What was so great about the "old days"?

[rocketsocks]

Hi everyone,

I lurk here quite a bit and pretty often I see someone mention how they miss the AT "back in the old days". Usually referring to the 80's up through the late 90's. Unfortunately, I graduated high school in '99 so I didn't have much of a chance to hike the AT during that time. What was so different back then? Was it because there were no cell phones, Kindles, trail maintenance/angels? Less yuppies? Or was it better just because it was the "old days" by reason of nostalgia??

Ryan

It's all relative I think, my experiences from days gone by are just as powerful and important to me as the new comers will be to them in twenty years. Although, for me, years ago if you wanted to find something out about the trail, you had to get on it and walk, or ask at the outfitters, these guys use to be the ones that had all the latest info. They might recommend a new guide book, or product. There was always talk at the outfitter of someone doing the whole trail, and when the word came down that so and so is doing the whole thing, or is at such and such a place, all who were in the store would perk up, gather round, and the question and answer session would begin, sometimes lasting an hour or more with a coffee run made next door and the conversation moved out to the front steps for a smoke break every one smoked back then met a lot of cool people during the early days, just like today's new comers will do, it's all relative

[SCRUB HIKER]

What I mostly miss, or feel that today's hikers are missing, is the overwhelming sense of discovery. With the internet, all the MANY books, online journals, DVDs, multiple guidebooks, etc. it is very improbable that very many hikers hit the trail and discover for themselves what they will encounter. Most have much more of a pre-conceived idea of what the hike will be like. Yes, it is still a shock to many, when they actually experience it, but there is not the same sense of discovery. I remember when I hiked Virginia, I bought the data book, the maps, and was on the trail. I had no idea what Dragons Tooth was, or how amazing the Tye River Gorge was. Spy Rock was a unique place to explore and consider taking some water from all the dimples that were holding the recent rain.

Contrast that with my hikes of the past year. I had seen so many photos of the rock sculptures at Sunfish Pond, that it was actually kind of disappointing, beautiful, but not up to the hype. Same with the Lemon Squeezer, I anticipated a narrow passage as the unavoidable, only way to go based on all the pre-hike propaganda. I was quite disappointed when I saw a rock outcrop that could have very easily been avoided all together, and that the trail purposely was routed through the crack just because. Would have been much more fun and impressive if I hadn't had the anticipation that all the pre-hike info fostered.

I hear what you're saying, but it's still possible to go out on the AT for the first time without seeing the sights on the internet first. I'm young and pretty well connected with the information age, but I used the internet pretty much exclusively for gear research/ideas before I left. I didn't read Trail Journals or watch YouTube videos or look at photo galleries or anything. That wasn't even an intentional decision--i.e. I have no idea why I approached it that way, but it worked out great. A lot of the big scenic highlights of the Trail--Hump Mtns, Dragon's Tooth, McAfee Knob, some of the Whites, the Bigelows--were genuine surprises for me. I had heard they were beautiful, but I'd never seen pictures before, or if I had (in the case of McAfee's Knob), I didn't know what I was looking at.

The problem is, that's only going to happen once. Another problem is that, by now, I've looked at hundreds of pictures and videos of all the things I want to do next, namely the PCT/JMT. Forester Pass or Tunnel Falls might awe me, but probably won't surprise me, when I get there in a year or two. The PCT is a different animal than the AT, but it's still a long-distance hike, and I've done one of those already. I doubt it will seem as completely foreign to me as the AT did when I jumped on it. I think when older hikers are talking about the good old days, a lot of the time they're talking about the times when the trail, or the idea of hiking long distances alone in general, was a fresh and foreign feeling to them.

[Feral Bill]

I still use my SVEA for winter trips, works great.

My go to stove almst every trip.

[ATMountainTime]

because there is NO better hiking music than Motley Crue.

[Alligator]

because there is NO better hiking music than Motley Crue.

He's the wolf screaming lonely in the night...LOL

[Deadeye]

Ha...that's probably a good way to put it. Although I'm sure there were some slackers and people who were all mouth back then too. Did you hike the AT back then? How is it different today?

