Annoying Hikers
It might be best not to use real names or real trail names but try to describe the most annoying fellow hiker you ever met on a long distance hike.
[FONT="Arial Black"][/FONT]Don't fret the petty things, &
Don't pet the sweaty things[FONT="Comic Sans MS"][/FONT][I][/I]
(I'm moxie00 on my apple-moxie on my PC)
The guys (and girls) who complain constantly about their pack weight.
There are many uncomfortable things on the AT that a hiker can do absolutely nothing about. This is not one of them. That's what makes it so annoying.
Usually a smart-alecky remark from Yours Truly along the lines of "if you had left your kitchen equipment at home you might be able to walk comfortably", but that's usually a waste of time.
I have no idea why humorless, grim people in obvious pain and distress would keep hiking. If you want all the comforts and luxuries of home...well...those are available. At home.
I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.
~John Muir
To me its the exact opposite. It's the person complaining about my pack weight. "Why are you carrying so much?" "Wouldn't you rather carry a pack like mine?" blah blah blah
Unsolicited advice drives me bananas. I try to leave others alone and would like them to do the same. I do believe that for tranquilities sake, equipment should be added to religion and politics as subjects not talked about during such gentile occasions as walking up a mountain or enjoying a sunset.
I agree totally. Here's how I suggest you handle this the next time it happens to you. Just.....Originally Posted by Topcat
gearhead talk
Hear, hear on the gearhead stuff. That was a close #2.
I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.
~John Muir
ah, at last a post on hiking topics. and even better one in which i find myself agreeing with the current majority. the only thing i would add to those offering unsolicited advice would be the minimalists who want to 'borrow' stoves, fuel, filters etc. while boasting how light their pack is.
large loud groups of adults- they seem to be louder than kids even. Such groups can be extremely difficult to pass on a narrowish trai, even at rest as they tend to plunk their packs down right where you need to put your feet, in the middle of the trail
unwilling sherpas
Isn't that called sherpa packing? E.g. allowing your fellow hikers (w/o their permission, of course) the esteemed privilege of carrying your equipment for you? How completely Lord Jim.
I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.
~John Muir
sherpa packing? nice term. seems quite appropriate.
ya know the guy who goes like this?.........
hey....how are you doing....FINE.....nice pack.......HUH......WHAT....OH ....WHATEVER. how much does it weigh? WHAT? UM.. I DUNNO.its nice ,it reminds me of bla bla bla[guy talks about gear for 3 hours,recites the campmor catalog from memory and finally crashes.]
in the morning he wakes up with one of those eye mask thingys on he sleeps with.i never knew his name but since he looked like zorro with his sleeping mask ,....i call him zero.
Irritating, to be sure.
I'm guessing that if you get a remote look in your eyes, put a weird smile on your face, and tell them that the people from the skyship ( or the voices in your head, etc.) told you that's how to pack your pack -- they just MIGHT leave a person alone!Sue
"there is no price too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself" - R. Kipling
Wow....where to begin?
In no particular order, here are a few things that would drive me nuts if I let 'em:
*Horrible trail musicians who assume everyone wants to hear them play
or sing at the end of the day
*Moochers, esp. smokers who refuse to purchase their own
*Folks who were too lazy or stupid to train their dogs properly before
the trip
*Innapropriate use of cell phones while in the woods
*People who ask overly personal questions when they've just met you,
esp. regarding one's religion, politics, income/profession, etc.
*Newbies that think they know it all after 20 miles
*Veterans that think THEY know it all after several thousand.
*Shelter hogs, the ones who spread all their stuff over three spaces and
act like they're doing you a HUGE favor when they move it
*Lightweight hikers who think they're entitled to a guaranteed spot in a
shelter because they don't have a tent or tarp
*Extreme gearheads who talk about equipment ad nauseum
*Whiners, particularly those who insist on providing daily updates on their
physical and medical afflictions
*People who are positive that you're interested in their bodily functions
*Couples that bicker in front of other hikers
*Couples that are too affectionate in front of other hikers
*New York Yankee fans
*People, usally younger males, that write filthy, nasty stuff in Trail registers
*People that trash talk other hikers in registers thinking it won't get back to
the people they're maligning
*People that bitch about Trail conditions and maintenance tho they've never
done any themselves
*Old timey hikers who constantly talk about how much better the Trail used
to be, and how much harder it was
*Hikers who assume that nobody cares if they're naked without realizing
how horrible they actually look when naked.
*Hikers who mooch water off you because they were too stupid or too
into the "lightweight" thing to carry enough of their own
*People who hog telephones in tiny little trail towns where there's only one
or two phones in the whole village.
