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View Full Version : Is there a difference between a backpacker and trekker?



zombiegrad
03-03-2011, 23:25
My traveling friend says he doesn't like backpackers but respects trekkers. Is there a difference between these two?

Papa D
03-04-2011, 00:22
Not much - trekking is more general - hey ZG - any more thoughts on the LT?

Blissful
03-04-2011, 00:36
He doesn't "respect" backpackers. really now. I'd tell him to get a life.

:rolleyes:

fiddlehead
03-04-2011, 00:59
To most of the people of the world, "Backpacker" means someone who travels and lives out of a backpack. "trekker" is a person who walks to get where they are going (usually in the mountains) while backpacking.

There are tons of backpackers here in Thailand. Almost none of them have walked more than to the bus station from their hotel.
If you want to find "trekkers" in Asia, go to Nepal. Lots of hikers there.

Graywolf
03-04-2011, 01:22
To most of the people of the world, "Backpacker" means someone who travels and lives out of a backpack. "trekker" is a person who walks to get where they are going (usually in the mountains) while backpacking.

There are tons of backpackers here in Thailand. Almost none of them have walked more than to the bus station from their hotel.
If you want to find "trekkers" in Asia, go to Nepal. Lots of hikers there.

I agree. Sounds liek your friend is confused on words. But then, if I am walking, am I hiking? :-? wow, this can put a different view point in your head. Now Im confused..

Lone Wolf
03-04-2011, 03:44
it's just walkin' is all

TallShark
03-04-2011, 08:03
Labels are dumb... trekker sounds like a sci-fi nerd.

Tipi Walter
03-04-2011, 08:20
The only distinction that should be drawn is between Backpacker and Dayhiker. One stays out for overnights with a kit while the other comes in and goes out on the same day, a form of torture and self-abuse known as Dayhiking.:)

JAK
03-04-2011, 09:08
In theory, trekkers trek, whereas backapackers pack bags.
In practice, there doesn't need to be any difference.

garlic08
03-04-2011, 10:06
It does sound inane, but I think there is a difference. Same as there's a big difference among cyclists between mountain biking and road biking. To a non-cyclist, it makes no difference at all. And in skiing, there's no comparison between nordic and alpine. I guess every activity has its categories. I'm sure the same is true in martial arts, running, oil painting, etc.

I was in Dunsmuir, CA near Mt Shasta on the PCT and hitched a ride from a nice old gent in a Caddy. He said I didn't look like a backpacker, rather a trekker, so he picked me up. Dunsmuir is, in addition to a PCT town, an Amtrak town and lots of "backpackers" (read "young bums") wander the streets. He said he could always tell the difference and he sounded like quite a trail angel for PCT hikers. He would have nothing to do with "backpackers", though.

YohonPetro
03-04-2011, 10:13
When you hear "I backpacked across Europe in college" it means they had all their clothing stashed in a backpack - not that they went camping. I suppose a distinction needed to be made between that type of backpacking and those that were long distance hiking/backpacking.

And I'm sure regionally it's different as well, and translates differently.

Pedaling Fool
03-04-2011, 10:19
My traveling friend says he doesn't like backpackers but respects trekkers. Is there a difference between these two?
I'd be curious of your friend's definition, since his level of respect is more for one than the other. Personally, I don't really distinguish too much between the two words.

Espero
03-04-2011, 10:25
OK. Let's get technical. According to Merriam Webster's Dictionary, "trekking" is derived from a South African (Afrikanns) word meaning to travel by ox wagon. The first known use of the word was in 1835. Broadly, it means to make a journey. Backpacking, according to the same souce, is carrying food and equipment on the back. Ergo, backpackers are trekkers, but not all trekkers are backpackers.

Tilly
03-04-2011, 10:32
Labels are dumb... trekker sounds like a sci-fi nerd.

