[at-l] C*ll Phones

[RoksnRoots@aol.com (RoksnRoots@aol.com)]

In a message dated 5/14/01 7:53:21 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
grey_owl1@juno.com writes:

<<   While we may
 curse cell pnone towere (they are pooping up like mushrooms around here)
 I can see their use on the trail.  I however, cannot why anyone wnts to
 talk on a phone and drive. >>

     Without sounding too sarcastic hear me out... The hiker you described 
suffered a problem that hikers have been suffering since the beginning of 
trails. Without being too critical, damaged feet is a relatively minor injury 
compared to what can happen out there. Cell phones are nice, but I feel they 
are a gateway technology that will subtly transform the Trail from a just 
hanging on by a sliver of corridor wild place to a popular nature sensational 
theme park with home always nearby in case of boo boo. 

     I can understand car use. I can't fathom Trail use. It really deflates 
the AT's wild aspect and makes it a place not really separate from 
civilization. Even worse, the Pennsylvania section is relatively frequently 
crossed by roads and is what I would consider tame and easily left for 
assistance when necessary. The fact that so weak an instance is used for 
justification of their presence leaves me perplexed over whether the trail is 
actually valued for its embodied remoteness anymore rather than some kind of 
quickly digested natural sensation place.

    Sorry if that is strong or direct. It is just that such thinking seems to 
me an insult to the Trail and what it stands for in its constitution. We have 
gotten beyond that now a days and opinions by people new to or only 
superficially involved with the Trail are now given equal status in formative 
decisions. In my AT site scanning, I have seen a relationship between people 
who have not internalized the Trail's purpose or meaning or taken up its 
cause very deeply and cell phone tolerance. 

     I really prefer an AT that is more of a dangerous place. I hope you can 
understand that the way I mean it. The more we change the corridor to our 
comfort, the more the Trail's wild heart is tamed (neutered). The Trail 
itself was formed as a place to escape civilized presence and maintain 
primitive detachment. (And please don't say there isn't any more wilderness 
left anyway, that is pointless to what we are presently challenged with and 
says more of something like "my needs before the Trail" or so).

     My last begging appeal to you would be to replace cell phone in your 
post with 'paved road' or 'condo complex'. You would see that they would each 
assist the plighted traveller equally as well, but would ruin the Trail for 
what it was meant to be in the process...

     Phone access is never too far away when on the Trail and in the places 
lucky enough to be far away from phones, the hiker networks makes up. 

     Has anyone ever stopped to think about the strange coincidence between 
places far from pay phones and their prime destination status on the Trail? 
Anybody ever wonder why they are that way? And why the Trail goes to them? 
Don't fear the wilderness, fear the alternative.