View Full Version : In case of an emergency do cell phones work along most of the trail
I might be hiking the thru hiking the trail by myself and wondering that in case of an emergency (broken leg, twisted ankle, attacked by a bunch of wild drunken hill-billies, ect.) do cell phones get a reception along most of the trail? Do you know of any parts where one might not work? Thanks.
In Pennsy it works north of the St. Anthony's wilderness since the AT is parralelling Rte 78. I had a poor time in Maryland. It worked until Gathland then stopped until I was near PennMar.
But really you wont need one if you are going out during the spring & summer. Someone will be coming by in a hour or so. During last summer in Pennsy I actually went 6 hours before running into someone. But there were several blue trails to get off quickly if I needed to.
Footslogger
11-23-2003, 17:35
They're really hit or miss and not very dependable. My wife carried a cell phone on her thru in 2001. I hiked with her for the first two weeks and we generally never were able to get a signal through GA and NC. Even when we did get a signal it was weak and we often lost the connection.
On my thru this year I saw plenty of hikers with cell phones but I didn't carry one. About the only time I can remember being glad that someone had one was when we ordered a pizza at the Ensign Cowall Shelter in MD
reception is also limited by your cell phone service. i have AT&T and get poor coverage even in urban areas. my contract is up in December and i plan to switch to Verizon. i know someone from work that can get a signal in the dessert in AZ. with Verizon. i was camping in PA. and had no signal on my phone and people next to me were able to make calls, this also happened in NJ.
Part of the ability to recieve a dependable cell phone signal is the type of cell phone that you have. If you get the cheapie phone you will have problems picking up a signal, go for the more expesive phone. I have failed to pick up a signal in a good portion of PA, NJ , NY and CT. Essentially a cell phone tower is good for only 20-30 miles. The best place to pick up a signal in PA is around Harrisburg and the Lehigh Valley. In New York you have to be pretty close to the City, ie Harriman. Lost signal when I crossed the Hudson.
Fortunately payphones are still pretty common in the south, but they are going the way of the dodo. Besides they are not of much use in an emergency, but then again neither are cell phones.
Grey Owl
Blue Jay
11-24-2003, 09:34
Fortunately payphones are still pretty common in the south, but they are going the way of the dodo. Besides they are not of much use in an emergency, but then again neither are cell phones.
Grey Owl
You are exactly correct, cells are driving pay phones to extinction. Soon, if you are too poor or do not want to be chained to a phone company, you will be banned from this type of communication. However, we will have a grid of towers on mountains every 20-30 square miles, so you can see at least two from every mountain top in the world. You'll be able to call a taxi from every shelter to meet you at the next road crossing. This is not a complaint, it is an inevitability.
Trail Dog
12-01-2003, 17:23
i had cell phone reception with ATT in the smokies, parts of the greyson highlands and most times when above 4,000 feet.
a side note: I found that (at least with my cell phone) the battery looses juice even if off. What i did was disconect the battery from the phone and the problem didnt occur anymore. I guess there is a little drainage even if off. after 6 days of it not being used and being off the battery was dead, but it doesn't happen if not connected.
Kerosene
12-01-2003, 19:05
Frankly, I think cell phones are overrated and rarely work when you need them to, let alone in the mountains. Whatever did we do 20 years ago when they were too heavy to carry?
Trail Dog
12-01-2003, 19:14
Frankly, I think cell phones are overrated and rarely work when you need them to, let alone in the mountains. Whatever did we do 20 years ago when they were too heavy to carry?
better to have it and not use it than need it and not have it. Many people think first aid kits are over rated and unnessisary and many never have one in their pack cause those panseys cant carry the extra 14 ozs!!!!!!
ok i got that out of my system
Youngblood
12-01-2003, 19:19
i had cell phone reception with ATT in the smokies, parts of the greyson highlands and most times when above 4,000 feet.
a side note: I found that (at least with my cell phone) the battery looses juice even if off. What i did was disconect the battery from the phone and the problem didnt occur anymore. I guess there is a little drainage even if off. after 6 days of it not being used and being off the battery was dead, but it doesn't happen if not connected.
