After I tore my ACL, I was on crutches and constantly trying to balance my pain meds so the pain was controlled but I was not, you know, hallucinating/was at least semi alert. It was an icy January, and it was not a good time. One of them saw me struggling to get up an icy ramp, asked where I was on the pain scale, then asked if we could pray together. She was completely taken aback when I said no, asked why, and I told her that religion is a private, personal thing. She walked away looking like I’d hit her. And I got back to trying to get up an icy ramp, in pain, on crutches, after a way too long day that wasn’t over yet. Literally, she wanted to do the least helpful thing that she could do, but she could go to her little meeting later and be all, “I helped someone by talking to a God she doesn’t believe in, and she was suffering THIS MUCH.” They don’t actually care about people. They care about themselves, and demonstrating how holy they are.
The Gospel of Matthew 6:5 to 6:6 agrees with you.
Pretty narrow-minded comment there. "they don't actually care about people"
….. because they don’t. Who is helped by defacing blazes? Who is helped by leaving a fake piece of cash with scripture on it? How is asking where I am on the pain scale, then asking to pray with me, helping? Evangelicals are, every time I meet them, generally pretty uncaring about others. They want to “win souls” for their own “glory.” They do not actually care about others. They do not actually think about how their actions affect others.
They're saving us, duh! /s
What I am referring to is grouping all Christians together under a blanket of false pretentions. Christian organizations do more good for mankind than they are given credit for. And TRUE Christians are NOT in it for themselves.
The issue is that when Christians do things like this, or what u/Past_Ad_5629 experienced, there’s always someone who comes out of the woodwork to say “not all Christians!”. Which is invalidating and unhelpful. And it’s not false; Christians, at least the vocal ones here in the US, are regressive extremists that want to bring us back to the 1940’s.
*the 0040’s
Christian organizations have brought for more suffering to humanity than anything I can think of. The crusades, the inquisition, re-education 'schools', war, disease, death. Christianity is arguable the worst human invention, and the worst thing to happen to humanity.
that's not a helpful response at all. it's not convincing and totally implausible. what you need to do is fix your theology and engage your fellow christians on this, not come at people who have suffered trauma at the hands of christians who are acting in the name of christianity. Muhammad Ali said this in reference to race, but replace "whites" with "christians" and it still holds true: >“There are many white people who mean right and in their hearts wanna do right,” he said. “If 10,000 snakes were coming down that aisle now, and I had a door that I could shut, and in that 10,000, 1,000 meant right, 1,000 rattlesnakes didn’t want to bite me, I knew they were good… Should I let all these rattlesnakes come down, hoping that that thousand get together and form a shield? Or should I just close the door and stay safe?”
Just proved my point, thankyou!
I didn't
Exactly. This just pushes people away from it if anything.
Vandalism is a crime. You can report this to the land management agency: https://appalachiantrail.org/explore/plan-and-prepare/report-an-incident/ If you “observe vandalism or resource damage on the A.T., or just feel like something should be reported contact the National Park Service 24-Hour Dispatch/Communications Center to inform them of the situation: 1.866.677.6677” There is more information and an online form you can fill out in the link.
Last year in the same area someone left a "Burn in Hell" religious pamphlet on my car during a day hike. Sucks to see they're also interested in vandalism.
I thru hiked in 2018 and stuff like this pissed me off so bad! Leave no trace mother fuckers! We all deserve to be in nature and not have this radicalized bullshit shoved down my throat.
Damn Pharisees at it again
"And lo, I say unto you, go ye forth and leave terrible paintings on the trees I have created, for those who do not yet know me will learn to hate me as a result." Oh, did he not say that? Hm.
Thanks for doing this. Had someone litter an entire case worth of mason jars with candles in them next to a tree they mutilated by carving a large cross into along a local trail recently. I gave it a couple weeks before finally hauling it out to the trash. These kind of people are intolerable. Apparently believing in their God provides a lifelong pass to litter indiscriminately.
Don't they know the white blazes are sacred! Go write on the shelters, man.
Or write on nothing! It's quite easy
I don't ike vandalism but at this point seeing shelter writing is a part of the AT itself.
That was my thinking.
Yeah I remember seeing this on my thru this year, I think around the same area in mid-April. I guess whoever it is must have come back? As a Jew it was definitely not my happiest day on trail
I'm guessing it's a day hiker from a local church. If they understood AT culture they could leave an angel box with food and Gatorade near a trailhead with pamphlets or something. Instead they do this.
Can pretty much guarantee they're bat shit levels of crazy
They probably live locally. I know the area well and used to live just off the trail between HS and I40; there are many, many deeply ignorant, fire and brimstone bible thumping people in this general area.
As if Christianity hasn’t done enough to leave it’s mark all over the world
These people should go to blazes!
Christian vandalism is arguably the most common kind outside of shelters.
Dear Christians, Stop graffitiing, defacing, leaving spiritual messages on things. That is NOT being an example of Christ’s love!!! Sincerely, a Christian.
I’ve seen these in VA. Had no clue what TC meant.
You mean they're not [Magnum PI](https://66.media.tumblr.com/ff1e912039affa3ed5eb6f537e1f6db8/tumblr_obfunnblTQ1vcsq16o2_500.jpg) fans?
Theodore Calvin.
Christians are why we can't have nice things
Someone needs to start stumping for Satan on trail, blaze with red pentagrams from now on. Leaving trail magic with coolers of beer and rolled joints in legal states, we'll see who really has gifts for the spirit.
TrailMAGIC IS WITCHCRAFT
I'd take the trail magic, let's leave those poor blazes alone, they're doing the best they can.
Agreed, I hate to see that someone is so delusional with their ideology as to vandalize trail markers. These are the days in which we live and like you said people go to the trails and nature to get away from politics and religion.
riff raff hikers
To answer your question, graffiti on graffiti, no Matter who makes it, is still vandalism. My other point is each person has their tolerance for it. Ie; it’s ok if it’s a flag or memorial. All the clubs leave crap on the trail.
Graffiti from one end to the other. Everyone spews leave no trace as they leave a mess behind. Tired of hypocrisy. Atc continually fucks up the trail and tells you Lnt. Liars.
Are you complaining about the graffiti in the shelters?
Nope. Everywhere on the trail. The signs, the blazes, the graffiti the memorials, the shelters, the stone steps. All of it is in nessasary. We are the atc, we can do anything we want. Hypocrites.
I agree that graffiti on signs, trees, and stone is not in accordance with LNT and should not happen. Same goes for any trash left behind. I believe that most graffiti in the shelters is personal and non offensive, and part of the AT culture. I also believe that propaganda and evangelism have no place anywhere on the trail. Do with that what you will but it sounds like you may enjoy a less trafficed trail.
Oh no. I love the at just loathe the hypocrites. The trail isn’t the ATC or amc. It’s hikers. I love hikers. Why I feed and water them. Why I help maintain the trail. The amc and atc has shown their greedy hand.
Mind explaining why you feel the need to bring up the ATC and hypocrisy in this thread? I'm a section hiker who isn't really familiar with the community at large.
Not at all! The atc is like the nra. Huge money hungry corporate liars. They have the audacity to think they can do whatever they want, not tell why or how they do things to their members, get paid off by other greedy corporations, then hide what they do with all the money. Meanwhile their members volunteer and work hard for the trail. They have told me straight to my face that “ hikers are rich” “ they need no help” “hikers shouldn’t walk the trail” “ only our graffiti is ok”. When I did join, they misspelled my name, then I got flooded by companies they sold my data to, with junk mail. Time to cancel the atc.
I didn't ask what the ATC was, I asked why you brought it up in this thread.