Ryan

I've been hiking the LT and bits of the AT (obviously the bit in Vermont!) since the late 60's. I notice a few big changes over the past 45 years:

1 - Many places where there were feilds or clearings have reverted to forest (though a few seem completely unchanged!)
2 - The equipment's changed - not many external frame devotees left, and as someone else pointed out, footwear has changed alot.
3 - Back then there was Colin Fletcher, now there's a gazillion freakin' experts with an opinion on how to hike

Other than that, the trail seems pretty much like it was. Some relocations, but other places where I feel like I've stepped on that rock 10 times before. Still plenty of nice people that smell bad, and a few bad apples, but generally the best place on earth.

[scree]

Though my parents took no interest in the outdoors, I had an uncle and a bunch of cousins who I learned to hike and camp with. One thing I've observed, and that I appreciate, is that the experience is fundamentally the same as what my beloved uncle, grandfather, and cousins all had from the 1940s on up. Once you cut past the BS and get outside and on the trail, the passage of time and changes in the world mean a whole lot less. I inherited my grandfather's Svea 123 and still use it from time to time.

I think something else is important here too... you say nostalgia, but I say it's not. It's the real deal. You can have whatever experience you make of it, and you can model it on a memory or do it completely new. Nostalgia has a funereal implication about it that isn't true - you can get hung up in memories, but unlike nostalgia for things truly lost to time (e.g., a decade, an era, a style, etc) the trail hasn't truly changed all that much. I've got a strong connection with my uncle now that he's got bad knees and can't hike, but he can live vicariously through my accounts of the trail, and can also confirm that a lot of what I see now he remembers just the same from 50 years ago.

[Hairbear]

69 cent a gallon gas ,no knowledge of global warming,oz of weed cost 30 dollars,if you got caught with it all you paid was a 50 dollar court ticket,vehicles were not cookie cutter you could tell an american car,the things we used were made here,there were less people choking up the systems,you could eat the fish that came out of your rivers,the sky didnt rain lake killing acid,my beloved st lawrence river was not a toxic waste sight,your new girl friend hadnt dated 75 percent of your friends,a good car was 300 bucks,everything didnt hurt when you got out of bed,we didnt have a mustache growing out of our ears,we were not invisible to 20 year old woman.i could make a hundred dollar bill last more than a 2 bag trip to walmart.hell i quit this is depressing.

[hikerboy57]

Hate to tell you you overpaid for the weed. I was paying 20 bucks

[Hairbear]

Hate to tell you you overpaid for the weed. I was paying 20 bucks

your five years older i missed the summer of love you guys tried to smoke it all up at once drove the price up on us lol

[max patch]

Hate to tell you you overpaid for the weed. I was paying 20 bucks

Well that explains the cyber cafe.

[jimtabor]

no FB people talked to people

[Different Socks]

Well, I'll disagree with most so far. Yes there have been plenty of good things that has developed. I don't miss the HEAVY boots that used to be standard. I appreciate the overall lightness and compactness of most of the rest of our equipment. I'm very mixed about all of the "services" now offered, and I'm no fan of the change in what is considered "trail magic".

What I mostly miss, or feel that today's hikers are missing, is the overwhelming sense of discovery. With the internet, all the MANY books, online journals, DVDs, multiple guidebooks, etc. it is very improbable that very many hikers hit the trail and discover for themselves what they will encounter. Most have much more of a pre-conceived idea of what the hike will be like. Yes, it is still a shock to many, when they actually experience it, but there is not the same sense of discovery. I remember when I hiked Virginia, I bought the data book, the maps, and was on the trail. I had no idea what Dragons Tooth was, or how amazing the Tye River Gorge was. Spy Rock was a unique place to explore and consider taking some water from all the dimples that were holding the recent rain.

Contrast that with my hikes of the past year. I had seen so many photos of the rock sculptures at Sunfish Pond, that it was actually kind of disappointing, beautiful, but not up to the hype. Same with the Lemon Squeezer, I anticipated a narrow passage as the unavoidable, only way to go based on all the pre-hike propaganda. I was quite disappointed when I saw a rock outcrop that could have very easily been avoided all together, and that the trail purposely was routed through the crack just because. Would have been much more fun and impressive if I hadn't had the anticipation that all the pre-hike info fostered.