I think that you will have much better service with a lithium battery. And if you are taking one on a thru-hike, you will want to start out with a relatively new battery since they do gradually lose performance.
uphillklimber
12-01-2003, 19:32
I have taken a cell phone before and have chosen not to in the future. It is unlikely that I will have a real use for it and cell signal at the same time. Does that mean it could never happen? There always seems to be some other hikers around somewhere also. Even if you are alone, are you truly alone?
First aid kits. Have you looked real good at them? The one we got recently was a 110 piece kit. It had 20 of those small bandages, as part of the 110 pieces, that were only good for bandaging a knick from shaving. Who, on the trail, would ever actually use a band aid on a cut as small as that? We tossed those and added some things we would really use. (Recently, a friend slashed his hand, and between the 6 of us, we had all we needed to take care of him. But none of us had it all. We all paid attention and reloaded our first aid kits).
I look at it as a trade off. If you carry all this first aid stuff, how much do you really need it? More importantly, by adding all this weight, how much are you increasing the likelyhood that you will really need it? Recently I was looking at packs of similar capacities. One was 4 lbs. and one was 7 lbs. The 4 pounder was cheaper, and comfy enough. The 7 pounder was way more expensive, but much better padded. I guess, if it was that much heavier, it needed the extra padding. I opted for the lighter pack and haven't regretted not lugging the 3 extra pounds. It's all about tradeoffs.
Trail Dog
12-01-2003, 19:43
i hike with anywhere between 40 and 60 pounds of gear, gennerally 50 pounds, so i dont care about a pound here or there.
The first aid kit i carry wont do anything for your cuts or knicks (like you said no one cares on the trail about the small stuff), but it will keep you from bleeding to death, getting nasty infections or being uncofortable due to your injuries or illness till you can be brought to safty.
a side note on first aid kits i heard of a realitivly new item called insta clot or something of the sort, it clots blood really fast. Saw it on the history channel the military uses it and it looks real useful. I plan ot take a pack with me in march of 04.
i hike with anywhere between 40 and 60 pounds of gear, gennerally 50 pounds, so i dont care about a pound here or there.
The first aid kit i carry wont do anything for your cuts or knicks (like you said no one cares on the trail about the small stuff), but it will keep you from bleeding to death, getting nasty infections or being uncofortable due to your injuries or illness till you can be brought to safty.
a side note on first aid kits i heard of a realitivly new item called insta clot or something of the sort, it clots blood really fast. Saw it on the history channel the military uses it and it looks real useful. I plan ot take a pack with me in march of 04.
50lbs average? how big are u and how good shape trail dog? Internal or external frame?
back to the point. trail dod has the right idea. stop the bleeding and prevent infection. i carry big bandages and small, neosporin, tape, tylenol and imodium.
latex gloves too. during the season bug bite stuff. i can pull a tic with a knife. i have never needed a snake bite kit.
Jester2000
12-01-2003, 21:16
The problem seems to be that the places you might think you need a cell phone are the remote places, which is exactly where they don't work. This past October Billville residents B. Jack & Jake Barnes were involved in a rescue on Katahdin. Jake said that none of those who had cell phones on the mountain could get reception, necessitating possibly the fastest controlled descent ever by a completely out-of-shape person (Jake).
Jester2000
12-01-2003, 21:18
Cabalot said:
Back to the point.
. . . this is still about cell phones, right?
icemanat95
12-01-2003, 22:42
Cell phones are nothing more than two way radios with both a transmitting circuit and a receiving circuit that can operate simultaneously. This is helped by the establishment of a dual band connection (transmitting and receiving) allowing these radios to be used like telephones.
They are low powered units with low transmitting power and pretty weak reception, and they operate at a short ranged frequency band that limits transmission range. A good handset will boost both transmission and reception range, where the cheapies you get when you sign up are generally barely adequate and may end up being unable to pick up native towers within your home range, causing you to have to pay roaming charges within your home area.
