You honestly do not have a problem with coming into a shelter after a 15-mile, rainy day, 8 pm, only to find someone playing a phone with rap music singing "******" this and "******" that?
You honestly do not have a problem with coming into a shelter after a 15-mile, rainy day, 8 pm, only to find someone playing a phone with rap music singing "******" this and "******" that?
And when they refuse?
Whey later they're making a phone call?
They're "hiking their own hike," right?
Why do you hike, anyway?
Spelling counts in the real world, and those who can't spell don't look very smart.
post 18----you said this......
Whey later they're making a phone call?
again.....heed your own advice......
And when they refuse?
did you ask them to turn it down?
soilman wrote:
"What would Earl Shaffer or Grandma Gatewood think about those hikers in 1996 using all that new fangled technology? Nylon internal frame packs, down sleeping bags, leather boots with Vibram soles, well marked and maintained trail, staying at hostels, using shuttles to get to town or the trail, unexpected trail magic of cold drinks and food - where is the wilderness experience?"
I actually met up with Earl Shaffer in 1998 and hiked with him for a few miles for an article I was writing. He partook in most of what you listed, including shuttles.
None of these are on the order of radio speakers, videocameras, trail phones, GPS units and the like.
If you need a phone constantly on the AT, maybe the trail is a bit much for you and you'd feel safer on a rail-trail or bike-path or driving on an interstate.
If you want a wilderness experience why are you at the shelters? You contradict yourself.
Lonehiker (MRT '22)
You contradict yourself.
that's the theme of this thread with the OP.....
Nothing but the sound of crickets......... ( urgh y'all just don't get it).
Last edited by JNI64; 07-07-2020 at 01:47.
This topic gets discussed here about once a year. Here are a couple of previous iterations:
https://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/sho...y-on-the-Trail
https://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/sho...t-quot-be-quot
I expressed my thoughts in both of those old threads, but the only thing I'll add to this conversation is that I thru-hiked the AT in 2018 starting NOBO in mid-April, so more or less the busiest time of year, and I only witnessed people vlogging on maybe 3 or 4 occasions. I only found myself in a situation with other hikers at a shelter behaving rudely 2 or 3 times (I also tended to avoid sleeping in shelters because I prefer the peace and privacy of a tent... almost as if it's possible to consciously shape your experience on the AT to tailor it to how you most enjoy backpacking without also condemning all the people who do it differently as "wrong"). I literally never witnessed a phone call at a shelter that wasn't a very brief inquiry about the availability or hours of a business in an upcoming town, and that even that was only 3 or 4 times, always in the daytime, never when someone was trying to sleep.
In summary, if you hike on the AT looking for ways to be annoyed with people, I'm sure you can find them. But with a tiny amount of mindful decision-making and appreciation for the fact that my idea of enjoying nature isn't the best or only way, I found many, many ways to enjoy the AT and relatively few reasons to be annoyed.
A.T. 2018 Thru-hiker
Follow along at www.tefltrekker.com
JNI64 wrote:
"No one cares what you respect and don't respect."
And isn't that exactly the problem?
No one cares what anyone else thinks anymore, so, as a proper modern American citizen, they all just go along doing whatever the hell they want, who gives a *****, it's your problem not mine. Don't like my music? Then move the hell along up the trail, bitch!
You made the point quite succinctly. Couldn't have said it better myself.
JNI64 wrote:
"Nothing but the sound of crickets......... ( urgh y'all just don't get it)."
Huh?
KnightErrant: Sounds like you knew you had to avoid shelters or you'd suffer their consequences. Starting in mid-April is one thing. Try starting in early March, when there is still lots of snow and storms.
Why should shelters be left to the phone addicts and music abusers? Why shouldn't *they* be the ones who have to go out in the rain and wind and snow, out of ear range, if they insist on inflicting noise on others?
How does "hike your own hike" mean you get to inflict your music and screens on me?
Why does just one person get to decide the aural environment for everyone who's in a shelter?
Why does just one person get to decide the aural environment for everyone who's in a shelter?
did you ask them to turn it off?
I have not ventured back onto the AT in the age of machines, and am not sure I want to. Most of what I know from this is from "Loner '12's" book "Painted Blazes," which, given that it was 8 years ago, the electronics situations is probably worse now.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0741SFHYK...ng=UTF8&btkr=1
All of us are out of bounds. Only you, the most high Bronco96 are in bounds.
You started the conversation.
You got replies which essentially boil down to 1) Its a free country and 2) The sorts of activity that would be objectionable don't happen in most people's experience
You just admitted you haven't been back on the AT in the "age of electronics"
I will try to not reply further to your inanity, and just chuckle. Best of luck finding a hermit cave.
Did you read any of the threads I included?
If so, I'm repeating myself, but I agree that loud noise affects the experience of others, so I find loud voices and music distruptive, but those are hardly unique to phone users and I find it difficult to believe that people never spoke loudly in AT shelters in previous decades. As for other people "inflicting their screens on you," unless they're deliberately attempting to engage you with the screen ("Hey look at this weather forecast and my Instagram post, Bronco! Look at it!!") I think being annoyed at just *seeing* someone using a phone is about as rational as being annoyed at seeing someone reading a book, looking at a map, or writing in a journal-- three ways in which many hikers use their phones.
Demonize the behavior that actually disrupts your experience all you want, but don't demonize technology for being different from "back in your day." Every generation thinks the youth are going to be ruined by new-fangled devices, but the world keeps turning nonetheless. If more people are backpacking and enjoying nature (and thus advocating for the protection and expansion of public land and trails) because technology has made it more accessible and safe, I consider that a good thing.
As for my avoiding shelters-- I often slept at the shelter sites, so I spent plenty of time around them (my bigger reason for.not actually sleeping *in* them is a dislike of mice) and again, did not witness many of the behaviors you're lamenting.
As for my April start, I agree that falls under a bit of mindful planning-- I didn't want to be packed like sardines in a shelter with a bunch of smelly dudes with norovirus while a blizzard raged outside, so voila-- I chose a start date that meant doing so was never necessary. Easy. Anyway, if we want a "true" wilderness experience, like you seem to, why would we sleep in the shelters anyway? A shelter is not electronic, but it still represents human technology, and it sounds like you want to avoid that as much as possible
Last edited by KnightErrant; 07-07-2020 at 09:35.
A.T. 2018 Thru-hiker
Follow along at www.tefltrekker.com