Drugs and Heavy Drinking on and along the AT

[Ladytrekker]

I mostly hike on the FT so that is usually not an issue and I like to play as much as anybody its not that I have such an issue with it that I am going to be outraged or cause a scene thats not going to happen. Its like camping and idiots in the campground that keep you up all night its just a hassle. And people that are high can sometimes be unpredictable as a woman thats a red flag.

[BFI]

When I was on the trail and when the shelter or road side “trail magic party” got weird I moved on and simply avoided the bad craziness. The most problems I had were at hostels, Standing Bear, and Uncle Johnny’s. Uncle Johnny’s was quickly brought under control thanks to the management. A fellow hiker also had a terrible experience at the High Mt Haven ,& it’s easy to say they should have moved on but when the drinking starts late and the bed rooms are invaded by drunks at 2:00AM not much can be done but endure or call the police.

[Hairbear]

its just a plant ive smoked since i was 12.here are some of the problems with public opinion.they do drugs---it is possible to do just 1 kind why is it always plural.Its because society puts stereotypes onto people quickly as a way of recognition of self superiority.you know the way you feel when you see poor people,homeless people,people of a different race,color, creed,people using food stamps at the store,unemployed,less educated,wrong blood lines,sexual orientation,the list could go on forever.the only way to stop it is to realize that you need to humble yourselves to see a different view,the real view noone is superior and the best way to reach that humility is to realize every step you take on any trail is because we are the decendants of people who stole the very land your standing on from its real owner the native people.

[10-K]

You haven't seen anything until you spend the night of July 4th at the Doyle.

Insane.

[Hairbear]

some of the bad effects of smoking are if you smoke long enough the hinges rust off the door to your mind making it very hard to close,and the stick will fall out of your a..if you were around me you would not know i was a smoker because you would not see me do it. i respect the right of all. i guess it comes from the humility thing.do some people hate the sight of weed,but will pull out a racist or sexist comment at will and never know they were being offensive to others.its how smokers feel they just dont realize because it is a regular part of their life.

[DogPaw]

some of the bad effects of smoking are if you smoke long enough the hinges rust off the door to your mind making it very hard to close,and the stick will fall out of your a..if you were around me you would not know i was a smoker because you would not see me do it. i respect the right of all. i guess it comes from the humility thing.do some people hate the sight of weed,but will pull out a racist or sexist comment at will and never know they were being offensive to others.its how smokers feel they just dont realize because it is a regular part of their life.

You seem to have described the personality of everyone on /b/.

[OzJacko]

I don't smoke (anything) and I rarely drink.
But the social side of the AT is a large part of what I am coming for.
I intend to drink more than normal, and I expect to sit around in groups where a lot gets smoked.
I hope to sit up wind of the smoke and will move well away from cigars in particular as they do nauseate me.
I just want to avoid missing out on good companionship because of a lack of consideration in confined areas.
BUT I will move to my tent not bitch on about it.

[atmilkman]

Fum what i gadder dares gonna be a lot of hugs and dreavy hinking on the tail. trale. trail. And, from what I hear there's going to be a lot of the discovering of the meaning of life. And, from what I hear either one can be partaken in or avoided. Your choice.

[Rain Man]

I heard this one guy who hiked the PCT the same year as me say latter, that everyone uses on the trail. I had a hard time not bursting out laughing. There is the old saying, Birds of a feather flock together..

I have a somewhat similar reaction to the title of this thread: "Drugs AND Heavy Drinking." Alcohol is a drug. I have a hard time not bursting out laughing when those whose drug of choice is alcohol speak of other forms of drugs as if they themselves weren't "doing" drugs. Maybe it's the "birds of a feather" thing that lets drinkers reinforce each other's faulty thinking.

Notice, nothing said about illegal one way or the other.

RainMan

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[Suckerfish]

Oh my god, half of you people need to relax. Hike your own hike and let others around you, hike theres. If someone takes a fith or pint of jim beam with them on trail and they want to relax at the end of a long day of hiking, so be it, that's their hike. If someone packs a bag of weed and they want to smoke at the end of a long day of hiking so be it. If someone wants to relax at the end of the day by reading, writing in their journal, or talking to others so be it.

Hike your own hike. I have seen tons of people on trail smoking weed and drinking after a long days hike and I have never seen someone get confrontational.

Just relax, if you don't like those around you in a shelter, pack up your gear and camp down the road or set up your tent away from the shelter.

[Rasty]

Oh my god, half of you people need to relax. Hike your own hike and let others around you, hike theres. If someone takes a fith or pint of jim beam with them on trail and they want to relax at the end of a long day of hiking, so be it, that's their hike. If someone packs a bag of weed and they want to smoke at the end of a long day of hiking so be it. If someone wants to relax at the end of the day by reading, writing in their journal, or talking to others so be it.