Cell phone radio service (regardless of system) is a Line of Sight (LOS) technology lacking the power needed to bounce signals off the troposphere like higher power shortwave/HAM and professional radios can. So basically, if you can't see a cell tower, or cannot see a structure that could contain a cell tower (like a church steeple) chance aren't good that you'll be able to get a signal. If you are down in a valley, your chances of getting a good signal are poor unless there is a cell tower close by the end of the valley. Cell transmissions have limited power to penetrate hard cover, buildings, forests, etc. The more solid mass between the cell phone and the tower, the less likely you are to get a signal. Lots of metal, machinery, computers and other high frequency motors will develop enough RF (radio frequency radiation) that cell phone signals will be degraded or totally scrambled, especially as the frequency of those devices approaches the operating frequencies of the cell phone. For instance, a 3 GHz microprocessor generates RF emissions in the 3 GHz range. Likewise the spin rate of a hard drive, modems , monitors, they all generate RF. An electrical generating plant or transmission substation generates a who pile of different RF wavelengths, some of which you can just about feel. All of that sort of stuff will interfere with cell signals under the right conditions. So even in an urban environment where you can expect there to be plenty of cell towers, you can find yourself in a signal free pocket because the ambient RF conditions or obstructions between you and the towers screw up the signal.
That said, I would take one if you want one, just don't rely too much on it as it is unlikely it will work when you need it to. Better to be armed with your own skills and knowledge than be forced to rely on a technology that just isn't that reliable in the back country.
Unlike Blue Jay, I am not pessimistic in thinking that there will be cell phones everywhere. We won't need them in a decade or two. Satcoms are quietly maturing in military and industrial/commercial use, when the technology gets established and mature enough to transfer inexpensively to the consumer market, the cell phones will go away. So long as you can see a sizeable chunk of sky, you'll be able to get reception.
Cell phone companies will concentrate their tower construction (in the mean time) to major traffic corridors, population centers and commercial centers, reasoning that backcountry coverage is not worth the investment when considering the degree of opposition they are likely to encounter. They will exploit areas that already have towers (firetowers, ski areas and the like) because they won't encounter much logical opposition to added a few antennae to already antenna laden sites, but unless there is a compelling market to be openned up, they won't waste the money on it.
BTWm cell service is real spotty from Grey Knob Cabin high on the flank of Mt. Adams. You can get a signal, but signal strength sucks, and this is from a position where you can see Gorham and Berlin on a smoggy day, so even calling from a mountain top where LOS is to the horizon, is no guarantee.
trailsnail
12-01-2003, 22:53
I do carry a cell phone, but try to live by the following: You can't count on coverage, so you need to be prepared to deal with whatever comes up on your own.
My experience in Georgia and N.C. has been spotty coverage on my Sprint PCS phone, usually analog roaming (read that lower quality and very pricey). I did get service fairly often on mountaintops. I'll admit to a couple of frivilous calls to the hubby, and I did loan my phone to another hiker once who was sick and wanting a shuttle.
Some hikers get pretty hyper about cell phones on the trail. I just think of it as one of my luxury items, kindof like my watercolor set and sketch pad. I don't use them as much as I think I will, but I keep taking them. :dance
I might be hiking the thru hiking the trail by myself and wondering that in case of an emergency (broken leg, twisted ankle, attacked by a bunch of wild drunken hill-billies, ect.) do cell phones get a reception along most of the trail? Do you know of any parts where one might not work? Thanks.
A friend had her Sprint cell phone, was standing NEXT TO (could touch it if she took 2 steps) a Sprint SWITCHING STATION, , , , , , NO SIGNAL! Didn't get a signal till about 10 miles down trail.
Granted, the switching station isn't a cell tower, but come on.
So, my point? I don't know, just thought I would pass this on.
Personally, I think they are a waste of weight to carry. IMHO.
Doctari.
Also: I had my AT&T cell with me in my car when crossing the AT a few times in rt to: many times, no signal.
