Fw: [pct-l] Technology on the Trail

[tahoe.cat at verizon.net (Cathy)]

----- 


> HYOH !!! I know that one   Ground Pounder Bill
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Chuckie V" <rubberchuckie@yahoo.com>
> To: "PCT-List" <pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net>
> Sent: Tuesday, January 18, 2005 8:40 AM
> Subject: [pct-l] Technology on the Trail
>
>
> > I often wonder how H.D. Thoreau or John Muir or Clinton Clarke would
have
> felt if they were alive today about hikers and their need to bring
> technology into the wilderness with them. I'm not writing of fancy
clothing
> or Sil-Nylon shelters but of this craving--this apparent necessity--to
carry
> a digital altimeter watch or a GPS unit; a hand-held computer or a
cellular
> phone; a radio or a musical device or even a musical instrument. How do we
> define what a wilderness experience is about? Is it different for
everyone?
> Is the PCT a wilderness experience at all? Are we trying to tame the
> wilderness by bringing as many pieces of civilization out there with us
that
> we can? If we're that bored being out there in the first place, should we
> even be out there?
> >
> > All of this (and much more) goes through my head while hiking.
> >
> > I also wonder if I'm alone when I feel that I might have been born too
> late...that I'd have been better off living a couple of centuries ago,
when
> technology wasn't the driving force to a society's existence. I hike to
> leave measured time behind; to depart a world of instant access, where
> phones, e-mail, cars and airplanes provide instantaneous contact with
anyone
> anywhere. It's a step "backwards"; a step away from the planned and
plotted,
> overly-organized, domesticated world into the realm of the unknown and
> unexpected.
> >
> > But things are changing. More and more of my outdoor excursions have
been
> spoiled by technology: cell phone users barking repeatedly into their
> phones, "Can you hear me now?" on the tops of mountains or in otherwise
> silent meadows. I get disappointed when I see someone staring into their
GPS
> unit rather than out at the boundless beauty spread directly in front of,
or
> below them; I'm not sure, but it seems to me that they're try to quantify
> what they've just accomplished...to put it all in numerical form.
> >
> > I don't know what exactly I'm trying to say, but it seems to me that all
> this technology has changed the way we interact with nature and has even
> affected the way we think of the wilderness. While a pair of Gore-Tex
boots
> and technologically-advanced clothing enable a hiker to go deeper into the
> outback, these things don't alter the essence of the trip's meaning. A
cell
> phone, on the other hand, transcends the wilderness and puts you right
back
> into civilization within a few quick button pushes. Does it matter?
> >
> > Call me crazy but it has always bothered me when someone makes a
telephone
> call in my surrounding vicinity outdoors. If I can't escape it in the
> wilderness, where can I? I used to think I was just being overly-sensitive
> and that I was the only one affected but we've all heard of hikers making
> such calls to Search and Rescue teams simply because they were tired!
> Perhaps saddest of all is that you and I are footing the bill while these
> poor SAR squads risk their own necks to search for these tired trekkers!
Are
> these people who should venture that far out to begin with?
> >
> > And what of radios or today's latest technology, MP3 players? I've
always
> thought that the trickling of water was the one of the most soothing
sounds
> our planet has to offer. What about a hawk's screech echoing off a
canyon's
> wall or simply the sound of your own footsteps breaking through a thin
layer
> of freshly fallen snow?  Nature's very silence is perhaps the best
symphony
> going. And if nature cannot entertain you, and you cannot entertain
yourself
> out there, do you belong? Am I just being old-fashioned? If it's
mini-discs
> and MP3 players now; what will it be in the future? "Virtual" wilderness
> videos? Enclosed, temperature-controlled, music-pumped mono-rails built to
> comfortably travel through all scenic trails?
> >
> > To quote Thoreau: "I went to the woods because I wished to live
> deliberately, to confront only the essential facts of life...I wanted to
> live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and
> Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life...simplify, simplify,
> simplify."
> >
> > While Thoreau was believed to have suffered some serious "issues" of his
> own when he spent too much time away from society, his words have always
> found a home in my heart. Maybe I'm misinterpreting them, but am I alone
in
> finding true meaning inside them? Do we really need to bring all our toys
> out there for a wilderness experience, or is that the experience we're
even
> after anymore?
> >
> >
> > -Chuckie
> >
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