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[pct-l] Technology on the Trail
On the other hand, who besides Thoreau and a handful of
eccentric scholarly types, actually appreciated the
wilderness 200+ years ago? Who had the leisure time, and the
eye for wilderness recreation, communing, contemplation, who
were not so blind to the beauties of nature like the
majority of their day? Remember that for the bulk of human
history, the shadowy corners of the map revealed tigers,
dragons, and witches, rather than hiking trails, baggable
summits, and awesome places to camp.
Granted, Thoreau was living more like the Native Americans,
or at least his dialog with nature was akin to that. (Daily
visits from Walden to town, indeed.) And such a rapport is
as old as humanity itself, in primitive cultures. But so
too, throughout human history, has been this great clamoring
of ours out from the primordial soup. And with it, a
survival instinct, a utiliarian mindset, a busy-ness, that
distinguishes virtually all peoples prior to the birth of
our modern technological age. People were once busy in a
rugged world that demanded, not so much our appreciation it
seemed, but our respect. Our respect for the natural forces
about us that dictated the pace of our lives. A harsh
taskmaster, nature seemed, and so our natural desire to tame
her. And often, to hate her, and fear her.
Only in this day of MP3 players, of ultralight backpackable
guiters, of cell phones and closed cell foam, have the
forces around us - and the focus of our daily lives - come
to an invigorating place of security, reliability, and
freedom from want. No longer is nature a constant force to
be reckoned with. And most importantly, only within the
latter half of the last century, have we applied our
technology to the wilderness in such a way that the going is
sufficiently tame, sufficiently enjoyable, and free of
dragons (and alas, tigers and bears), that "wild nature" for
the masses is actually enjoyable to be with and to walk
thru, perhaps even for months at a time.
Technology has freed us by the millions to enjoy the natural
world, and it has given us the free time with which to do
it. And, yes, it has also changed nature, in some cases
softening her billions-year-old hard edges, and we are
certainly the poorer for seeing her in something of a
manmade light. In this our progenitors knew a world at which
we can only wonder. But how many of them really knew her?
How many could sit in comfort - absolute comfort in a world
of weather - or walk along a path built for contemplation,
or climb a peak simply to appreciate the view of a
benevolent world on the edges of a clearly drawn map?
Are we really the poorer for all our technology? Or is it
more a matter of learning to apply our technology in order
to reap the most benefit from the wilderness still
remaining? We can all be like Thoreau, millions of us today
if we so chose. But unlike Thoreau, we can also climb
Katahdin and reach the summit. And if we happen to fall into
a pond while sniffing tree stumps at water's edge, we may
even live to tell.
All thanks to technology.
- blisterfree
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Simblissity Ultralight :: One-of-a-Kind Designs for the
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Chuckie V" <rubberchuckie@yahoo.com>
To: "PCT-List" <pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net>
Sent: Tuesday, January 18, 2005 11:40 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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