Bottom line is that you could get to a phone pretty much every day on the AT. quick flick of the thumb and you can pretty much hitch to any phone in a few minutes. This is true for the majority of the AT excluding the wilderness, whites and maybe a couple other areas. In the mid-atlantic your likely to need assistance due to tripping over a road (if that makes any sense). Point is the road access and towns are so frequent, you can easily find phones.
Most folks who started with phones sent them home after awhile realizing that they could almost never get a signal and the extra weight was pointless. I think people who haven't spent time out on the AT don't understand the strong community and bonds that exist out there. Of course starting out one will feel insecure. Hopefully your fears, worries will be erased after a week or two, when you realize that the trail is very heavily populated and that almost anyone will help you in time of need. I would carry another hiker on my shoulders to a road crossing or shelter if need be. And I'd expect the same. Thats just how it is out there.
Many times your family will pressure you into taking one, putting them at ease so they have the artificial comfort in knowing that they can always reach you. The fact is that if your phone rings you'lll quickly be unpopular and most times your phone probably won't work.
Bottom line is if taking a phone makes you feel safer, then bring it. You are NO safer with a phone and most likely you'll try to use a phone to substitute common sense that would have gotten you out of a jam. Use your head and your fellow hikers.
If you must bring one, don't be caught dead using one by other hikers, especially at shelters or on summits.
One thru-hiker who I traveled in close proximity to for more than half the trip thought she was alone in Baxter, sitting next to the piscataquis about 5 miles south of Daicey. 4 of us had our break ruined as we heard her explain this great feeling of being in the wilderness to someone at home.
Of course everyone will be your best friend if you call for a pizza or a ride from your cell....
Trail Dog
12-02-2003, 08:34
50lbs average? how big are u and how good shape trail dog? Internal or external frame?
back to the point. trail dod has the right idea. stop the bleeding and prevent infection. i carry big bandages and small, neosporin, tape, tylenol and imodium.
latex gloves too. during the season bug bite stuff. i can pull a tic with a knife. i have never needed a snake bite kit.
I'm 200+ pounds running my 2 mile at 15:30 when not hiking, i tend to lose the extra weight pretty fast, got off the trail after 50 days at 190, running a 2 mile in 12:06. I internal frames, use to use a 7000 csi EMS pack but switched to an EMS assent 4700 this last october, (i can fit 55 pounds in it no problem.)
as far as that clotting item i recieved an response to my inquiry EMail:
"Sorry, as far as I know this product is not available commercially. You
might try writing to Dr. Ereth, in care of the Mayo Clinic, for further
information on the product. Here is a bio sheet I found on him
http://mayoresearch.mayo.edu/mayo/research/staff/ereth_mh.cfm
although I don't see an email link directly to him. I'm sure that any email
sent to Mayo asking for his attention would find him. Thanks!
Kim Brown, partner
The ESCAPE Co.
www.escape-co.com"
trailsnail
12-02-2003, 11:21
I don't get it... How can your experience be ruined by overhearing a conversation? Does it really make a difference whether the hiker was sharing her experience with a loved one over a cell phone or with a nearby hiker?
I don't get it... How can your experience be ruined by overhearing a conversation? Does it really make a difference whether the hiker was sharing her experience with a loved one over a cell phone or with a nearby hiker?
The fact is that another fellow hiker is actually there. They physically got there instead of wishing to share it with a loved one who is at home. I found it disconcerting and ruining of my experience to hear someone (a thru-hiker from springer nonetheless) blabbering not 10 miles from Katahdin. It was the most glorious day, a lazy stroll thru Baxter park with the river right along the Trail. I'm not gonna sit here and cry about it, it didn't ruin my trip or anything, but it sure wasn't appreciated by myself or the other 4 hikers I was enjoying a nice mid-day break with.
People everywhere are talking on cell phones. Thru the streets of New York and on my college campus, I can never walk past more than 2 or 3 people without hearing them chatting up some unknown, and I personally hate it.