*People who think that the fact that they are keeping an Internet journal
somehow entitles them to unlimited time on hostel and library computers
*People who borrow stuff and don't return it or pay you back
*People who borrow stuff and don't return it clean or in good condition
*People who borrow stuff
*People who don't tip in Trailtown restaurants
*People who are greedy about Trail Magic and take more than their share
*Hikers who get the "Trail God" mentality, and think that since they are hiking
for six months, everyone should treat them with awe, never mind give them
all sorts of stuff for free
*People who bitch about paying an overnight fee in extremely highly used
sites in Vermont......and then are buying six dollar beers in a pub two days
later
*People who are know-it-alls or are rude to the staff in Trail Outfitters,
especially when they've been on the trail all of three weeks
*Trail gossips and busybodies
*People who are obsessed with what other people are doing, and bitch about
them in registers, especially as regards whether they've slackpacked,
missed a section, etc.
*People who try to impress you with how fast they covered a section, or
how many miles they achieved that day
*People who talk about how easy a section was when it just beat the s***
out of you
*People with cute trail partners and are overly smug about it
*Cranky, grumpy, older hikers who should have hiked years earlier
*Spoiled, whiny, youger ones who need to wait a few years before hiking
*Phony intellectuals, who try to impress others with their erudition, choice of
reading matter, etc. Clue to someone being a jerk: If their trail name is
that of a Great Western Philosopher, especially from classical Greece, they
are usually insufferable.
*People that won't clean themselves up, even in a hostel or town
*People who wanna share your motel room but don't wanna pay their full
share
*People who never buy a round, but will happily let you pay for theirs
*Motel roomates who are NASCAR fans
*People who cheat hostel owners
*People who make messes in hostels and assume the proprietor will clean it
up; likewise people who won't help with household chores, even when it's
expected
*People who won't chip in on gas for a shuttle, even when they see others
doing so
*People who, when they find you pitched on a beautiful camping spot,
instantly assume that you want them to join you there and that you
welcome their company
*People hiking in the opposite direction of you, who are NEVER capable of
providing accurate info on such things as water availablity, campsites,
distance, etc., even tho they've just covered the section you're asking
them about
*People you meet as you start up a monster climb, who have just come down
it, and insist on gleefully telling you what a horrible uphill awaits you
*Likewise, hikers who go tear-assing up a really steep hill at three and a half
miles an hour, while you're sitting on a rock hawking up lung gobbets and
dying of exhaustion
*Hacky sackers. Don't ask me why, they just annoy me
*Early, early risers in shelters. Or people who come in at eleven o'clock
*Trail dogs that snap at people
*Trail dogs that get all over your stuff when they're sopping wet or filthy
*Trail dogs that knock you down on the Trail or jump on you
*Trail dogs that bark
*Trail dogs that chase wildlife
*Trail dogs that crap in campsites
*Trail dogs that are pest bastards in hostels
*Trail dogs
*Southbounders who cop attitudes, even when at the time you meet them,
they've done 400 miles, and you're past 1700
*Southbounders who insist on expounding why their trip is tougher, better,
etc.
*Southbounders in general
Hmmm, all for now.
One last pet peeve: People who complain too much or have too many pet peeves.
Kinda like the guy who wrote the above!!
"Deliverance" on the Trail
Jack, that first one is the best! If I have to listen to one more baby-boomer/hippy wannabee/fuzzy tie dye guy badly fingerpicking an acoustic guitar or banjo thinking he's the AT answer to Woody Guthrie or Pete Seeger, I think I'll puke.
I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.
~John Muir
People who assume that, because my back is 20lbs less than theirs, I don't have what I need to be safe and comfortable. It's ok when it's just the look like, "Well, I hope you know what you're doing." Other times, it's the constant offering of little things like extra food and water. I guess it's the other side of the gram-counting moochers, and I'm glad I hike with nice people who would offer to help like that...but the constant judgements, and being called a minimalist (when I'm not, at least by WB standards!)...I just can't take the prejudice from the packweightists!!
What the heck is a hacky sacker
There's a difference between knowing the path and walking the path [Morpheus - The Matrix]
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Trailjournals
It's a small, usually knitted little footbag that hikers like playing with, usually in the evening, usually while stoned. People that don't play find the game indescribably silly.
I find easily annoyed people annoying. The more easily you are annoyed the more annoying I find you. If you also freely express your annoyance, then you are at the top of my list. People who camp near the fire and complain about the noise everyone still around it makes while they are trying to sleep. People who complain about talking and noise at the shelter at night who get up before light and make a bunch of noise cooking, packing, talking etc. Anyone who thinks what I'm doing (talking on a cell phone, carrying on at a campsite, etc etc.) is somehow wrong and not to be tolerated because they feel they have to stay near me for some reason. Whiners and complainers and "my way is the right way" people are second on the list....
hacky-sack
You'll also see hack-sackers a lot on college campuses.
No love for stoner hacky-sackers from Jack, eh?
Just to play devil's advocate for a sec, but the game does serve a purpose even though the only rule is 'keep the sack in the air w/o using your hands.' It's used to improve soccer skillz.
I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.
~John Muir
Ah, now I've got it. As I learned my english there was no such a thing like a hacky sack. At first I supposed it to be a nickname for people from Hackensack, NJ
There's a difference between knowing the path and walking the path [Morpheus - The Matrix]
----------------------------------------------------------
Trailjournals
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