Death of backpacking?

[rocketsocks]

While the title of the article says dying, I took it to read changing as I progressed though. Over the last couple of years I've noticed many who come to the trail do so as bus riding, bring a bag lunch, day hikers. I think the activity ebbs and flows, which one were in now I haven't a clue. But seeing other hikers in the dead of winter this past year was not what I expected at all, and there were a lot. When I hiked back in the 80's the trail was desolate, you were lucky to see another during the week. Coarse I wasn't a trail rat back then either, just a guy who like to go hiking.

alrighty, I just read it again. I think it is very well written, it's a screed of sorts, an opinion piece. Not all articles need stats to make their point, this article was asking the reader to look deeper I think, stats can confuse at times and draw the attention away from what is being said. though I could see how some would be miffed at this.

The adrenalized relationship with the natural world is also an experience of human conquest – the peak-bagger's pathology. Ironically, it's not much different from the benighted mindset of corporate accountancy: How many cliffs base-jumped? How many extreme trails conquered? Faster, more. And always the adrenalin payoff Casimiro perceives – not dissimilar to the monetary payoff chased by capitalists.

I get that.

[Mobius]

https://irma.nps.gov/Stats/SSRSRepor...lendar%20Year)

Which showed a 200k+ decline in backcountry use in 2013 vs 2000. Compare it to 1979 and the difference is nearly 700k+ more. Feel free to research more. As a side note, OVERALL overnight use (car camping, lodging such as huts) has declined by 2 million since 1979 vs 2013. Keep in mind the country's population in 1979 was 225 million. Now it is 316 million.

Also:

http://janetheactuary.blogspot.com/2013/08/is-declining-attendance-at-national.html

I wonder what impact the government shutdown (which closed national parks) had on those numbers.

[rickb]

And yet long-distance backpacking has sky rocketed.

So many ways to enjoy the outdoors and outdoor challenges these days -- and so easy for a motivated person with absolutely no experience to get into them. Who would have predicted all the interest (or even assistance) of mountain biking, Ironmans and trail races, stand up paddle boards, flat water kayaks and all the rest. Even more involved traditional pursuits like diving or technical climbing are very well exposed and easy to get into.

Small wonder some of those who would have been drawn to backpacking have found other (or multiple) passions elsewhere.

[Likeapuma]

They aren't necessarily young. Most of the newer folks I've met seem to get into (or back into) in their 20's and 30's.

I've seen this as well, myself taking a "break" from hiking for a few years.

If all this article offers is anecdotal evidence, then I'm going to counter with my own, which is my Facebook newsfeed. Someone's posting pictures of their latest backpacking adventure virtually every day on there, and most of the time it's not the people who I know from the AT or PCT, it's friends from college.

A few years ago, I don't remember a single friend posting on social media about hiking. These days, it's pretty common to see a few pictures pop up if we've had a nice weekend.

Admittedly, they tend to do just day hikes. I think a few reasons for that are cost & knowledge. One of the best aspects of hiking? It's relatively inexpensive to get into. Got an old backpack hanging around? You can enjoy a nice hike! Once you start getting into overnights, more equipment & knowledge are needed.


I actually use social media to try & get people interested. I usually post about upcoming day hikes, & have been more than happy to bring folks with me. On a personal bragging note; I've been taking my daughter hiking with me since she could hold her head up. Last week in school, when came home with artwork she made about "If I were a butterfly, I'd go with Daddy on all his hikes." Made me glad that, even at 4 years old, she's already appreciating & ENJOYING the time we spent in the woods.

[Tuckahoe]

I wonder what impact the government shutdown (which closed national parks) had on those numbers.

No impact at all. What we are seeing is a long term trend over many years well before the shutdown. I would say in the end that tne shutdown is nearly meaningless to the overall trend.

[2015 Lady Thru-Hiker]

I'm about to leave on my first long hike (40% of the AT) in a couple of weeks and my friends' responses (mid 20's to low 40's) have all been positive and a little jealous, but my interaction with them has left me with the impression that either A)It's never really occurred to them that backpacking was an option, or B) they don't really know how to extricate themselves from day to day life in the city, even if they wanted to. (A) seems to have a lot to do with, which such an inundation of marketing for commercial entertainment, awareness of other options just get lost in the noise. (B) is probably a long term life skills, cultural shift that's not limited to camping. Obviously there are those that just don't like hiking, but I don't feel like there's an active, general rejection of it...at least anecdotally in my circles.

(And, hi, first post here...)

sintixerr, my friends are supportive but can't figure out why I would want to go out into the woods for multiple days/nights carrying everything I need on my back. But then, I don't understand why someone would willingly jump out of a perfectly good plane.

