[at-l] Technology on the trail WAS Re: Sharp TM 20s

[spiriteagle99@hotmail.com (Jim and/or Ginny Owen)]

Seems to me that I was one of those involved in the first "technology on the 
Trail" flame wars on the other list.  That was long ago and far away.  And 
it's funny how little I care after two more thruhikes.  OTOH, those 
thruhikes were on trails that don't generally have the problem - cell phones 
don't generally work on the PCT and they rarely work on the CDT.  Some 
hikers carry radios - and some carry GPS - but they're generally not a 
problem.  I hope it'll be that way for a long time to come.  :-)

In any case, I'm not gonna jump on anyone about taking their (as I once 
called them) "tech-toys" on the Trail. But I will point out that Sloetoe's 
sig line is incorrect to a large degree (sorry Toey).  It says that 
"wilderness" is a function of how much control you have over your 
environment.  From personal observation and experience, it has a lot more of 
a relationship to how "out of touch" you are with "civilization".  If you're 
in Maine in January, you'll experience a fair bit of "wilderness".  If 
you're in Northern Montana in early June and don't see another human 
footprint for 6 or 7 days, you'll experience a whole lot of "wilderness" - 
especially if you're paying attention to the wolf, elk and grizzly tracks 
that you're following for miles every day. :-)

If you're in the same places in August, you'll likely lose a lot of that 
"wilderness" feeling because there'll be a whole lot more people in those 
places at that time of year.

The difference isn't the place - it's the contact - or lack of it - with 
other humans.  For those who hike the AT, you'll generally meet other people 
on a regular basis over most of the Trail through most of the year.  That 
means there's very little real "wilderness" experience on the AT under the 
best of conditions - and what there is, you might have to work to find.  But 
it IS "findable".

So --- having said all that - how many of you understand that, as someone 
said back there (was it R&R ?) - there's a difference between a PDA and a 
cell phone?  The difference is that the cell phone allows you to "stay in 
contact" with the outside world while the PDA is a passive device.

Now - personal experience (it's happened to us) is that carrying the PDA or 
GPS or radio will change the nature of your hike - and I won't argue about 
that - it's a self-evident fact.  Personal opinion is that carrying a cell 
phone changes the nature of the hike drastically - because it reduces the 
probability of experiencing "real wilderness" to nearly zero.  In other 
words - if you can order pizza from the Trail, then you ain't in the 
wilderness, babe.  If you're looking for a "wilderness experience", leave 
the cell phone at home.  But then, not everyone is looking for that, are 
they?  Choices.

Anyway - I'm just rambling here --  just happens that Ginny and I talked 
about this exact subject while we were hiking on Sunday.

However - I did object to one thing that came out of this mess - someone 
wrote -

>For Others to object to it is the objectors problem and the objector is the
>one that has to spend the rest of their outdoor experience with the bricks 
>of
>anger they picked up along the way ie.knowlage of another hiker using
>handheld PC rather than a pen and paper.

You've gotta watch your logic here - what you effectively said there was 
that if someone wants to break up the picnic table at a shelter and use it 
for firewood, I'd have no right to object and that it would be my problem.  
I've been told that kind of thing before.  Yeah - I know - that's not what 
you meant to say, but it's a logical extension of what you did say.

For better or worse, I'm not a believer in that philosophy.  I'm more a 
believer that we have the rights that we have the will and the strength to 
hold.  If someone wanders into a shelter that I'm occupying, pulls out their 
cell phone and calls their broker (being loud and obnoxious about it), they 
might just find that they're in the company of an off-the-wall nut-case 
(me).  Do you have any idea how many ways a cell phone conversation can be 
interrupted by someone who's loudly and violently insane?  Of course, if 
they call their broker quietly from a couple hundred yards away from the 
shelter - who cares?  They should, perhaps, if they went to the woods to 
escape the "real world" or to "get in touch with nature", but that's their 
problem, not mine.

On the other hand (yeah - I know - I don't have that many hands), if the 
cell phone is to keep family happy - or to check on an ailing grandfather - 
or a lot of other legitimate reasons - and the user is polite and discreet - 
I don't figure it's any of my business.  What I just said is - hike your own 
hike, but respect others along the way - and then you won't have to deal 
with that nut-case in the corner :-))

Y'all have a good night - I'll go back to my corner.

Walk softly,
Jim


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