How NOBOS and SOBOs interact

[Bankrobber]

I was wondering what people think about how Northbound thru-hikers and Southbound thru-hikers get along, or have any stories. I have heard numerous stories from SOBOs telling me how NOBOs were condescending to them. I was on a day hike in Shenandoah yesterday, and stopped at Blackrock Hut. In the register were entries by SOBOs about NOBOs whine about everything.
I think it sucks that NOBOs are condescending, but I almost was myself at times when I was in Vermont and the SOBOs were dispensing advice and not listening to me after only hiking 400 or so miles.
I am interested in hearing what people have to say.

[Blue Jay]

I love watching BOBOs and SOBOs interacting in my neck of the woods (CT/MA/VT). Many NOBOs have inflated egos due to the fact that they have walked over a thousand miles. Many SOBOs have inflated egos because the have completed the Whites and Southern Maine. When they meet here sometimes it's like watching a football game as the already inflated egos inflate even more. Please note most thrus are cool and this does not happen, but when it does, it is hysterical. I also enjoy the tradition of SOBOs scaring NOBOs about the Whites. It's like sending kids out on a Snipe hunt or for a bucket of steam, great fun.

[waldo]

Ahhhh .... the classic SOBO/NOBO quarrel. I learned first hand of the "cockiness" NOBO's have with SOBO's, as I SOBO'ed in '03. I would also like to report I experienced the helpfulness and friendliest of NOBO's. The SOBO vs. NOBO hike will always be a controversy. It is in my opinion, and probably many others, that it takes a certain type of personality to hike SOBO as well as NOBO. The hikes are completely different, but in the end they are the same. Regardless of walking up wind of down wind, we have both accomplished a great feat, which few can say they have overcome. All in the same and brothers we have become!

[squirrel bait]

What are the major differences between NOBO and SOBO hikes? What type of person is usually associated with each? Does it make a difference? I realize that SOBO's start with the 100 Wilderness stretch and the White's soon after but, always a but, alot of people seem to say the approach trail is some of the hardest hiking not including the ups and downs of GA/NC/TN. Don't SOBO's partner up/form groups, have a moving caravan the same as NOBO's, or is it as simple as the amount/numbers of each? It seems to this dim bulb that SOBO's surely experience a different change of seasons then NOBO'ers, does this wiegh in the decision of which way to go? Is the gear that much different? Thanks.

[Grimace]

except there was that guy who told me I'd never make it to Georgia at the pace I was going.

I remember reading tons of SOBO journal entries in PA about how idiotic NOBO's were for thinking the PA Rocks were so bad. I wonder if NOBO's do the same in the Whites.

To answer squirrel bait's question...

People hike South because of time constraints (have to stay in school til June) and for solitude. There are far fewer SOBOS than NOBOS. Despite that, we tended to form groups in '01, albiet small ones. 4 of us hiked together. We caught up with another group if 4 in Erwin. I think a group of 21 all manged to finish on the same day that year too, but only hiked totally together for a small portion.

The season's are little different but you pretty much go through the same weather. Fall was nice in VA. NOBO's don't get much of that unless finishing real late in Maine. It was hot in Maine when we started but cold in GA when we finished. Vice Versa for NOBO's

The gear is pretty much the same

[oyvay]

NOBOs can be a little overzealous in dispensing trail info, but so can SOBOs. I've run into many SOBOs that kept walking, heads down and not saying a word. Their not being antisocial or mean it's just because if they stopped to talk to every NOBO they wouldn't get very far down the trail.

[A-Train]

Its funny, the first 10 or so SOBO's I met (in the whites) kind of became my "pet" sobos. I could remember all their names and followed their progress on internet after my trek. I even gave out trail magic in NJ to some of the first sobos when I finished. After that it was too hard to remember names and personalities with so many SOBO's starting in NH and Maine.
I don't think you can characterize a big group in one any way. Everyone is different and I met tons of different NOBO's. It would be hard to say they were all cocky or all really nice. However I was a bit shocked and dissapointed at how cocky SOBO's were. Many times I tried to be helpful with town, shelter, water, trail info and some of them could give two $hits. The closer I got to Katahdin, the nicer the sobo's got, the more questions I got and the smaller the facial hair got.

I ran into the first SOBO of the yr on Cube Mtn in NH early one morning. He was bounding down the trail and bellowing out yelling noises. I thought someone was hurt. He remarked how easy the terrain was and said he was shooting for Hanover, a mere 37 miles a way. I wished him luck and moved on.

[Rodney K.]

Can't we all just get along?


Rodney

[Tabasco]

It's those d@mned EABOs and WEBOs that get me so torqued. Talking how they thru hiked in 3 seconds

[Lilred]

It's those d@mned EABOs and WEBOs that get me so torqued. Talking how they thru hiked in 3 seconds

Now THAT'S funny......LOL

[manzana]

That is a classic.

