Every website seems to want ratings; Products I have purchased; hikes completed; campgrounds we have stayed at. But should everyone expect five stars? Have you been told: “If you can’t give us five stars, talk to me first”?
During one perfectly pleasant hike with clear skies, ideal temperature, and colorful foliage, I discerned a rating system.
How could I rate that perfectly pleasant hike the same as the Garden of the Gods Trail in Illinois or a hike among the Hoodoos in Bryce Canyon? Those hikes were worth going far out my way to experience and even repeat again. These were truly five star hikes. These hikes offered something rare and above the expected.
Perfectly pleasant hikes with some nice views and good exercise without unexpected obstacles merit a perfectly pleasant four stars. Nothing wrong with these walks in the woods, but not celebrity status hikes either. I would hope that most of my walks in the woods would rate four stars.
Fortunately I have yet to experience a one star hike. This would be a path so dangerous and lacking in vistas that a one star rating would warn others to stay away. I have read reviews of such places and gone elsewhere. Could not find the trailhead. Mud everywhere. No trail. Next to sewer dump station. Trail obliterated by landslide.
We have completed a two star hike. At the end of a long rutted road, it started out perfectly pleasant dirt path in the middle of a wider swath that may have been mown much earlier this year. Thus the lack of trail markers did not deter us. It passed near a charming pond where a family fished. Gradually the path became less and less clear. We were nearly two thirds the way around when the mowing had not been as recent. Perhaps a pass had been quickly made two years ago as saplings had sprouted beside the path. With GPS and a keen eye for the effect of previous hikers we completed the loop after climbing over a few fallen trees and slogging through the knee high weeds.
This week we also completed a three star hike. No shade. Barbed wire along one side of the broad paved walkway and a rough rocky slope on the other. Since cars and trucks are normally blocked from entering this path provides a good place for exercise.
In the future I anticipate awarding many more four stars to items I purchase and places where we camp to let truly special instances have a place to shine above the others. Four stars would represent good value and solid craftsmanship, a safe journey with nice views, a nice meal with attentive service. Four stars meets everything I expected and hoped for.
Five stars is an artistic flourish that I would show others, a place that is so uniquely special I would encourage others to drive out of their way to visit, a meal with a presentation that merits posting a photograph or perhaps spontaneous entertainment. Five stars merits a standing ovation and cheering.
How do you leave room to acknowledge those instances that go above and beyond what is expected? Please comment below.