i have quite a few miles on my back but a couple of weeks ago i got my first taste of the AT. and one thing that i noticed was that everyone seemed to have a nip of something! at night flasks would be passed around in order to wind down. in the morning flasks would be brought out again to give a little boost for the day. everyone had something but me. i'm more curious than anything else. is this the typical thru-hiker experience?
i thought that maybe it was an AT thing since the AT is a social creature, but then i watched a documentary on the CDT. i don't remember the name but it involved a british duo - one of them went by the name cookie. either way, they carried entire .750 and full liter bottles with them the entire way!
so maybe its a long distance hiking thing?
don't people worry about getting fined for drinking in public or doing so on public lands?
is this a quirk of long distance backpacking that i had no clue about and i'm missing out on?
what makes it so attractive?