Re[2]: [at-l] Re: Cell phone connection availability

[rickboudrie@hotmail.com (rick boudrie)]

>Should I come across a hiker using a cell phone and I don't care to >share 
>in his conversation, I shall remove myself from the area.  I

Guy Waterman in one of his two Wilderness Ethics books wrote about a bush 
wack trip he and some friends took to a pond not far from Zealand Hut in the 
White Mountains.  After making the pond one of the party reavealed a 2-way 
radio.  In ways more eloquant than I can possibly approach, he spoke of how 
simply knowing that was there, altered his whole dynamic in a rather 
profound way.  Anyway, his books are worth reading.  He was definitely way 
ahead of the curve on this topic.

Phones on the AT during regular hiking season don't much impact my 
experience. The battle is lost. On the otherhand, I wouldn't even consider 
taking one off-trail, even though a phone could be potentially far more 
usefull there.  Nor would I want to be with a hiking partner that had such 
an umbillical cord.

The benefits of a phone are rather easy to articulate.  The costs are a bit 
more ellusive.  Just saying that it could help in an emergency is only part 
of the story.  If we were all rich, who among us would want a team of rescue 
personnel to shadow them as they walked down the Trail, just in case?  Not 
many, I suppose unless they had very special medical condition or situation.

Like Al Gore climbing Mt Ranier as a sitting VP, perhaps.  And even he made 
sure that the Secret Service didn't go overboard.  They had phones, though.

There is something really great about not being in total control of 
everything.  Of leaving some minor risk.  Of not trying to eliminate every 
little bit of it.  Perhaps that's what makes it so much "more" to camp in 
Grizzley country.








_________________________________________________________________
Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com