What's "hiker trash" mean and why is it positive?

[dreamhiker]

[quote=Preacher Dude]You might be "hiker trash" if you always keep a fully loaded pack in your vehicle ....just in case that spontaneous urge hits to go to the woods.

Sounds like me I keep two packs a day pack and backpacking pack plus trekking poles,boots,trail maps and power bars in my trunk at all times. I'm looking forward to a spontaneous urge to hit the woods. Or if the wife tosses me out of the house if she keeps finding hiking books and maps all over the house LOL
DreamHiker

[Tin Man]

Sounds like me I keep two packs a day pack and backpacking pack plus trekking poles,boots,trail maps and power bars in my trunk at all times. I'm looking forward to a spontaneous urge to hit the woods. Or if the wife tosses me out of the house if she keeps finding hiking books and maps all over the house LOL
DreamHiker

Hmmm. Looks like I need to go to hiker trash school for remedial training - I don't carry food and I have to waste time to stop and buy some!

[Tha Wookie]

Wookie, I think you and I have travelled in different circles, internationally speaking. I think the US, including all of its shortcomings, is pretty much the best place to live in the world. I don't base my opinion on anything but my experiences. I am sure your opinions are based on your experiences. I am sure there are many things we wholeheartedly agree on (the trail system thing) and probably more that we don't.

Ed, I am with you on the permanent rez thing. Still working on the alaskan log cabin thing, but chances are slim.

Regards to both of ya.

thanks for the cool headed response. Considering most (but not all) of the other countries I've visited are in the tropics, I'd agree that we do have different subjective experiences.

Of course, a couple in this thread played the patriot card and tried to make it sound I don't love America or that I'd might enjoy better another place.

When in fact, all I was repsonding to was the statement you made that read "Only in America..." can be be jobless, hairy, etc. Let me ask you -Did you ever visit France?

Much Respect,

nate

[the goat]

Let me ask you -Did you ever visit France?

wookie, i know this question ain't for me, but i have been to france & have friends living there, (and also french friends living here). the unemployment rate among people our age is hovering around 25%.....i don't know a/b you, but i'd rather choose to be jobless.

anyways, i realize now the point you were trying to make, but you did lose me when you talked a/b how "UNfree" america is compared to other places. this is probably what people take exception with, considering that comparitively, we are more free than any other nation that's ever existed on this earth.....including, and especially present-day france.

i just returned from an extended euro-trip last month (italy mostly). love to visit it, but would never want to be there permanently.

[Tha Wookie]

wookie, i know this question ain't for me, but i have been to france & have friends living there, (and also french friends living here). the unemployment rate among people our age is hovering around 25%.....i don't know a/b you, but i'd rather choose to be jobless.

anyways, i realize now the point you were trying to make, but you did lose me when you talked a/b how "UNfree" america is compared to other places. this is probably what people take exception with, considering that comparitively, we are more free than any other nation that's ever existed on this earth.....including, and especially present-day france.

i just returned from an extended euro-trip last month (italy mostly). love to visit it, but would never want to be there permanently.

I agree, I only want to live permanently in the US or its territories. If I was born Brazilian or Norwegian, I might have a different perspective -but I wasn't, and this is what I know and love. But I bet people born in those places have different definitions of what "freedom" is. Kind of ironic, when you think about it -a flag of Freedom over a country built on genocide and slavery. Freedom for whom?

Did you know that until the 70's it was federally illegal for Native Americans to hold a sweatlodge, and they were tracked by the FBI for doing so? just this year, the government finally admited to listening to our phone converstations? There are over 50 "eye in the sky" cameras in Athens GA that constantly watch and record everything that moves on the sidewalks, alleys, courtyards, and storefronts?

We're not free. That's like saying we're weightless. We might have a relatively higher degree of freedom than Iraq or Kosovo, but when you boil it down past the freedom to mutliply and shop, we're not really the saints we like to see in the mirror sometimes. I'm not down on what America is, just what America is sold to be. And the fact that America's image has to be contantly sold and re-sold should tell us something -that the way we live isn't really free. Yes, we have lost a number of good men to live this way, but we have killed a good many more. When the nationalism fades away from memory, we see that we aren't the only ones living and dying for freedom all over the world.

[bfitz]

You can be free! All you have to do is produce nothing and consume nothing.

[Nightwalker]

You might be "hiker trash" if you always keep a fully loaded pack in your vehicle ....just in case that spontaneous urge hits to go to the woods.

Well, maybe un-stuff the sleeping bag...

[Nightwalker]

By the way, if you hike the AT you will meet plenty of people from other countries who are not persecuted in thos countries for being hiker trash.

BTW, I'm not persecuted in this country for being HT, but a number of other hikers do see me as purty weird. Especially the "one-year-wonder" types.

[Nightwalker]

You know you are hiker trash when the guy at the outfitters asks your advice on gear.

Or when the outfitter thanks you for helping a customer on a question that he has no clue on. (Magnetic declination, in this case.)

[1Pint]

BTW, I'm not persecuted in this country for being HT, but a number of other hikers do see me as purty weird. Especially the "one-year-wonder" types.