Afterall who am I to tell you what you can pack and what you can't on your hike. Personally I hate cellphones and think they have no place in the backcountry, but thats just me.
gravityman
12-02-2003, 15:44
I don't get it... How can your experience be ruined by overhearing a conversation? Does it really make a difference whether the hiker was sharing her experience with a loved one over a cell phone or with a nearby hiker?
I'll tell you how it can ruin an experience (although not on the AT). We summited Long's Peak this summer on a spectular day. No wind, amazing views, and a lot of people. While we were resting on the summit (which is way cool - about as big and flat as a football field) everyone started to call people. We listened to on kid call about 20 people, leaving a message at most, saying "Hi This is Blah. I'm calling from 14,427. Where are you?" Over and over and over and over and over again and again and again and, well you get the point. And he was one of about 30 people doing this.
Did it ruin my summit? Yeah, it did. I had to leave after a 1/2 hour of listen to asinine messages.
But it was still incredible up there!
Gravity Man
I carry a cell phone when I hike. I usually have one in my pocket when I go out to dinner too. I do my best to never use it in either circumstance. I bring it to cover the 'just in case' scenario.
It burns me up when I am sitting next to some idiot in a restaurant that takes a call during a meal and proceeds to shout into his phone disrupting conversation all around them.
When I am on a trail or a mountain top I am having a 'private conversation' of a sort and I know I would be just as irritated if some lout nearby disrupted that by shouting into a cell phone.
trailsnail
12-02-2003, 22:33
I guess we all have our hot buttons. I get pretty irritated if I get to a summit (or any wilderness destination) and have to share it with a smoker and his/her second hand smoke. :bse
Blue Jay
12-03-2003, 11:46
Then they would say you died because you did not carry a cell.
AGREED, Trailsnail! This happened to me just last weekend: a long, painful, steep climb to a mountaintop and I was greeted with lungfuls of second hand smoke at the top. I'm asthmatic and cigarette smoke can put me in the ER - it can kill me when I'm 7 miles back into rugged mountain trails with no emergency services around.
This should really be in "pet peeves".
Lungsfull? Outdoors? Come on! Was the smoker 2 feet upwind from you and blowing it in your face? Were you in a shelter? Frankly, I'm tired of hearing people complain about getting a whiff or two of cigarette smoke outdoors.
I don't like smokers in the woods because they invariably leave butts on the ground. They can start fires. But I've never been engulfed in a cloud of smoke outside.
Ever get a whiff of campfire smoke? A hiker who hasn't showered in a week? Auto exhaust? An over-perfumed woman in a restaurant? Those stupid cranberry - pumpkin - chutney Yankee Candles people like my wife think nothing of burning indoors? If you were "greeted" with lungsfull of smoke when you got to the top, that means that smoker was there first. Could you have moved a few feet away?
I'm not picking on you or anybody personally, but it's a stinky world out there, and we all have to deal with it. Intolerance goes both ways.
Rain Man
12-03-2003, 15:13
... Frankly, I'm tired of hearing people complain about getting a whiff or two of cigarette smoke outdoors.
.... Intolerance goes both ways.
You feel the same way towards folks who are bothered by bee stings outdoors???
Intolerance does go both ways.... but that's begging the question of whether it's good or bad intolerance. Intolerance of illegal or rude and obnoxious conduct is GOOD intolerance. Kinda like the police being intolerant of muggers. At least, in my book.
You feel the same way towards folks who are bothered by bee stings outdoors???
Intolerance does go both ways.... but that's begging the question of whether it's good or bad intolerance. Intolerance of illegal or rude and obnoxious conduct is GOOD intolerance. Kinda like the police being intolerant of muggers. At least, in my book.
I don't get the bee sting analogy.
Unlike mugging, smoking outdoors is not illegal. Nor is it correct to assume, as you seem to be doing, that anyone smoking outdoors is automatically "rude and obnoxious".
