What songs do you listen to while hiking?
Just curious...if you take an mp3 player with you on your hike, what are your favorite songs to listen to along the way? Or do you prefer that nature sing to you?
You can listen to music anywhere. Not so with nature.
Con men understand that their job is not to use facts to convince skeptics but to use words to help the gullible to believe what they want to believe - Thomas Sowell
I have mostly backpacking podcasts and audiobooks on my mp3 player. If listening while hiking, I only use one earbud so I can still hear anything of interest around me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUgU8...eature=related
I whistle this....
Last edited by Wise Old Owl; 09-12-2010 at 23:38.
Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.
Woo
The sound of the weak, growing stronger,
The sound of the fool, perhaps growing wiser,
Or falling aside, and sharing their song with the wind.
Monition
A FAINT wind, blowing from World's End,
Made strange the city street,
A strange sound mingled in the fall
Of the familiar feet.
Something unseen whirled with the leaves
To tap on door and sill.
Something unknown went whispering by
Even when the wind was still.
And men looked up with startled eyes,
And hurried on their way,
As if they had been called, and told
How brief their day.
- Sir Charles G.D.Roberts
Just the song(s) of nature. I've got plenty of man-made music in the civilized world - XM in my car, MP3's and CD's , cassettes, and even some 8tracks and vinyl.
"That's the thing about possum innards - they's just as good the second day." - Jed Clampett
i agree. thought of bringing my mp4 but decided against it. i dont want part of my memories of a thru hike to revolve around "freebird" or "dirty deeds". I have heard ppl say it can help on those really tough mountaineering days, but if im with others id rather talk with them, and if im by myself i want to keep my wits about me. the only music ill jam to is with my harmonica and off key voice at a campfire or so. you have been warned
I broke a mirror in my house. I'm supposed to get seven years bad luck but my lawyer thinks he can get me five.
I always bring my iPod and yet I always end up not using it.
"You know your camping trip really isn't going well when you find yourself hoping to stave off sepsis with a six-pack of Icehouse. "
"Age is not an accomplishment, and youth is not a sin."
As a section hiker (~1 week/year) - i like this one:
Seven Days
Seven days, seven more days she’ll be comin’
I’ll be waiting at the station for her to arrive
Seven more days, all I gotta do is survive
She been gone ever since I been a child
Ever since I seen her smile, I ain’t forgotten her eyes
She had a face that could outshine the sun in the skies
I been good, I been good while I been waitin’
Maybe guilty of hesitatin’, I just been holdin’ on
Seven more days, all that’ll be gone
There’s kissing in the valley
Thieving in the alley
Fighting every inch of the way
Trying to be tender
With somebody I remember
In a night that’s always brighter’n the day
Seven days, seven more days that are connected
Just like I expected, she’ll be comin’ on forth
My beautiful comrade from the north
There’s kissing in the valley
Thieving in the alley
Fighting every inch of the way
Trying to be tender
With somebody I remember
In a night that’s always brighter’n the day
Copyright © 1976 by Ram's Horn Music
I listen to the wind, the sound of leaves rustling, my footfalls, birds, chipmunks water trickling or gushing, that sort of thing.
There are so many different sounds, all of them different.
On my section hike this year I saw a chipmunk scurry up a tree, so I whistled to him. He stopped and stared at me, and returned with a call of his own. We did this for about five minutes, until it was time for me to be on my way. For that five minutes, I was in the coolest band ever.
I also listen to the songs that play in my head, of which there are many to choose from.
We used to live on a gravel road pretty deep in the woods of NH. One of our friends from suburbia was visiting once, and while we were having coffee early one morning on the deck a whooshing sound started and increased in volume until it was quite loud. A large hawk then appeared right over the rooftop and continued on its way, the sound of the air off its wings diminishing as it continued on. Our friend was floored - she had never in her life heard such a thing before. It's simply amazing how much of nature's sounds are drowned out by the background noise of civilization.
"That's the thing about possum innards - they's just as good the second day." - Jed Clampett
Well here is a serious answer: Chicago, Stevie Ray Vaughn, lots of different New Age Artists, Alan Parson's, Kitaro, Spyro Gyra and anything off the Dr. Demento Show. And that's just for starters.
For those of you that swear up and down that you don't carry any kind of musical appliance with you when you hike, I'll remember not to loan you the player when you're tent bound for 2 days, or it's been raining for 4 straight days and it feels like all the miles are uphill, Or the pain from your blisters and other aches and pains are driving you crazy, or when you simply just have those times when you are bored.
I enjoy nature as well and don't listen to music all the time when hiking, but I can tell you about dozens of times when music enhanced the experience of the moment.
I always bring my MP3 player and crank up some hardcore metal for the tough climbs.
Bands I listen to: Five Finger Death Punch, Disturbed, Metallica, Cradle of Filth, Devildriver, Slipnot, Killswitch Engage, Godsmack, and Avenged Sevenfold among others.
Pain is a by-product of a good time.
Metal, lots and lots of metal.
Also, morning traffic reports. Those are the best. Thru northern VA you can listen to DC stations and in NY / NJ the morning traffic makes me feel good. The more backed up and slow moving the interstate, the better.
Once listened to an entire 500 mile NASCAR race. They drove 500 miles, I walked 8.
What?? That is the wrong answer? I'm supposed to be all Holier Than Thou and say I listen to the music of the wind in the leaves and the babble of the brook?
Yeah, those were good for several hundred or maybe a thousand miles but then the limited playlist kind of got old.
Mp3 with FM radio is the best ounce or two in my pack.
What? Me worry??
I would like to hear your whistle that drum solo mid-way through!Originally Posted by Wise Old Owl
I had a similar experiencesitting on a rock north of Mt. Lafayette on a lovely warm, clear day in September 2006. I suddenly hear something approaching from my left and a big raven glides past, not 8 feet from where I was sitting. The air through its wings was surprisingly loud in the still air, and the sheen on it's feathers from the bright sun was quite memorable.
No, I don't bring anything to listen to music on while I hike. I do, however, compose grandiose symphonies in my head while I chug up a mountain, but of course I can never recall them when I get to a piano!
GA←↕→ME: 1973 to 2014
Careful what you listen to BEFORE hiking
Just curious...if you take an mp3 player with you on your hike, what are your favorite songs to listen to along the way? Or do you prefer that nature sing to you?
I don't carry an MP3 player on the trail. I'd caution everyone to be careful what they listen to in the days BEFORE a hike. I did my first section hike when my son was almost 2 years old. As a result, I had lots of children's songs in my head.
In spite of beating my head against rocks and the occasional head first charge into a boulder, I could NOT get these tunes out of my head while on the trail. This will be especially bad if the beat of the song approximately matches your step cadence. Choose wisely.
This is the song that never ends.
It goes on and on my friends.
Someone started singing it not knowing what it was,
and they'll continue singing it forever just because,
This is the song that never ends . . .
"That's the thing about possum innards - they's just as good the second day." - Jed Clampett
break stuff by limp bizkit
AT - Georgia to Maine '09
PCT - Mexico to Canada '10
CDT - Canada to Mexico '11
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