What's a one-year-wonder? Someone who does the AT and then never hikes again?

[Rain Man]

I agree, I only want to live permanently in the US or its territories. If I was born Brazilian or Norwegian, I might have a different perspective -but I wasn't, and this is what I know and love. ...

We're not free. That's like saying we're weightless. ... When the nationalism fades away from memory, we see that we aren't the only ones living and dying for freedom all over the world.

Wow, Wookie, what a powerful post!

RainMan

.

[hammock engineer]

Hmmm. Looks like I need to go to hiker trash school for remedial training - I don't carry food and I have to waste time to stop and buy some!

I might have to upgrade mine to. I only have shoes, gaitors, trekking poles, pack for those last minute day hikes. I would also have to waste time packing the hammock and getting food for an overnight.

[leeki pole]

[quote=Tha Wookie] If I was born Brazilian


.....then you'd be Wookienaldo and a awesome soccer player

all the best to you, Nate...Keith

[Mags]

i just returned from an extended euro-trip last month (italy mostly). love to visit it, but would never want to be there permanently.

Hey..what part of Italy? Finally went there September and visited some off the beaten path places where tourists don't go.(in Ciociaria) Was not long enough of a trip! Next time, hope to go to the really deep south and look up another branch of the family.

Back to our poltical discussion. :-)

[the goat]

Hey..what part of Italy? Finally went there September and visited some off the beaten path places where tourists don't go.(in Ciociaria) Was not long enough of a trip! Next time, hope to go to the really deep south and look up another branch of the family.

Back to our poltical discussion. :-)

yeah, no matter how long you stay, it never seems long enough. this was my second trip. (my first was a while ago, and covered much of the country.)
this trip was rome, venice (had to see it once, missed it on my first trip), parma, florence (my favorite), and back to rome for a while. didn't really get to many off the beated path places this time...that is the best while traveling italy.
the deep south is beautiful, you'll love it. sicilia is very enjoyable, if you get the chance.... siricusa is also one of my favorites.

[Nightwalker]

What's a one-year-wonder? Someone who does the AT and then never hikes again?

Or beforehand, either.

I'm having to deal with the fact that my brain damage from those @#$%&^ strokes has caused personality changes that makes me stand out, even amongst my "peers." (Thanks for that, Swooft.)

Crap like that is why I live out there as much as I can, at least when there's money in the budget.

It makes me really grateful for guys like Sly, Baltimore Jack, Lone Wolf, RainMan and others. They can't help but tell that I'm "odd", but they treat me just like everyone else. That's class.

I think that I have another three definitions for this thread: (1) Someone who isn't really comfortable unless they're "out there.", on some trail or another. (2) Someone who hikes 12 months a year, because they can't stand to do otherwise. (3) Someone who talks about hiking when they're not hiking, even to those who plainly think that it's demented to want to be out there so much.

I'm covered in chiggers, insect bites, ivy rashes, and I'm just tired. I can't wait for the stoopid blood tests to come back (Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever or Lyme Disease are suspected) so I can go out again.

[Seeker]

You might be "hiker trash" if you are certain that somewhere in the Bible it says ....."and on the eighth day, God created duct tape"

you mean it might not be? that can't be right... it's gotta be in there somewhere... up near the front, after that part where he gave adam a hiking partner... but before they violated the LNT policy...

[Frolicking Dinosaurs]

You boys have it all wrong - the duct tape was created before everything else. What do you think is holding this world together?

[Amigi'sLastStand]

you mean it might not be? that can't be right... it's gotta be in there somewhere... up near the front, after that part where he gave adam a hiking partner... but before they violated the LNT policy...

This is one of the funniest posts I've read here. It told me 5 mins to be able to type again. Then again I needed to calm down after Osloando got done.
There's no need to thank anyone for providing you the freedom you enjoy. None at all. While I rarely agree with the current admin, I dont need America "sold" to me. I fought for it, I lost friends for it, and I taste it everday, both the bitter and the sweet. No chinese police here to monitor your responses, so it cant be that bad. Oh yeah, in France, they dont need a warrant to listen to your phone calls. There wouldnt even be a debate about it. Here, there is and justice will have her day.
God bless.

[Nightwalker]

I always felt "Hiker trash" is in the same category as "ski bum" or "river rat". A person who makes hiking a lifestyle as much as a hobby. And just like a ski bum or a river rat, hiker trash are not athletes. We may become athletic because of what we do..but that is happen stance. I see many atheletes who happen to be in the outdoors...hiker trash happens to be outdoor people who get athletic.

The first guy that I've ever seen define it in a way that I could buy into.

I don't consider myself 'hiker trash'.

No problem.

Man, you're readin' my mail on that one.

I never thought I qualified as 'hiker trash'. Guess I'll have to give it some more thought.

I always thought you were in the club.

[B]Sounds like me I keep two packs a day pack and backpacking pack plus trekking poles,boots,trail maps and power bars in my trunk at all times. I'm looking forward to a spontaneous urge to hit the woods. Or if the wife tosses me out of the house if she keeps finding hiking books and maps all over the house LOL
DreamHiker

It's easier than carrying it in all the time.