Too Much Trail Magic!?!

[Almost There]

Alright, let me preface that I think trail magic in the right places is great, but thinking about the past eight years I've spent on the trail, I can remember starting the AT in March of 2005, and not seeing any trail magic through Georgia. It just seems that it was far less common even 5 years ago than it is today.

Now, reading some trailjournals it seems like some people are hitting it every other day or more from Springer into the Smokies.

Has trail magic gotten out of hand? I mean if you need it the second day out...why are you backpacking? Also does it lend itself to this entitlement attitude we're seeing from some, that is having a detrimental effect on some providers along the trail that do charge for services?

I'm not trying to bash the good hearted people who only want to give encouragement, but have angels become people who feed bears?

Seeing all of it, has sold me on a SOBO thru when my boys are old enough, or I may say screw it and go out to hike the PCT.

Feel free to bash my viewpoint if you want, I've got my big boy pants on, but I really want to know what others are seeing/think.

[Train Wreck]

Alright, let me preface that I think trail magic in the right places is great, but thinking about the past eight years I've spent on the trail, I can remember starting the AT in March of 2005, and not seeing any trail magic through Georgia. It just seems that it was far less common even 5 years ago than it is today.

Now, reading some trailjournals it seems like some people are hitting it every other day or more from Springer into the Smokies.

Has trail magic gotten out of hand? I mean if you need it the second day out...why are you backpacking? Also does it lend itself to this entitlement attitude we're seeing from some, that is having a detrimental effect on some providers along the trail that do charge for services?

I'm not trying to bash the good hearted people who only want to give encouragement, but have angels become people who feed bears?

Seeing all of it, has sold me on a SOBO thru when my boys are old enough, or I may say screw it and go out to hike the PCT.

Feel free to bash my viewpoint if you want, I've got my big boy pants on, but I really want to know what others are seeing/think.

Looking at your avatar, you might want to rephrase that last sentence

[max patch]

Looking at your avatar, you might want to rephrase that last sentence

i don't know how this thread is going to progress, but i know already that that is the best answer.

[Blissful]

There is a lot of it and except for one giving out Little Debbies, I bypassed it.

[Sarcasm the elf]

Q: Is there too much Trail Magic?

Correct Answer: Maybe, it depends who you ask.

i don't know how this thread is going to progress, but i know already that that is the best answer.

We already know how this thread is going to progress, I'm going to just post this comment and then stay away.

[Almost There]

Looking at your avatar, you might want to rephrase that last sentence

Awesome response...I got nothing

[Almost There]

I was just thinking early June Pearisburg to Waynesboro in 2006, there were two instances of trail magic... a cooler with sodas on the climb up to Wind Rock...and free lunch for thru hikers at the Dutch House...(and if you were willing to walk that detour you earned the lunch!) Don't know what the magic is like up there in June these days, but just thought I'd throw out the comparison.

[Cookerhiker]

Didn't we just have a thread about this a month or two ago with >100 responses? Do we have to rehash it again? I guess so - that's WhiteBlaze.

[Almost There]

Didn't we just have a thread about this a month or two ago with >100 responses? Do we have to rehash it again? I guess so - that's WhiteBlaze.

Sorry, Cooker, nothing original anymore., and many don't see it before it goes goodbye...I didn't or I wouldn't have started it. I was just reading some gal's journal who seemed to get magic every day, and thought, I've read about a ton of magic, and was thinking about the whole Ron Haven thing, and got to thinking the two are most likely linked.

[shelterbuilder]

I've been on both ends of Trail Magic, and if it's done properly, it's cool. Trail Magic is NOT about leaving sodas in a cooler with a note attached (although some would disagree). THAT is just an invitation to "trash" a small corner of the woods. But a cooler full of sodas and ice water (on a 98* day when the springs are drying up) that's manned by the Trail Angel so that there's a give-and-take between PEOPLE (and clean-up afterward) - now THAT'S Trail Magic. It can be as simple as a bottle of water, or as elaborate as a trailside cookout - as long as there are people getting to know each other, getting to help each other, and getting the chance to say "thank you", it's magic.

[HikerMom58]

Trail magic isn't the same as "real" trail magic!

[Almost There]

Trail magic isn't the same as "real" trail magic!

On this we agree 100% "Real" magic is the couple who gave me a ride out the wilderness in Maine when I sprained my MCL, and then bought me lunch. Drove 50 miles out of their way to help me.

[Chaco Taco]

"real" trail magic is when you find Baltimore Jack on a trail relo at fontana and he informs you that he is going to take you with him to Sgt Rock and Dixie's house for some quality southern hospitality. I still tell people this story and it makes me smile.

To answer AT's question, yes there is too much "trail magic" on the AT. Hiker feeds are overdone. The intention is good but it happens way too muc. Why not take the money from those endeavors and donate to local trail clubs or hostels like The Place. These places could use some magic.

[HikerMom58]

On this we agree 100% "Real" magic is the couple who gave me a ride out the wilderness in Maine when I sprained my MCL, and then bought me lunch. Drove 50 miles out of their way to help me.

I concur!!

[SCRUB HIKER]

Below is the link to the aforementioned recent thread on the subject. Plenty of viewpoints expressed, some of them valid, some of them not (i.e. "The younger generation is morally bankrupt and thinks they're entitled to take everything and that's why they enjoy trail magic so much."). My view, condensed, is that trail magic, planned or not, is such a benevolent, benign, happy thing that I don't understand how so many people complain about it. Also that no one complains about it when they're hiking, only afterward when they're online.

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/show...ul-Trail-Magic

[Luddite]

I don't consider the coolers or the guys who cook hot dogs trail magic. There's too much of that; it's nice, but it's not trail magic.

Now that woman who pulled over and handed me an ice cold bottle of Guinness draught at some road crossing in NC, that was random and I consider it trail magic. Stuff like that.

[SCRUB HIKER]

I don't consider the coolers or the guys who cook hot dogs trail magic. There's too much of that; it's nice, but it's not trail magic.

Now that woman who pulled over and handed me an ice cold bottle of Guinness draught at some road crossing in NC, that was random and I consider it trail magic. Stuff like that.

You're lucky. The only ice-cold beer anyone ever handed me out of a passing car was a guy who couldn't give me a lift into Buena Vista, but could offer a Natty Light from the cooler in his back seat. Even though it was Natty, that stuff's never tasted so good.

[Sarcasm the elf]

Right now, handing out rolls of toilet paper just north of Hot Springs, N.C. would qualify as "real" trail magic.

[Papa D]

Trail Magic has come to mean food and drink that is virtually "expected" - - hikers have become like the poor bears in the smokies that were once fed by carloads of tourists like fish in a pond at a park. Once they developed a taste for human food, they lurked and now often have to be killed. back to trail magic:

to me, "trail magic" isn't some church having a barbeque for hikers at a road crossing - - that is "expected" - - magic is something "un-expected" and random - - a ride from a remote forest service road on a cold, lonely and rainy day, a free cup of hot coffee or finding a cold beer stashed in a creek with a little note on a branch - - that's magic to me - the rest is just commercial and pedestrian and in the realm of what I like to hike to escape from.

[Chaco Taco]

Right now, handing out rolls of toilet paper just north of Hot Springs, N.C. would qualify as "real" trail magic.

thats pretty funnuy, maybe multiple rolls to each hiker