Enjoy your hike!!



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Venchka]

Kids today dash from cell tower to cell tower and recharge point to recharge point. A darn shame.
If that is why more and more folks are hitting the well developed longer trails with light packs and 3 days supplies, so be it. Fill up the longer through trails.
That will mean that the meandering loops, out and back destinations, etc. will be less crowded for Geezers like me.
I'm all for that.

As for slackpacking as mentioned earlier, the same mode hit bike touring several years ago. Sag wagons and handlebar bag/credit card touring has been around for a long time. There are still a few long distance bike travelers left.
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/?o=1
The Continental Divide by bicycle is intriguing.
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?..._id=14364&v=As

Wayne
North Carolina high Country bound.

[sympathetic joy]

Kids today dash from cell tower to cell tower and recharge point to recharge point. A darn shame.

According to the data by Map Man:

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/show...d-their-nights

Thru-Hikers spent just a little less than 1/3 of the nights off trail (motels, hostels, private homes) and 2/3 of the time in shelters, hammocks, and tents.

I wonder if the need to recharge (electronically that is), update Facebook, and post pictures is a big factor in why.

[Almost There]

Gen Xers are my age +/- The distractions, for most of my peers, are called kids.

As for not getting permits, I suspect tighter regulations more than anything!

Agreed, I turn 40 this year, and with a 5 and 6 year old, a working wife, and a job of my own I can only get out for a couple weekends and one week each year these days. My 5 year old started hiking with me this past spring, and at this point he does overnight weekends of 7-10 miles a day.

I agree there are more distractions these days, but think there are still plenty of people who like to take a walk with their homes on their back..

[garlic08]

Bushwackers untie!

Dyslexics untie, too!

[Ktaadn]

I'm confused. Is backpacking dead or is the movie Wild going to flood the trails with people?

I agree that the article should have mentioned some facts to support its premise. Anecdotal gear sales hardly prove a point.

[Praha4]

so many other distractions such as social media, video games, internet, etc. that youngsters can enjoy indoors in the A/C .... would make sweaty pursuits such as backpacking less appealing to many. It's so much easier these days to thru hike the AT by watching other's youtube videos. Seriously, would be interesting if ATC had the data to publish the age profiles of each years' AT thru hike class.

[Praha4]

my wife and I have a beach vacation-house cleaning business, we do houses in South Walton County trendy beach communities like Seaside and Rosemary Beach along hwy 30-A. Playground of the upper class 1%ers. Families trying to "get away on beach vacation for quality family time". And yet we see almost all the teens and kids glued to tablets, smartphones and video games on these vacations.... the parents go to the beach and rent a beach house costing $2,000/day, and yet their kids cannot give up the addiction of social media and e-toys. They walk around the house and the beach with their faces glued to smartphones, earphones in place. I'm glad I grew up before this junk, our family beach vacations in Ocean City, MD we kids were always outdoors or at the beach.

Kids today dash from cell tower to cell tower and recharge point to recharge point. A darn shame.
If that is why more and more folks are hitting the well developed longer trails with light packs and 3 days supplies, so be it. Fill up the longer through trails.
That will mean that the meandering loops, out and back destinations, etc. will be less crowded for Geezers like me.
I'm all for that.

As for slackpacking as mentioned earlier, the same mode hit bike touring several years ago. Sag wagons and handlebar bag/credit card touring has been around for a long time. There are still a few long distance bike travelers left.
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/?o=1
The Continental Divide by bicycle is intriguing.
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?..._id=14364&v=As

Wayne
North Carolina high Country bound.

[Mags]

Long trails are a different beast from regular backpacking. A defined goal, with specific maps and resources where less research is needed in many ways than say a three day loop hike in the Whites. The lure of the large and tight social community can't be ignored either.

Regular backpacking has gone down a fair amount to be replaced by "done in a day activities".

The JMT, PCT, AT et al are more like traveling than backpacking in many ways. Call it the influence of media, people wanting to do something EXTREME (a weekend backpack? Heck no. A series of 3-5 day long backpacking trips? Heck yes!) and so on.

Put it another way, how many former thru-hikers still go on regular backpacking trips once they can't go on multi-month or even multi-week hikes?

[Sarcasm the elf]

Your link shows a slight decrease actually among youth 6-17 from 2006 to 2012 actually.
And a decrease from from 2009 - 2012 for 19-24 yo

Which was the point I believe.