Comparing smoking outdoors to a mugging is a hysterical reaction. The outdoors provide natural ventilation. Unless you're caught in an inversion of stagnant air, smoke usually rises harmlessly or quickly gets dispersed by the breeze. When you're outdoors, there's almost always enough room for smoker and non-smoker to get far enough away from one another. Smoking indoors is a whole 'nother matter.
As long as we all exercise basic common courtesy, there shouldn't be a problem. The smoke Nazis (I don't mean anyone here) can't stand merely seeing someone smoke. Their goal is a total ban of all smoking.
This is way off topic. I'll let someone else have the last word.
Lone Wolf
12-03-2003, 15:51
I've been on Katahdin many times when a finisher lights up a big fat stogie to celebrate. Always pisses off the PC types.
peter2003
12-03-2003, 17:59
For my flip flop thru hike in 2003 I used a Verizon phone and it worked most of the time even in rural Maine in high elevation areas. I would guess that the phone worked about 80% of the time.
First of all try finding a pay phone down south in the trail towns, and if you do, you will probable find some young people talking for hours to their girlfriends/boyfrineds using the cheep phone cards so if you want to communicate in some of these trail towns before midnight a cell phone is the way to go.
I also used the phone to make reservation at motels a day or two before coming into town. With pay phones dissapearing right and left it is only a matter of time before one will have to use a cell phone to communicate. Just my take on the matter. Phone also allows hiker to keep in touch willl family friends. If I hiked trail again a cell phone would be one of the items at the top of the list.
VT Pete03
Rain Man
12-03-2003, 18:32
...The smoke Nazis (I don't mean anyone here) can't stand merely seeing someone smoke.....
HEY!!!.. give credit where credit is due!!! I am a proud anti-smoking Nazi. :jump
Especially when it's a smoker on one hand and someone like Tracey on the other, who already informed us: "I'm asthmatic and cigarette smoke can put me in the ER - it can kill me when I'm 7 miles back into rugged mountain trails with no emergency services around."
Smokers don't bother me as much as cell-phone users do (that IS this topic thread, after all, LOL), but smoke DOES endanger others and I say their rights are far, far higher than smokers' rights.
Anyway, as I said, "in my book." My Opinion. Based in part on my grandfather's death from lung cancer after a lifetime of Camels and my grandmother's death of a heart attack from a marriage full of second hand smoke. Maybe she should have spent more time outdoors?
Thanks for the last word!!! :jump
Rain Man
I wouldn't carry one on a thru-hike or a long hike. Too much trouble with keeping batteries charged, I wish I could find one that uses AA's. I do carry one on day and short term hikes. I use it in private. The coverage/reception area with my verizon america's choice plan is good. Reception is nill in gaps and hit or miss at high elevations, but usually hits. Depend on others in an emergency situation to get help than a cell phone.
orangebug
11-28-2004, 08:28
Cingular is totally useless between Erwin and Damascus. Even in Damascus, it only works on the ridge above the town.
Wonderful!
...Unlike mugging, smoking outdoors is not illegal. Nor is it correct to assume, as you seem to be doing, that anyone smoking outdoors is automatically "rude and obnoxious".
Let's see if we can find something that almost everyone agrees with. How about "anyone smoking outdoors (or indoors, for that matter) is either dumb or addicted."
Weary
smokymtnsteve
11-28-2004, 09:21
or maybe they just like to smoke and choose to do so,
driving an automobile eveyday is a much risker thing than smoking.
I might be hiking the thru hiking the trail by myself and wondering that in case of an emergency (broken leg, twisted ankle, attacked by a bunch of wild drunken hill-billies, ect.) do cell phones get a reception along most of the trail? ....
Let's hope not.
Rocks 'n Roots
11-28-2004, 12:25
I guess most hikers don't really care about their responsibility of keeping the AT wild, remote, and disconnected...
Lone Wolf
11-28-2004, 12:48
Where the hell do you hike? The AT is hardly "wild, remote and disconnected" and to answer your question Dworak, without all the philosophical BS, cells work about 50% of the time.
