[pct-l] Technology on the Trail

[yogihikes at sbcglobal.net (yogi)]

I don't own a cell phone, I don't have call waiting or caller ID 
on my home phone.  But I do like using a walkman on a 
thru-hike, and the GPS I carried on the CDT helped me to 
stay found.  Pocketmail keeps me connected to my 
friends/family.  I like my toys.
 
It irritated me the first time I was on Whitney to see all the 
people who came up from the other side.  They were all on 
their cell phones, "Guess where I am?"  Sure, this irritated 
me, but that's what I get for being where other people are.  
 
When you're around other people, you can't impose your 
ideas of how things "should be" on them.  They have just 
as much right to have a cell phone as I do to NOT have one.  
This is true in the grocery store, at airports, in the middle 
of the PCT, or on Mt. Whitney.  It's like the people in the 
restaurant where I work who get pissed when there is a 
crying child at a nearby table.  If you want a quiet dinner 
by yourself, then stay at home.  The second you go where 
other people have every right to be, you lose the opportunity 
to control your environment.
 
If you want to be completely away from other hikers, try the 
CDT.  Of course, you may see me out there with a GPS!
  :)  :)  :)
 
yogi
 
www.pcthandbook.com
 


larry hillberg <walkinglarry@yahoo.com> wrote:
On a recent trip, I spent many hours sitting around
airports for various reasons. (Has anyone besides me
noticed how airplanes, airports, security, etc. have
stolen the journey away from us and left us with only
a raging desire to reach our destination?) Please do
not allow the PCT to be like that for yourself. You
will miss the point of it all.

At these airports and elsewhere nowadays, the phone
conversations have become far louder due to headsets. 
At first I thought this was due to people being ruder
nowadays, which they are. But much like your teenager
shouts to you in normal conversation because they are
connected to their walkman, so too do those engaged in
phone conversations wearing their headsets. Whether
or not one is interested, we are forced to listen to
boring, inane, personal or business conversations in
every public place. On this last trip, in the men's
room, I heard one such conversation from behind the
closed door of a stall. Is there no peace from it?

So far, I have not lost my cool in the face of this
modern form of rudeness. On the PCT, I would.

Larry H



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