Accepting food on the trail

[RachelChisman]

Hi everyone,

I'd like to know what the protocol is for accepting food from others on the trail. If someone offers food, do you just take it? Is it rude? Or does this even ever really happen?

Thanks.

[chknfngrs]

It is only rude if you take it and run. Say thank you if you oblige. It happens All The Time. From hiker to hiker or from random trail angel to hiker

[One Half]

Yes it happens. I would say the same manners you have off trail should be used on trail. If someone offers and you need/want to accept, do so politely. Like I tell my son, it's rude to ask.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[RockDoc]

It's a rare hiker who hasn't "yogied" a meal...

[moldy]

Not much of an issue with thru hikers. As Jack Nicholson once said "always take the sandwich". I view most free food as "for thru hikers". You can always say, no thanks, I'm not thru hiking. You can always tell if it's a thru hiker if they take it and shove it in their mouth...then they ask...what was that?

[Berserker]

As a section hiker I'm normally the guy giving food, and no one has turned me down yet. I typically just offer up stuff that's factory sealed as I figure most people don't want my partially eaten GORP in a Ziploc bag that I've been sticking my grimy hands in.

[wornoutboots]

Gladly accept it before the hiker behind you who's ear are perked up steps up to accept :bse

[rocketsocks]

Rude? Just chew with your mouth closed

[Pedaling Fool]

You can accept food, just don't accept the poisoned food.

[Dogwood]

The protocol in my world is only accepting food that is unopened, not outdated, not looking like it has been on a shelf for 3 yrs, etc. Someone offering several people an open bag of trail mix,chips, etc with each person sticking their hands into the bag or eating out of another's pot, sharing utensils, etc. is a no no.

[Spirit Walker]

On my first thruhike, I stopped to get water or use the bathroom at a little gun club that was next to the trail. A woman who was cleaning the club shyly offered me some candy. It was licorice whips, which I don't much like, but I said, "Yes, thank you." I took them and gave them to some other hikers later. The woman wanted to do something nice, and I thought it was important that she get the chance to feel good about her generosity. I figured that later hikers might run into her and she would again be friendly, whereas if I said No, she might hesitate to offer again.

As to thrus vs. section hikers: I've offered food, and I didn't care who took it. Thruhikers aren't that special. Section hikers sweat just as much and burn just as many calories. Many work a lot harder because they don't get the same chance to build their fitness. People who are out for a short time can be a lot more grateful for a small gift than thruhikers who get so much trail magic they lose appreciation and start expecting it instead of being happy about it. We stopped doing trail magic when we realized that.

[dudeijuststarted]

Lay at feet of food provider. Breathe heavy. Rant and rave like a madperson who lives in the forest. Put food in mouth. Continue ranting and raving like a madperson who lives in the forest.

[mandolindave]

It is only rude if you take it and run. Say thank you if you oblige. It happens All The Time. From hiker to hiker or from random trail angel to hiker

I was wondering about the taking food and leaving scenario . At festivals, a group of us has pot luck dinners. Accepting our food and not eating with us, is considered rude. But, if a hiker is wanting to do a 25 mile day, or needs to get somewhere before dark, I would have no problem with them moving on. I'm not sure if I am cool with the Yogi thing. On a cross country trip, I had a traveler sit down with me and watch me eat, so I got him something to eat. Feeding a hungry person is one thing, feeding a mooch is another.

[Don H]

Hi everyone,

I'd like to know what the protocol is for accepting food from others on the trail. If someone offers food, do you just take it? Is it rude? Or does this even ever really happen?

Thanks.

Usually what happens is the Hiker quickly devours all food offered. Polite hikes choke out a "Thank you"!

[mandolindave]

I'm also wondering about guitar protocol. I've had people at festivals monopolize my guitar, and a few scratch it, because they were too lazy to bring, or go to their tent to get theirs. I started saying " No I'm using it ", or point out the scratches, that the last person put on it. Suddenly I am a jerk . I'm thinking that very few hikers carry a backpacker guitar, and most guitarists would be jonesing for a guitar after a month without one. ( I know a few hostels have a guitar hanging on the wall ). I'm thinking that for situations like Trail Days, that I would need a beater guitar, that I didn't care about.

[bigcranky]

I just got a used Johnson TR6 travel guitar for 80 bucks. Sounds about like you'd expect. :) But it's kinda cool and I'll be happy to share it because a few more scratches are no big deal.

Also, I would never ask to play someone else's guitar.. :(

[Greenlight]

I only accept gummy bears that are warm because they've been in a girl's pocket.

http://www.tubechop.com/watch/7956173

[rocketsocks]

Never have I yogi'd an meal, nor would I, but I have asked "how's it play? is it fast? how's that neck feel? Is to intonation right on? if the player dosen't hand it over they don't want to (and believe me, they heard you loud and clear). Asking to play someone's prize guitar is like asking can I date your mom? it's just not done.

[Lone Wolf]

Hi everyone,

I'd like to know what the protocol is for accepting food from others on the trail. If someone offers food, do you just take it? Is it rude? Or does this even ever really happen?

