Hiking in 2050

[Scrum]

There will be an ongoing thread on Whiteblaze about shooting down drones.

Doesn't that thread already exist?

I predict that the most popular start date will be January 1 so people can beat the unbearable heat that begins by May 1 -- thanks to global warming.

It will not matter though because the AT fad will be long over, in favor of the much more popular thru hike of the Syrian Trail that weaves along Syria's log peaceful borders with Turkey and Iraq.

Of course for those who do hike the AT, complimentary champaign will be served by the ATC (which will own and operate Baxter State Park) on top of Katahdin. They even hand out Scott Jurik commemorative glasses to celebrate the 35th anniversary of his still standing FTK.

[jefals]

I also think that electronics will be way better. In 2050 people will have something like a cellphone that runs for days and days on a charge. It will continually track their location and respond to voice commands like "Where am I?" with a Siri like voice that says "You are 4.2 miles from the Such and Such shelter, there is a water source 0.3 miles ahead. .

Halfmile's PCT app is already pretty close to this. It even has a pointer to point you back to the trail in case you're lost. As a new hiker, hiking alone, I love this app!

[Wolf - 23000]

Scrum,

What not talked about in the "olden days" is even back in the 1960, 1970 and 1980s hikers were still able to backpack "ultra-light" even by todays standards. Grandma Gatewood travels with 17 pounds back in the 1960s. In 1989, the 5 pound base weight was broken. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but that is the first time I am aware of someone traveling UL (under the 5 pound mark).

Today standards haven gotten any lighter. Sure equipment has lighten up some but what has been deem essential has also changed. For example, you will be hard press to find a backpacker not carry a cell phone or needing Internet access all the time. There are some but not many. Smart Phones have some weight to them when your weighting your base-weight in ounces instead of phones. Plus the power packs. It all adds up.

In 2050, I don't see base-weight changing any. There are still going to be the same folks who want to keep the same standards of what is UL as it was in the 1960s. My prediction is what is deemed as "essential" will continue to grow and only a small few hikers will really have any wilderness skills.

V/R

Wolf

[Bronk]

So what happens when 30 self driving cars pull into a parking lot with 20 spaces??

People won't own cars. They will be like cabs, and will just be left everywhere. When you come out of the grocery store the parking lot will be full of them and you'll just get in one and go. If you need a car and there isn't one around you'll just summon one with an app.

People won't carry packs in 2050. A drone will deliver your sleeping bag to the shelter at bed time. Drones will bring your dinner and pack out your trash when you are done. Cars will be waiting at every road crossing. Some people might carry a water bottle...most will just order a bottle when they need one.

[rocketsocks]

And I suppose a robot will clean and powder your bum...oh brother!

[Scrum]

There will be an ongoing thread on Whiteblaze about shooting down drones.

The tread just started: http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/show...s-on-the-trail

Lol this was a fun and heated thread. Hikers and handguns, absolutely! who wouldn't love the opportunity to shoot down a drone… Still lets be practical, if people want to bring toys only to send them home later then let them. Who cares if they a prohibited or not, federal and state land is our land, like we are all law abiding citizens….lol. Hike your own hike, bring drones if you want to, and during your hike if your lucky enough to shoot a flying robot out of the sky then your awesome.

[4eyedbuzzard]

Let's see...I'll be 94 years old...Yep, I'll need that drone, a pan, and a sponge bath.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

[fiddlehead]

Tonight I was reading some great stories about hiking back in the 70s and 80s in the thread http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/show...-good-old-days. People seem to be enjoying the stories of heavy equipment, cotton clothing, canned food, lack of a guide, lack of people, etc. But I realized, the external packs, army surplus sleeping bags, 5 lbs. canvas tents, heavy all leather boots, and lipton freeze dried food were state of the art at that time.

That's not how I remember it ^.
I had a one lb tube tent in '77, down sleeping bag, foam pad and wool shirt and a nylon poncho.
Don't remember what my long johns were as I know from my kayaking days, I learned about polypro in '79 or '80.
My pack was around 35 lbs with some canned food: spam, tuna.
Anyway, I doubt much will change in the hiking world in the next 30 years or so.
But, permits will be a necessity I believe.
Possibly insurance too.
There will be cops at the shelters, or at least robots to make sure you don't break the rules (and there will be many of those)
It will be best to find a less crowded trail, just like it is already.

Possibly you will get a robot to carry your stuff, but that too will probably be against the rules by then. I do think the time will come for it, but it may not last long.
Didn't read the rest of the thread. Sorry.

[LittleRock]

Shoot, I'd better hurry up and finish section hiking the AT before all these predictions come true!!!

[dudeijuststarted]

I will have bionic knees and the physique of a 20 year old. Otherwise I hope I am not alive.

[Pedaling Fool]

Here's the future. This research will find its way onto the AT in 2050

http://ucrtoday.ucr.edu/34185

To understand this behavior, researchers use highly specialized tools that utilize ultra-fast laser techniques. In the two-dimensional material graphene cooling excited electrons occurs even faster, taking only 30 quadrillionths of a second. Previous studies struggled to capture this remarkably fast behavior.

To solve that, the researchers used a completely different approach. They combined single layers of graphene with thin layers of insulating boron nitride to form a sandwich structure, known as a van der Waals heterostructure, which gives electrons two paths to choose from when cooling begins. Either the electrons stay in graphene and cool by bouncing off one another, or they get sucked out of graphene and move through the surrounding layer.

By tuning standard experimental knobs, such as voltage and optical pulse energy, the researchers found they can precisely control where the electrons travel and how long they take to cool off. The work provides new ways of seeing electrons cool off at extremely short time scales, and demonstrates novel devices for nanoscale optoelectronics.

This structure is one of the first in a new class of devices that are synthesized by mechanically stacking atomically thin membranes. By carefully choosing the materials that make up the device, the researchers developed a new type of optoelectronic photodetector that is only 10 nanometers thick. Such devices address the technological drive for ultra-dense, low-power, and ultra-efficient devices for integrated circuits.

[Internet Hiker]

The shelters will be replaced by "capsule hotels" run by AMC. There will be mandatory drug testing, first at Baxter, then everywhere. Walking robots will carry your pack. Walking robots will carry you. Robots will trim the trees and pick up the trash. Baxter will be open to Maine residents only. There will be about one trail police robot per mile. The whole trail will be paved. Permits will be required for all access. Access fees in New England will triple in leaf peeping season. All hikers will carry mandatory tracking devices. The VR attachment to your treadmill will be a lot cheaper.

[HDLV]

Light weight hikers will be making stoves from their miniature elephant food cans. And everyone will be fussing about hikers with poorly behaved miniature elephants at shelters. Yes, miniature elephants are the future.

[Coffee]

The distance between now and 2050 is the same as between 1980 and today, roughly. Some of the comments remind me of what everyone in the world thought 2015 would look like when back to the future II came out. The world won't be that different. Nor will the trail.