Rocks 'n Roots
11-28-2004, 12:54
Are you arguing for developing the Trail? That seems contrary to the Trail's history and stated purpose as overseen by ATC?
What's your point, that we develop the AT? Or do you just not care and are knee-jerk potshotting at someone who does?
smokymtnsteve
11-28-2004, 12:58
cell phone is like any piece of equipment, you have to learn how to use to properly, you can get a signal from most of the top of the ridge in the smokies. Heck you can even get a signal in Denali NP just got off phone talking to a dog musher using a cell phone while running dogs. ;)
radio signals are virtually everywhere.
Lone Wolf
11-28-2004, 13:01
Where in my last post did I say ANYTHING for developing the AT? The AT is what it is. A suburban trail. When was the last time you hiked a long section of the trail? It's maintainers like yourself who want to keep building more and bigger shelters and elaborate stone steps everywhere.
Rocks 'n Roots
11-28-2004, 13:38
If left to the status quo the Trail's wild purpose will be trampled under foot as evidenced in most of the answers on this site.
If pay-phones are becoming scarce due to cell phone proliferation, ATC should organize to purchase pay-phones and strategically plant them at certain intervals most accommodating to hikers. Then ban cell phones and issue a prepaid ATC card available at Trail towns to make sure hikers are connected in a way that doesn't diminish the Trail's purpose.
This "I'm calling honey from the mountain top to make sure the big bad bear hasn't eaten me" is nonsense and doesn't supersede the Trail's wildness purpose. Why do people go to the AT? Because it's a wild and remote place. Why would anyone want to contribute to the destruction of that by indifference?
All Wolf does is show us the weak path of logic and involuntarily reflex that people undo wilderness by. The AT is the opposite of that, it is concerted thinking and effort to keep a specified place wild. If you want to see some real "disrespect" see how people respond to this otherwise verafiable and obvious Trail truth...
Lone Wolf
11-28-2004, 13:44
Sure pal. You've got the answers. :rolleyes:
smokymtnsteve
11-28-2004, 13:48
Why do people go to the AT? Because it's a wild and remote place. Why would anyone want to contribute to the destruction of that by indifference?
...
RR, folks go to the AT for many reasons,
if one is looking for a wild and remote they really need to look elsewhere.
smokymtnsteve
11-28-2004, 13:48
Sure pal. You've got the answers. :rolleyes:
thank you LW :p
Youngblood
11-28-2004, 14:15
I might be hiking the thru hiking the trail by myself and wondering that in case of an emergency (broken leg, twisted ankle, attacked by a bunch of wild drunken hill-billies, ect.) do cell phones get a reception along most of the trail? Do you know of any parts where one might not work? Thanks.
I carried one on my thru-hike in 2000. Used a lithium battery and toted a light weight charger. I only tried it from time to time on the trail. In 2000, I would say it worked some-of-the-time, with your best chance on peaks and near towns or major highways. If I needed to reach someone I could usually get a signal if I tried often enough over the course of one or two days, but I couldn't guarantee that would be the case every where on the trail. Coverage would figure to be at least as good today.
I would carry one if I went again. I probably had about 30 zero days in towns where I would sometimes handle personal business by phone. The message capability and the ability to leave messages with other folks and walk around town with my cell phone instead of hanging around a telephone waiting for a return call was well worth it for my situation. Everyone obviously doesn't need one, but for some folks not having one might make doing a thru-hike impractical and for others it just might make the hike a little easier for the folks back home. Used it once or twice to phone ahead and get reservations when I would be getting to an area on what I thought would be a busy weekend.
Youngblood
SGT Rock
11-28-2004, 15:25
RR, folks go to the AT for many reasons,
if one is looking for a wild and remote they really need to look elsewhere.
