"In my day!" Thru hiking has changed a bit since 2005

[Sarcasm the elf]

"I wish there was a way to know you're in the good old days before you left them."
- Andy Bernard, The Office

[Uriah]

I spent half the morning searching for it but here's some related CLASSIC stuff from one of my favorite trail journalists..no wonder his trailjournals have so many hits....

http://alimpinthewoods.blogspot.com/...8_archive.html

The start of it....

I's born in the dark ages and am old enough to know what life was like before cell-phones. I knew that time well, and the sad truth is I miss it. But yep, I understand that that time's gone fer-ever...and it ain't never comin' back. I also git that TIMES CHANGE (truth is, theys don't; we do). And I also understand that thems little choice but to accept it (or, as is the case in my case, to try to keep outrunnin' it all).


But I'll tell ya about it anyways sonny, 'cause it was a rootin' tootin' hootin' good time. MUCH BETTER THAN NOW!...

[RITBlake]

I guess I just looked at thru hiking as a way to disconnect. Not in a million years would I be lying in my tent browsing whiteblaze.net while hiking. Just me.

[lonehiker]

The reason to be out on the AT is to connect with nature, the trail, and your fellow hikers, not be glued to your phone.

I don't think there is any defense for having your face buried in your phone when you are thru-hiking or doing any kind of backpacking trip, it goes against everything that the activity it's self stands for. Sure, if you're in town for a resupply, that's the acceptable time to make calls, send photos, etc., you don't need to constantly be connected, believe me, no one will miss your immediate posts...

It's a sickness, everyone is so "self-important" and their phones are the enabler. You're not special, you're part of the same community, so get over your self and take part in the thru-hike experience.

Whiteblaze is so lucky that we have an authority on this subject. What else is everyone doing wrong? Please share...

[UCONNMike]

Whiteblaze is so lucky that we have an authority on this subject. What else is everyone doing wrong? Please share...

You are why I stopped posting here.

Posting away, hiding behind your screens.

Throwing stones in glass houses.

The fact that you feel the need to make an argument "for" smart phone use on the trail shows how sad you are. Posting away on Facebook to show everyone how happy your life is when you're really miserable, posting on twitter to show your influence when you have none.

Change your name to "Connected to a Screen Hiker", bc clearly you're not comfortable being "Lone"

[Mags]

re: A Limp in the Woods

Chuckie V. Used to be my neighbor. We talked before we both left for the PCT. Good guy. I don't think he needed my half-ass advice, however. He does just fine. As an aside, note the comic in his blog entry..a favorite of mine.


In any case, the experiences on the major long trails have changed.

You have to accept the trails for what they are not what you want them to be, though.

I'm a mainly solo hiker. And the thought of camping with so many people is not pleasing to to me.

But I know the AT is like that..so I doubt I'd do the AT in peak season.

In the same way, I know the AT is a highly connected trail via social media. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

re: Smart phones



Just a tool. They are not bad or good. They can be very useful I find. My kitchen knife is very useful. If my meal comes out like crap, I don't blame the knife...

[saltysack]

However bad it may be on the trail nothing compares to everywhere else , At the gym yesterday of the twenty or so people working out I think I was the only not looking at a device - basically it was do a quick set than reach for the phone for everyone.

Haaaaa...I'm on this damn site between sets!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Sarcasm the elf]

UCONNMike, this is totally unrelated, but judging by your age and username I think we may have gone to UCONN at the same time. I was at Storrs from 1999-2003.

[UCONNMike]

UCONNMike, this is totally unrelated, but judging by your age and username I think we may have gone to UCONN at the same time. I was at Storrs from 1999-2003.

UCONN! HUSKIES!

I was there 2001-2205, so we definitely overlapped. You still get out for backpacking trips?

[lonehiker]

You are why I stopped posting here.

Posting away, hiding behind your screens.

Throwing stones in glass houses.

The fact that you feel the need to make an argument "for" smart phone use on the trail shows how sad you are. Posting away on Facebook to show everyone how happy your life is when you're really miserable, posting on twitter to show your influence when you have none.

Change your name to "Connected to a Screen Hiker", bc clearly you're not comfortable being "Lone"

I didn't, nor will ever, make an argument for the use of smart phones. What I did was call you on the carpet for telling everyone, definitively, how they should or should not do their thru-hike.

For the record: I don't do twitter, I have 20-21 facebook friends but rarely post, only have 2 friends on whiteblaze (not sure why I friended one of them). Thanks Wise Old Owl for being my friend. Estimated 95% of my mileage (which is significant) has been "solo". The other 5% was out of necessity because of some projects I work on. Did I miss anything? Oh, if you quit posting because of me, should I be flattered? I'm not sure...

[Sarcasm the elf]

UCONN! HUSKIES!

I was there 2001-2205, so we definitely overlapped. You still get out for backpacking trips?

I get out when I can, but I've recently entered that whole "Wife and Kids" phase of life.

I'm a section hiker and at this poibt am probably on the 15 year plan for completion. As soon as I guessed that you did a thru right after graduating from UCONN a voice in the back of my head started shouting "WHY THE HECK DIDN'T YOU DO THAT TOO!?!"