Are there still many surprises? Of course. Little Hump and Hump mountains were amazing for me, and a complete surprise. Unfortunately, though, these major surprises are much fewer and further apart.

Ditto!! Technology and communication devices infiltrate our lives way too much!!! The funny looks I get from young boys(and girls) to youths to teenagers and even adults when I say, "let's go for a hike, let's go see the sunset, let's go explore a swamp, let's go identify the trees in the park".
For me what was so good about the "old days"? Every where I went there was less people on the trails and even more availability of solitude.

[hikerboy57]

Well that explains the cyber cafe.

Have you stopped by yet?we just installed a mashed potato vending machine, weve got an ample supply of sea salt, 5 bullets, and a SAWYER IN LINE WATER FILTER.
no drugs allowed in the cafe though.other restrictions may apply.

[Cookerhiker]

...Every where I went there was less people on the trails and even more availability of solitude.

Perhaps it's a matter of where and when you hiked...

My first AT section hiking was in VT in the late 70s and early 80s. I section-hiked all of the Long Trail in '77-'81 and then thru-hiked it in '07. Except for the Mansfield summit, there were no more people in '07 than during my first hiking 30 years prior. In the early years, we stayed in shelters and never had them to ourselves except the far north which was also the case in '07.

Solitude? The only declination of solitude I perceive is the presence of more thruhikers (actually aspiring thruhikers) in GA & NC in March & April. You'll find your solitude at other times and places on the AT. Last April, I did a SOBO section hike from Duncannon to Harpers Ferry. Most nights I camped alone. The only "crowded" time was on a Saturday night. In '05 when I finished the AT, my section hikes in March and April in VA west of I-81, southern half of MA in late April, and NY east of the Hudson in June saw very few people. My friend Dances with Scarf experienced both extremes in '04; when she started as a hopeful thruhiker on March 1, she was with the crowd. When she resumed as a section hiker from Harpers Ferry on November 1, there was no one on the Trail. Her book describes this contrast.

White Mountains? I section-hiked them twice SOBOing from Pinkham to Franconia in '82 and '84. Just as crowded then as now (I section hiked the Franconia range in '09 and half of the Presidentials in '08). Bear Mountain and Harriman Park? They were crowded when I first visited them before my teens in the 50s.

I wear pretty thick glasses but fortunately, they're not rose-colored.

[rocketsocks]

Hate to tell you you overpaid for the weed. I was paying 20 bucks

A quarter pound had just jumped to $120 when I was partaking......had a few of those......

[Biggie Master]

The "good old days" were good, but I'm looking forward to what the future holds!

“The wise man must remember that while he is a descendant of the past, he is a parent of the future.” ~ Herbert Spencer

[Double Wide]

Man, I remember when a dime bag cost a dime, you know what I mean?

You know how much condoms used to cost back in them days? I don't know, we never used 'em!

[mirabela]

Lots of good replies here.

Only a few things I can think of:

First, there were fewer people attempting thru-hikes then, so there wasn't as much of a big crowd at the beginning. I guess this only matters if you're northbound. When I started (3/10/91) I was actually lonely for weeks. I get the impression that wouldn't happen these days. Might not be a bad thing, who knows.

Secondly, there's the info overload thing -- but I already felt the trail experience was a bit short on real-time surprise when I hiked, and deliberately refrained from consulting my maps a lot of the time, got rid of my guidebooks for much of the trip, etc. I can see how with the explosion in always-on documentation these days, it could be harder to keep it feeling fresh.

Thirdly, I think the country was just a little bit less uptight overall. Not by much, maybe, but a little. It's hard to put my finger on, but the squeeze just wasn't on quite as hard somehow.

That's about all I can think of. Mostly, it seems to me about the same -- and I know a lot more now, and I have better partners, and I'm fitter and at least as happy. I had a good time out there then, and I have a good time out there now. Modern life can be pretty lame a lot of the time, and those of us who can conjure up anything like an adventure in the midst of it have a big leg up. The trail is a wide-open opportunity.

[fredmugs]

Here in Indiana 90% of the people still wish it was 1954. I'm not kidding when I say the state was in mourning when Andy Griffith died.