Sure, but using the excuse that the AT is no longer wild or remote as justification for boorish behavior isn't a good idea either. You could use the same excuse to crap all around the shelter, burn the forest, have loud parties, etc. People that use this to JUSTIFY their actions are only doing what they want and finding any reason they can to JUSTIFY it. It isn't actual reasoning.
orangebug
11-28-2004, 15:38
I think the point was that purity of the AT is the delusion of a few - a very few. Boorish behavior is never welcome, whether it is cell phoning, hunting from the AT, smoking in a shelter, or making lame accusations against L Wolf.
smokymtnsteve
11-28-2004, 15:45
Sure, but using the excuse that the AT is no longer wild or remote as justification for boorish behavior isn't a good idea either. You could use the same excuse to crap all around the shelter, burn the forest, have loud parties, etc. People that use this to JUSTIFY their actions are only doing what they want and finding any reason they can to JUSTIFY it. It isn't actual reasoning.
no one had justified anything, the AT is NOT wild and remote,
folk simply having a cell phone in there pack is one of the least intrusions of civilization on the AT.
at this point in the evolution of the AT teaching cell phone courtesy is a more realistic approach to the "problem"
I just read through this thread and found it very familiar to the many that have come before it. Starts out with a serious question from someone looking for an equally serious response and rapidly degenerates to the same old opinions distributed by the same old opinion holders with little or no variation, except at the end the person in need of information (which I had held was the main reason for this site's existance) is ultimately confused, disillusioned, and many times seeks his answers elsewhere. Every one of us has their opinion on what is cool and what is not and will express them, whether asked for them or not. I include myself as well.
The one thing about that that I have found to hold true is: Opinions are like the rectal orifice, every one has one and they all stink. How 'bout we answer the questions and reduce the smell?
Hacksaw, the opinionated stinker
SGT Rock
11-28-2004, 16:33
If the AT is not wild and remote, then why would anyone need cell phones for safety?
So in a way it is wild and remote. And the whole point of places like the AT is to keep them as wild and remote as possible. They may not reach the standard of the Alaskan wilderness or the Austrailian outback, but they do deserve some protecting - that is why some places like Baxter ban them. If the AT isn't wild and remote - then why not get rid of the roadless rule? Why not allow cell phone towers all along the AT to ensure 100% coverage? Why not allow race tracks near the trail? Why not allow quaries below the Hump Mountains? Why not allow a ski lodge to put lifts all the way up to every ridge? Of course you know the reason why - because as I say - it is wild and remote compared to everywhere else on the East Coast and the goal is to keep in that way. Of course education is the key - but to excuse the justification to have cell phones and use them willy-nilly allong the at because it isn't wild and remote is inviting people to ask for more towers hence better coverage when it isn't really needed. The safety nazis would love that. I'm supprised they haven't asked for helmets, elbow pads, and kneepads for hikers in case we fall down.
... Of course education is the key - but to excuse the justification to have cell phones and use them willy-nilly allong the at because it isn't wild and remote is inviting people to ask for more towers hence better coverage when it isn't really needed. ...
Sarge, I haven't seen anyone here arguing that unlimited use of phones in the woods is OK. If we get more towers, it ain't going to be in response to hiker demands.
... The safety nazis would love that. I'm supprised they haven't asked for helmets, elbow pads, and kneepads for hikers in case we fall down.
See. That was me you passed last week.
smokymtnsteve
11-28-2004, 17:13
If the AT is not wild and remote, then why would anyone need cell phones for safety?
lots of folks carry a cell phone in their car for 'safety' reason... if the AT were truely wild and remote a cell phone wouldn't do U much good as far as safety goes, but as it is the AT is very close to all modern services and so close in fact that help is only a cell phone call away.
ridgewalker777
11-28-2004, 17:14
There are a number of pre-paid phones available at Wal-Mart or Cumberland Farms. Virgin Mobile is the cheapest, phone is around $40, re-charge cards are $20. 25c a minute for first 10 mins then 10c a minute. Tracfone is similar for phone but more for minutes--60c a minute when "roming"! 30c in your area. But there are free minute coupons on the net. There is a new throw-away at Cumbys--"Up to You"--phone is free after you send in $30 rebate, and per minute deal is not bad. Cells are a rip-off. They are not very secure or private. So be careful what you say...Cuidado!