[Dogwood]

re: A Limp in the Woods

In any case, the experiences on the major long trails have changed.

You have to accept the trails for what they are not what you want them to be, though.

I'm a mainly solo hiker. And the thought of camping with so many people is not pleasing to to me.

But I know the AT is like that..so I doubt I'd do the AT in peak season.

In the same way, I know the AT is a highly connected trail via social media. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

re: Smart phones



Just a tool. They are not bad or good. They can be very useful I find. My kitchen knife is very useful. If my meal comes out like crap, I don't blame the knife...

I say the same about guns.


Adding, experiences don't just happen to us as if they fall out of the sky landing on us. We have a hand in shaping our experiences. There are plenty of folks hiking the AT that aren't glued to their electronics. Find them. Go roast some marshmallows, shoot the shart, pass the shart around the campfire/picnic table/etc, uproariously sing "we, we have made fire", and don't cut yourself with any knives.


I could have moped about annoyed atop Mt Marcy with all those "disconnected" Zombies hunched over their phones ignoring everyone else and the gorgeous fall day. I didn't! I started chanting, singing and dancing around like Kokopelli pointing up at the sky and pointing out two Cooper's Hawks, opining on cloud formations(ohh, that looks like a bear, talking about bears always gets people's attention!, that looks like a dove), and vividly describing the leaf colors and types of trees(ooohh that's a gorgeous scarlet oak in it's fall glory, ohhh look at those burgundy red maples, absolutely stunning, what a beautiful day). I even loudly commented on the deliciousness of the unadulterated untreated Adirondack water I was happily swigging. This got many to look up from their phones breaking their patterns of fixation. Three teenagers started dancing with me offering their own cloud formation opinions. We got plenty of stares but also some laughs.


Funny, how all the anti electronics folks suddenly get interested in seeing pics on your Smart Ph of a naked Maria Sharapova or the latest cuben fiber SUL gadget or wanting to see/hear about the latest weather repor

[Mags]

I say the same about guns.

Yes you could. And you would be correct. And so is my kitchen knife.

[Another Kevin]

I say the same about guns.

Yes you could. And you would be correct. And so is my kitchen knife.

I think that mobile devices on the trail, guns, kitchen knives and transgender toilets all share a common attribute: I don't care what sort of tool you're packing as long as you're not whipping it out and waving it in my face.

[Dogwood]

he he he That was meant to be LOL LOL LOL not rah rah rah for heshe heshe heshe

[rickb]

Just a tool. They are not bad or good. They can be very useful I find. My kitchen knife is very useful. If my meal comes out like crap, I don't blame the knife...

True in many ways, but in others not so much -- I think.

You mentioned you appreciation of The Waterman's "Wilderness Ethics" book. Not sure if it was in that one, or in "Backwoods Ehics" where they recount how learning someone had a 2-way radio on their White Mountain bushwhack had a significant impact on their day and experience.

I get that.

Clearly different people will be impacted differently by smart phones in the backcountry-- and any individual's sense of remoteness may be far different on the AT during high season than on a bushwhack, but I think thier point was well made.

In my reality, not being reachable or being able to reach out electronically myself does change my relationship with the outdoors. Having a tool in the bottom of my pack has a host of benefits, but sucks all the same.

[Mags]

True in many ways, but in others not so much -- I think.

I disagree with you.

Waterman was talking about connectivity.

That is why it is a smart device and not just a phone. Put the device in airplane mode and you have a camera or a guidebook as only some examples.

If people choose to use the phone, assuming phone service is available, then they we have a device that is being used for connectivity.

And that is a different discussion.

Smart devices did not exist in 1991. Cell phones did.

[rafe]

Smart devices did not exist in 1991. Cell phones did.

Really? I didn't get my first till about 10 or 12 years later. I don't recall any AT hikers in 1990 with cell phones. Not one.

[Mags]

Really? I didn't get my first till about 10 or 12 years later. I don't recall any AT hikers in 1990 with cell phones. Not one.

You are also older than me by roughly 20 years.

I was 17 years old in 1991. And I knew people with cell phones.

It would be like me saying I don't know anyone who uses Tinder. Absolutely true.

But I am also 42 years old. The average Tinder user is roughly 27.

Cell phones in 1992 (close enough)

1992_phones.jpg

As the Watermans specifically mentioned cell phones in their book written in 1991, I'm going to say they were common enough that *** THEY WERE USED *** Or do you think they were making it up? Have you actually read the book in question? If so, you may want to read it again because you are forgetting some details. It is on page 117 if you are curious.

If you did not actually read the book, then your comment makes even less sense. You should read the book instead.

[MuddyWaters]

Really? I didn't get my first till about 10 or 12 years later. I don't recall any AT hikers in 1990 with cell phones. Not one.

My first was in 1995. Me and wife shared one when daughter was born. Im behind curve and one of last to adopt newfangled technology.

I remember it well, when I left her alone with baby for a day or 2 to go fishing, she could call me and bitch at me . Yay for progress.