the stops they designated

[Fiolak]

The context is: Snyder said that the stops they designated on Mt. Tam in 1965 were “... like playing with the being of the mountain, nothing fancy about it.”

Does "the stops" mean the pilgrim stations on Mt. Tam? If so, were they already there when Snyder circumambulated Mt. Tam? And what Snyder did was just marked the locations on the map? I don't know. I cannot understand what the "designated" exactly means here.

If I could get any help from you, I would be vary grateful! Thank you!

source: Essay | Circumambulating Mt. Tam in COVID Times - Bay Nature

 

[owlman5]

Snyder and the others apparently chose some locations on Mt. Tam when they first walked around it in 1965. They decided that these locations would be pilgrim stations. This definition for the verb designate from our dictionary may be helpful:

[ ~ + obj] to mark or point out;
specify:He designated the points where we would meet.

Did Snyder and the others mark these locations on a map? I don't know for sure, but it seems likely to me that they did. If they didn't, it would probably have been difficult for them or anybody else to find the same locations in the future.

 

[Roxxxannne]

At least some of the spots that Snyder et al. designated as pilgrim stations were probably landmarks that were already marked on maps of Mt. Tamalpais in 1965; for instance, Inspiration Point and the fire lookout on East Peak (which Gary Snyder would have liked because he wrote a couple of poems about a fire lookout in, I think, the Sierra). Snyder, Whalen, and Ginsberg walked on parts of several trails with the result that they circumambulated the mountain. Snyder describes the route in his poem ''The Circumambulation of Mt. Tamalpais," where the stations are listed and their locations described. I expect that the pilgrim stations were not designated as such before Snyder, Ginsberg, and Whalen made their circumambulation. If any American would have designated pilgrim stations on Mt. Tamalpais, it would have been one (and to my mind, if it had been only one, that one would have been Snyder) or all three of them.

'Designated' might mean that they described them to their friends, but as owlman5 says, it would be difficult to explain their locations to friends without having a map or Snyder's poem. The circumambulation has been a regular event by 1972, and was (is?) conducted 'officially' four times a year.

A trail on Mt. Tamalpais is now called the CircumTam Poets' Trail. There's more about it here.

 

[Fiolak]

Snyder and the others apparently chose some locations on Mt. Tam when they first walked around it in 1965. They decided that these locations would be pilgrim stations. This definition for the verb designate from our dictionary may be helpful:

[ ~ + obj] to mark or point out;
specify:He designated the points where we would meet.

Did Snyder and the others mark these locations on a map? I don't know for sure, but it seems likely to me that they did. If they didn't, it would probably have been difficult for them or anybody else to find the same locations in the future.

Your words really make sense! Thanks soooo~ much!

 

[Fiolak]

At least some of the spots that Snyder et al. designated as pilgrim stations were probably landmarks that were already marked on maps of Mt. Tamalpais in 1965; for instance, Inspiration Point and the fire lookout on East Peak (which Gary Snyder would have liked because he wrote a couple of poems about a fire lookout in, I think, the Sierra). Snyder, Whalen, and Ginsberg walked on parts of several trails with the result that they circumambulated the mountain. Snyder describes the route in his poem ''The Circumambulation of Mt. Tamalpais," where the stations are listed and their locations described. I expect that the pilgrim stations were not designated as such before Snyder, Ginsberg, and Whalen made their circumambulation. If any American would have designated pilgrim stations on Mt. Tamalpais, it would have been one (and to my mind, if it had been only one, that one would have been Snyder) or all three of them.

'Designated' might mean that they described them to their friends, but as owlman5 says, it would be difficult to explain their locations to friends without having a map or Snyder's poem. The circumambulation has been a regular event by 1972, and was (is?) conducted 'officially' four times a year.

A trail on Mt. Tamalpais is now called the CircumTam Poets' Trail. There's more about it here.

A very detailed and helpful explanation! And the link is awesome! Thanks a lot!