[Moon Monster]

The only thru-hikers I saw from Gorham to Katahdin were SOBOs (I was 2 days removed from the next NOBOs ahead and behind me). Without them, I would have been very lonely towards the end of my hike.

[Miss Janet]

Some of the 03 NoBo's were visiting at my house after they had finished their hike. Some SoBo's came up onto the porch and I overheard one of the NoBo's say "Hey you guys, look, it's Sobo's... the other white meat!" Ouch!

I also had a SoBo admit that he thought the Nobo's he had met early in his hike were strange, weird and unfriendly and that he was not always nice to them. As he was nearing the end of his hike he was wondering if he and the rest of his Sobo friends had gotten to be ... maybe a little strange, weird and unfriendy!

[Peaks]

Frankly, a SOBO is just another hiker who I haven't gotten to know yet.

When you hike in one direction, you tend to form bonds with those who you continue to see again and again. When you meet someone going the other direction, it's a one time occurance, so while there are stories to be shared, you don't make the connection as you do with those going the same direction as you.

Do I have negative feelings about someone going the other direction? Certainly not. I'll hike my way, and they can hike their way.

And we need people going both ways to keep the trail grapevine alive.

[Noggin]

I also had a SoBo admit that he thought the Nobo's he had met early in his hike were strange, weird and unfriendly and that he was not always nice to them. As he was nearing the end of his hike he was wondering if he and the rest of his Sobo friends had gotten to be ... maybe a little strange, weird and unfriendy!

I think I understand the unfriendly part, but could someone elaborate a little on strange and weird?

[A-Train]

the strange, weird and unfriendly is something that a lot of thru-hikers come off seeming like, especially the more time they spend in the woods. I don't think its anything that a hiker does on purpose, or to be rude, simply that after spending so much time in the woods, either alone or with the same few people, one loses their social skills to an extent. You've had a life that few others understand or could fathom and i guess there is a barrier there.

[chris]

To put forth a slightly different opinion on the matter, I found that after a couple of months of hiking, I tired of answering the same questions, over and over again, from non-thruhikers. Now, this was on the PCT and by the time I reached Oregon I had passed almost all the other thruhikers a long time ago. There were two in front of me and so I seemed to be on of the first thruhikers that people had seen that season. Once people found out that I was a thruhiker, I would be bombarded with the usual questions: How far do you hike in a day? Where do you get your food from? How much does you pack weigh?

When you just want to be out in the woods enjoying yourself, having to hold a virtual press conference with every group of Boy Scouts or car campers, or even just dawdlers in front of a shop becomes an annoyance, to put it mildly. I stopped volunteering the fact that I was hiking from Mexico to Canada and wouldn't bring it up unless explicitly asked. I'd usually try to get past people with a hello and how-are-you-doing. Even when drawn into a conversation, I would usually try to be brief and move on as soon as I could. This could easily be seen as aloofness (to be nicest to myself) or rudeness (to put it another way).

I only met a total of 4 SOBO thruhikers and another 3 flipfloppers heading south, but all of them were nice and friendly and helpful. With other hikers, the really annoying questions never came up. Instead, only the important ones, like "Does White Pass had Nutella?" or "What about King Size Snickers bars?", came up. I was much happier to answer a question a SOBO had about where the best brew pub in Ashland was located, than to have to try to explain to someone, yet again, why hiking 30 miles a day was enjoyable.

[Bankrobber]

I think that there is an obligation on the part of thru-hikers to be friendly and answer the questions of people they meet on the trail. You don't have to spend all day with them. You are a representative of the trail community.

[The Old Fhart]

I learned first hand of the "cockiness" NOBO's have with SOBO's, as I SOBO'ed in '03. I would also like to report I experienced the helpfulness and friendliest of NOBO's. The SOBO vs. NOBO hike will always be a controversy.

Waldo, I'm glad I was able to give you and Smooth your first trail magic on your SOBO hike just before Zealand hut. Although I was in Crawford Notch to meet some NOBOs I had hiked with, I love to hear the stories that all hikers have to tell about their hikes. I hope the food and drinks I gave you helped you make a few more miles that day. The NOBO-SOBO hikes are different but so is every every hike; different years, different weather, different friends. Cherish the differences and congratulations to you on finishing.

[Percival]

After an exhaustive review of the literature, here are some of the conclusions I have come to.

SOBOs are more independent and tend to be loners. NOBOs travel in cliques and think in a "herd" mentality.

Both NOBOs and SOBOs can feel arrogant and "cocky" toward the end of their hikes, but you don't find NOBOS and SOBOs together much except toward the end of NOBOs hike. So NOBOs are unfairly branded as snots.

NOBOs are more generous with their food if they come upon a starving fellow hiker. SOBOs are hording their food for the cold winter ahead.

SOBOs are more polite, like a cross between taciturn Mainers and genteel Virginians. NOBOs are brash and loud, like they're from the Bronx.

NOBOS stink more and longer, except in midsummer when SOBOs are starting out in the heat.