Hike your own hike. I have seen tons of people on trail smoking weed and drinking after a long days hike and I have never seen someone get confrontational.

Just relax, if you don't like those around you in a shelter, pack up your gear and camp down the road or set up your tent away from the shelter.

So someone else's fake right to smoke weed at a shelter has a higher value than my right to be at a shelter? Why would I have to leave?

[fredmugs]

Oh my god, half of you people need to relax. Hike your own hike and let others around you, hike theres. If someone takes a fith or pint of jim beam with them on trail and they want to relax at the end of a long day of hiking, so be it, that's their hike. If someone packs a bag of weed and they want to smoke at the end of a long day of hiking so be it. If someone wants to relax at the end of the day by reading, writing in their journal, or talking to others so be it.

Hike your own hike. I have seen tons of people on trail smoking weed and drinking after a long days hike and I have never seen someone get confrontational.

Just relax, if you don't like those around you in a shelter, pack up your gear and camp down the road or set up your tent away from the shelter.

How much exposure would I need to come up positive on a drug test? I have a high level security clearance with mandatory, almost monthly, drug testing. I don't know the answer and I don't want to find out.

[Nar Nar]

I dont think they would have hiked from ny to me if they didnt enjoy backpacking.live and let live.

Perhaps I wasn't clear in my post, the weekenders were the ones that were smoking all of the weed. The section hiker has a little bit but was clearly out there for the experience, not the drugs.

[Miami Joe]

If you want solitude,there are plenty of places to find it,but hiking the at is partly a social experience,snd that means we all hsve to find a way to get along.that has never been difficult on the trail,only here.

There are plenty of places to find solitude but the trail isn't one of them...Gotcha. It's all part of the social experience...Gotcha. We have to find a way to get along...Right. Here's an idea. Pack a tent and take your party down the trail. No one should have to "find a way to get along" with a user of illegal drugs. Get a life.

[Berserker]

Then there was the night I really wanted a shelter and some long trail hikers had their tents all set up in the shelter and i started to get all pissy about it.

That has to be one of the more idiotic phenomena I have seen out on the AT. One time I came up on some fellows at a shelter in GA getting ready to set up their tents inside. I told them how the mice were usually bad in there, and perhaps they might consider chewing some holes in the tents. The fellas promptly ran out and set up out in the woods. Ha ha ha...not sure if that one would work again, but there's something to try out on the "shelter tenters" to see if you can chase them out of the shelter. Oh yeah, and later that night I was hanging in the shelter before going to sleep (in my tent, which was outside of the shelter), and a mouse was getting into someone's pack that had been hung in the shelter. So hey, I wasn't totally pulling stuff out of my rear.

[Berserker]

Just an FYI... you have started channeling JAK...

I'm surprised no one else commented or acknowledged this comment, so I will. That there is some funny stuff.

[hikerboy57]

There are plenty of places to find solitude but the trail isn't one of them...Gotcha. It's all part of the social experience...Gotcha. We have to find a way to get along...Right. Here's an idea. Pack a tent and take your party down the trail. No one should have to "find a way to get along" with a user of illegal drugid like tos. Get a life.

"youre making a big assumption.you dont know me.simply stated the drug issue is much bigger here than on the trail.
Dont be so quick to throw stones.you may hit yourself in the a**.

[hikerboy57]

There are plenty of places to find solitude but the trail isn't one of them...Gotcha. It's all part of the social experience...Gotcha. We have to find a way to get along...Right. Here's an idea. Pack a tent and take your party down the trail. No one should have to "find a way to get along" with a user of illegal drugs. Get a life.

to explain, nowhere in this thread have i condoned drug use.first off, i prefer tent to shelter, and what i do away from the shelter is my own business. secondly, if i came to a site where others were engaging in activities i didnt want to participate in, i would simply move on down the trail and set up away from the "action", advice you can use yourself. your post was so presumptive, and frankly, ill informed, i felt necessary to re-respond.
also as far as drugs go, prescription drugs are much more widely abused than your illicit drugs, and as rain man said, alcohol is also a drug.your intolerance by the way is out of place anywhere in society.

[rocketsocks]

Just an FYI... you have started channeling JAK...

I miss JAK's post...A Lot!

JAK's come back, we need Levity, a voice of reason, hell.... just some well thought out thoughts!

[DogPaw]

I miss JAK's post...A Lot!

JAK's come back, we need Levity, a voice of reason, hell.... just some well thought out thoughts!

I have that bad feeling where I represent none of these things. Alas, tis' the fate of the newly initiated.