Further more, NPS statistics show an overall decrease in overnight backpacking:

http://earlywarn.blogspot.com/2012/07/decline-of-backpacking.html

The link embedded in the article is no longer working, but some internet sleuthing brought up this:

https://irma.nps.gov/Stats/SSRSRepor...lendar%20Year)

Which showed a 200k+ decline in backcountry use in 2013 vs 2000. Compare it to 1979 and the difference is nearly 700k+ more. Feel free to research more. As a side note, OVERALL overnight use (car camping, lodging such as huts) has declined by 2 million since 1979 vs 2013. Keep in mind the country's population in 1979 was 225 million. Now it is 316 million.

Also:

http://janetheactuary.blogspot.com/2013/08/is-declining-attendance-at-national.html


I agree the trailrunner and similar comments were stupid but I think the overall idea is fairly sound. "Done in a day" is more popular.

The article did have a bit of sour grapes about it admittedly.

I'm a bit confused, by all reports I had heard the overall attendance at national parks has been increasing. Am I misinformed? I suppose just don't share the concern others have about day use vs overnight camping. So long as people are getting outdoors and enjoying themselves then it's still a step in the right direction.

I have always acknowledged that multi-day backpacking is a sort of fringe hobby that is only popular among a small percentage of the population. I know a lot of people who have done outward bound treks in their youth or who express an interest in going on trips with me, but to them the one outing is seen as their big adventure, something to be done to see if they really can do it. It's the rare few that get hooked on the experience and go out time and time again.

[Starchild]

I say backpacking is evolving with new light weight equipment available, not dieing, 40 lbs is no longer a required carry weight it once was and now that sub 20 lbs is easy to achieve, and very freeing, the routing and distance changes to this new style of backpacking. It is evolving away from enjoyment of backcountry camping towards enjoyment of the hike itself.

Lighter packs lead to more distance and more time spent enjoying the hiking and less time required at camp to rest and recover. Before current sub 20 lb pack weights this type of hiking was not possible for many, so it took the pack weight dropping to todays levels to allow this type of backpacking to evolve.

Also the additional food for longer distances between resupplies makes a much greater impact in terms of percent carry weight, so lighter, smaller segments would well to keep the hike more of the main focus of the enjoyment and the camping out part more of a secondary function.

I do suspect that if the sub 20 lb pack were common back then backpacking would have conformed more to the pattern we have today.

I use the sub 20 lb because that is for me the point I feel that lightness, but it would vary according to the person.

[ki0eh]

Long trails are a different beast from regular backpacking. A defined goal, with specific maps and resources where less research is needed in many ways than say a three day loop hike in the Whites. The lure of the large and tight social community can't be ignored either.

Those might be reasons for the apparent utter lack of interest in Great Eastern Trail although it's supposedly already more complete than the CDT.

[colorado_rob]

"Anecdotal evidence, I know, but it's reinforced by the experts who compile outdoor recreation statistics. Chris Doyle, executive director of the Adventure Travel Trade Association, describes "a well-known trend" in outdoor gear sales, wherein day packs take an increasing share of the pack market while technical overnight packs are a declining percentage of total sales. "The same is true for heavy, extended-trip boots versus light boots," says Doyle."

Interesting article, some of it at least, but this quote (above) sounds exactly like my own (and many, many others') modus operandi... Shun the heavy packs, go UL and start using daypacks for multi-night backpacking, simply because with modern UL gear, a daypack is plenty large enough now for this "backpacking". And of course, trail runners all the time, no matter what kind of trip. Who wears "extended-trip boots" anymore? Not many.

[rocketsocks]

Dyslexics untie, too!

...that we do.

[rocketsocks]

a final thought...

how can any article that references Colin Fletcher, Edward Abbey, and john Muir be all that bad? we could pick apart syntax, grammer and the like, but the content is pointed, relevant, and has caused a very good discussion amongst enthusiasts...priceless.

The best action we can take to keep our kind of outdoor rec alive: Go backpacking. Demonstrate it and celebrate it, "not as a mere sport or plaything excursion," as John Muir advised, "but to find the law that governs the relations subsisting between humans and nature.

Or as Abbey wrote: "We are committed, my legs and I; there is no turning back. I shoulder the pack, resume the trek, the step-by-step progress into ... an infinite regress. ... I am the tortoise."


They also read Colin Fletcher's 1960s books celebrating his epic backpacking: The Thousand Mile Summer, The Man Who Walked Through Time – about hiking the length of the Grand Canyon – and The Complete Walker, which sold 500,000 copies, "still the how-to bible on backpacking," assures Allen. Maybe they even read Walt Whitman: "Now I see the secret of the making of the best persons. It is to grow in the open air, and to eat and sleep with the earth."




these titles no longer can be found on the current local main stream book shelves, sad really, give em as gifts when you can.
plant some seeds sow others may cut them later for you, and expose a trail of wonder.