[pct-l] Detaching

[Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes]

I had planned not to bring a phone because I never carry one when  
backpacking anyway, but I forgot to mail it to my first resupply. I  
was just going to bounce it up the trail and use it when I got to  
town. But it turned out to be nice to have it with me. It was just a  
basic phone, not an iPhone. And since payphones are a lot less common  
these days, I was glad to have it. I kept it turned off when not in  
use and only used it when I had service and wanted to make a call. A  
couple times I called my partner and asked him to do google searches  
over the phone for me or to see if he could get gear replaced for me  
before I got to the next town. Very handy. It's not so intrusive that  
it made me feel all "attached" or took away from the wilderness  
experience. More like it was a tool to facilitate my hike a little  
better. It's a long time out there and just becomes ordinary life, so  
something like a phone that's always off really isn't an intrusion at  
all.

On Apr 4, 2013, at 10:00 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:
>
> We are thinking of going lo-tech.  What are our options for  
> communicating
> to the outside world via phone or internet without the use of smart or
> stupid phones?  ... library, payphones...etc.