Actually, we prefer to be called "Trekkies." :)

sbhikes
03-04-2011, 10:58
Yeah, I was surprised when I was doing a google search not too long ago on something regarding backpacking and most of the sites that came up were about traveling the world cheaply. Apparently, backpacking most often means budge travel with a backpack, not going out into the wilderness, hiking and sleeping in tents.

We have a lot of those backpackers here in Santa Barbara. They sort of look like thru-hikers because they are dirty and have messy hair and beards. But they don't have hiking gear or clothes and most of them are selling hemp bracelets or sitting around with cardboard signs, sometimes really offensive ones, asking for money or booze. I can see why that trail angel guy would make the distinction in who he'd pick up.

Newb
03-04-2011, 11:04
Backpackers go long distances over uneven terrain carrying all they need on their backs. Trekkers go to conventions, make wierd greeting signs with their hands, and never go out in public wearing a red shirt.

Jim Adams
03-04-2011, 11:13
Backpackers carry the means for living day to day on their backs...trekkers usually carry a few staples but also have others (porters, sherpas, etc) carry alot or most of their equipment for survival or comfort. Most of the trekkers that I know or have run into seem to be above being called backpackers because they "trek" from restuarant to restuarant or inn to inn or camp to camp and most are pretty snobby.

geek

DripDry
03-04-2011, 11:19
I meet a guy last year on an AT thru-hike that had hiked most of the PCT the year before. I asked him his thougts on the differences, and he said "The AT is a backpackers trail, the PCT is more of a trekker's trail". Interesting comment, and I always wished I had asked him to explain what he meant.

Croft
03-04-2011, 13:50
So are those two long things that I carried from Georgia to Maine called hiking poles, trekking poles, backpacker sticks or walking sticks?

beakerman
03-04-2011, 14:00
i can see where backpacker cna have a less strenuous connotation. AS pointed out a backpacker just lives out of his pack and his longest walk could indeed be fromthe hostel to the train station. Where as a trekker is hoofing it everywhere.

typically though here in the states we don't do the train/bus travel thing--even as college students--so backpacking refers more to thsoe that actually walk from place to place.

YohonPetro
03-04-2011, 14:04
I can see many of you are anti-semantics... :p

ki0eh
03-04-2011, 14:41
Trekkers are a lot hotter: check these out http://www.pilotguides.com/tv_shows/globe_trekker/travelers/index.php

Torch09
03-04-2011, 14:53
Hiking is walking where its ok to pee.

Torch09
03-04-2011, 15:05
In theory, trekkers trek, whereas backpackers pack bags.

That doesn't make any sense. If trekkers trek, then backpackers backpack.

Sickmont
03-04-2011, 15:08
So are those two long things that I carried from Georgia to Maine called hiking poles, trekking poles, backpacker sticks or walking sticks?

Yes.......

Skidsteer
03-04-2011, 15:10
That doesn't make any sense. If trekkers trek, then backpackers backpack.

And JAKs........................

Windcatcher
03-04-2011, 21:34
I am disappointed that someone would disrespect a segment of society simply because they were "backpackers" or "trekkers" or "trekkies" or "walkers" or "talkers" or "thru-hikers" or "hikers" or "daytrippers" or.....One aspect of the social community of hikers that I enjoy is that, in general, they are tolerant, free-spirited, and open-minded, at least more so than that segment of society that finds reasons to disrespect others.

Pedaling Fool
03-04-2011, 22:24
...One aspect of the social community of hikers that I enjoy is that, in general, they are tolerant, free-spirited, and open-minded, at least more so than that segment of society that finds reasons to disrespect others.
That's funny:D

zombiegrad
03-05-2011, 00:45
Interesting differentiations you all came up with! I think my friend was making an observation that many backpackers he's encountered travel to foreign places expecting home comforts, and because of supply and demand, they unwittingly create tourist hot spots that diminish the local culture. Made me pause to think.

Papa D--I'll be attempting a thru hike starting March 15th!