View Full Version : BP Mag, musing
I just bought my first Backpacker in 6 months to a year or so. I was rather dissapointed with it.
They have an article on hiking in Los Angeles CA. With a map!
6 car ads, with 5 of them being SUVs or similar.
4 pages of seemingly random words I think are about camping or something, , , maybe.
A how to on wilderness sex.
And more ads than in the 30 page flyer they put on my door every monday morning.
I feel I shall never get another issue.
The article on our "One Leg" was decent tho.
Doctari.
Mountain Dew
05-24-2004, 21:26
I have only had a subscription since about 2001, but I have noticed a decline in quality. The latest issue was possibly the worst I've ever read. Does hiking Los Angeles really warrant even a single page ? PATHETIC.... How about next time they devote an entire issue to hiking cow pastures. Maybe they are losing their touch with what we really want....
SGT Rock
05-24-2004, 21:41
It is mainly about profits. Advertising, reviewing gear from advertisers, and selling hedlines like having sex on the trail. I still see some things I like, but it has gotten less and less over the years.
I think the real backpacking talk and most of the really good ideas are found on the internet these days. www.Backpacking.net, www.whiteblaze.net, www.trailjournals.com, www.thru-hiker.com, etc. are places where you can read about good gear, real trails, and have two way communications about hiking with other hikers rather than some 3 paragraph note about some trail out there. I killed my subscription years ago.
Pennsylvania Rose
05-25-2004, 12:58
I quit getting Backpacker years ago. There was a decline in quality, too many ads, and the gear reviews only feature pricey, extraneous gear. But, I'd rather them print an article on hiking in LA than reveal any of my quiet, unpopulated favorite places and have them overrun with yahoos.
Dances with Mice
05-25-2004, 14:36
Good subject!
You know, I've bought it for years and subscribed a couple of times when one of the kids was selling magazine subscriptions for school fundraisers. Now I kinda buy it out of habit. When I see a new cover on the store shelf I'll pick it up. But a couple of times I've taken it home and realized that I hadn't even bothered to read the previous issue yet.
And I've been wondering if I had changed or if the magazine had changed. It's most probably a little of both.
I'd rather them print an article on hiking in LA than reveal any of my quiet, unpopulated favorite places and have them overrun with yahoos.
There is that ;)
Hey, maybe I could get them to do an article on "Hiking in Cincinnati" Staring me! Oh YES, I would be world famous! No, even better, "Caving in Cincinnati" We have a few miles of abandoned (never used) subway tunnels that might pass for caves.
I
have
a
Plan!
A few years ago on the BP web site they asked for "your favorite quiet/secret hike/trail/etc." My answer was: "You do NOT have enough money for that answer".
Doctari.