Thanks.i only offer beer. hikers have food

[rafe]

It happens. I don't usually turn it down. But do consider the risks of sharing food with other hikers.

I camped a couple miles shy of Upper Goose Pond cabin. Arrived at the cabin around nine or ten the next morning. There was a stack of slightly burned pancakes on a plate on a table out front. Caretaker saw me eyeing them and said, "A real hiker would eat those." I didn't hesitate, they were down the hatch in seconds.

[Coyote Rob]

Always say thank you. Try to ask something about them and talk with them for a few minutes. If they wanted to donate food to people who need it, they would've gone to a soup kitchen or homeless shelter. They wanted to meet hikers. Oblige them.

[mandolindave]

Sorry for hijacking and turning this into a guitar thread. One thing I would ask……CAN I TUNE THAT GUITAR FOR YOU????????. I CAN NOT handle sour notes. I don't care how talented you are. Have fun, enjoy, do your thing. BUT TUNE THAT DAMN THING !!!!!!!!

[Busky2]

Easter 2014 was a great day for free food. As I walked the trail in George I came upon a woman in a clearing, she was just standing there and as I approached she wished me a Happy Easter, then handed me a baggie with candy and a hard boiled colored egg. We talked a bit and asked me for all my trash so she could pack it out and as other hikers passed she offered more Easter treats to each and everyone while collecting more trash as she stood alone in a clearing in the woods in the early morning hours. A short time later at a forest service road I found a band of former hikers and their friends setting out a massive spread with tables and chairs and tents, food was all around. Homemade deserts topped off all kinds of great eats, there was a towed BBQ with hams and chicken slow cooking, sausages, hot dogs and hamburgers, coffee and soda, all kids of stuff with no end in site. These selfless folks out in the woods wanted nothing but to offer their fellow man a meal, a treat, a true bit of human kindness on a drizzly Sunday morning and I will never forget their kindness. Was I thankful, without a doubt was i hungry after no way. Will I ever see such kindness again I can only hope so.
34720347223472334724

[Trailweaver]

I'm a pretty good cook, and have often offered to share my food with others at a campsite if I have more than I can eat, as is frequently the case. Everyone I've ever offered food to seemed to enjoy it, and were always polite about accepting it.

[bigcranky]

Sorry for hijacking and turning this into a guitar thread. One thing I would ask……CAN I TUNE THAT GUITAR FOR YOU????????. I CAN NOT handle sour notes. I don't care how talented you are. Have fun, enjoy, do your thing. BUT TUNE THAT DAMN THING !!!!!!!!

Wait, how did you hear me playing just now? :) I will man up and admit that I often just grab the guitar off the stand and start playing. Yeah, I notice it too, but I'm a lazy sob.

[LittleRock]

Hi everyone,

I'd like to know what the protocol is for accepting food from others on the trail. If someone offers food, do you just take it? Is it rude? Or does this even ever really happen?

Thanks.

It happens all the time. It's not rude if you say "thank you". Just be careful what you accept. I ran into a group of 3 thru hikers on the trail a couple weeks ago who'd all gotten food poisoning from pizza they'd received as "trail magic".

[Another Kevin]

There are two answers: "Why, thank you so much!" and "No, thank you, but I really appreciate the offer!"

The last time I accepted food from someone else on the trail, it was a homemade cookie and a thimbleful of champagne offered by John Burroughs's granddaughter, who was celebrating her reënactment of the hike that her grandfather described in The Heart of the Southern Catskills. She and her guide did an impromptu reading of the essay to a rather ragtag audience on the summit of Slide.

I turned down the offer of a shot of rye that I got from another hiker on the Devil's Path. I had a lot of miles of scrambling to get through. He and his buddy looked as if they were setting up to spend the night (at about 1 in the afternoon) illegally right on the trail. I gave a friendly warning that the law was enforced, and I know folks who've been ticketed for it. It's a $300 fine there.

On the same trip, I gave a college kid a litre of very dilute PowerAid. He'd run out of water, and the ridge is bone dry, I'd just come up from tanking up at a spring a steep quarter-mile below the trail. It took him a while to swallow his pride and my water. He was a much happier hiker afterward.

[CoolBobby]

It's a rare hiker who hasn't "yogied" a meal...
Yogie'ing in my world is begging. Dead against it.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[OkeefenokeeJoe]

there was a towed BBQ with hams and chicken slow cooking, sausages, hot dogs and hamburgers, coffee and soda, all kids of stuff with no end in site.

As a true Southerner and BBQ aficionado, I must correct you on two things. First of all, BBQ is meat (usually pork, chicken, or beef brisket) smoked several hours over wood coals ... it is NOT, I repeat NOT the contraption on which the meat is cooked. That, my friend, is called a smoker or grill, whatever the case might be. Southerners everywhere cringe when yankees and city-slickers refer to a grill or smoker as a "BBQ." It's just not right and is reason in some jurisdictions for being thrown in jail. Secondly, the "ham" you saw cooking on the SMOKER was not a ham at all, but a wonderful cut of pork called the "Boston Butt."

Now don't make that mistake again otherwise the sheriff will be dispatched to your location.

OkeefenokeeJoe