[pct-l] Re: Technology on the Trail

[mgeis at yahoo.com (Matt Geis)]

My thoughts on an already long thread...

I've got mixed feelings about the whole cell phone
thing.  On one hand, I deliberately did NOT take
anything like that with me (or GPS, or music).  I did
have a compass (and altimeter, for both navigation and
for having an idea of "are we there yet" on ascents).

That being said, I saw a thru-hiker pay a credit card
bill from the Whitney summit.  Good for her --
avoiding that late fee may have meant another snack or
two at VVR.  Incidentally, that same person graciously
let me use her phone at Walker Pass, when I wanted to
call my fiancee to let her know I was ok, but had not
phoned the prior day as planned due to heat
exhaustion.

No, I didn't have music, but I did enjoy a nice
evening by a campfire with Caboose, Heavy Pack, and
Happy JO just north of Kennedy Meadows, listening to
about 30 minutes of music.  The tunes, I really
couldn't have cared less about, but because of the
overall atmosphere and outstanding company, that
evening is a very strong memory among a series of
strong memories.

At Old Station, having no idea what was going on in
the world, I was glad to have Luke give me the update
on all the news, courtesy of the fact he'd been
listening to NPR during his hike.

It's unrelated to the PCT, but in 2000, another
climber took a digital picture of me on the summit of
Cotopaxi, in Ecuador.  When I got back to Quito that
same day, it was in my inbox.  I was able to send
friends and family a picture of where I'd been only 12
hours prior, and share the experience with them.

Probably a better reason for carrying a cell phone is
not to call S&R in case of a stubbed toe, but to
alleviate the worries of loved ones back home.  I was
fortunate enough to have people who didn't worry
overly.  Some aspiring hikers may find themselves in
an uncomfortable position of needing some way to calm
the fears of their family just to get the OK to do a
big section (or all) of the PCT.  Hey, if that's all
it takes to get the OK to get on the trail, take the
damn phone.  I'd gladly shoulder the burden of a few
ounces in my pack, rather than the weight of knowing I
had a chance to hike the PCT but couldn't because I
couldn't do it in a more spartan manner.  

Now, as for my real opinions as they pertain to me, I
passionately agree with Chuckie.  On my thru-hike, I
reveled daily in my disconnection from the rest of the
world.  I loved phoning my fiancee from town, but that
was partially because in the intervening time, I had a
lot of opportunities to enjoy where I was, to
appreciate her presence in my life, and to enjoy time
as an individual as opposed to a part of a couple.

If I'd had a GPS, would I have experienced the
challenge and satisfaction of losing the trail and
finding it again?  Definitely not.  It can happen
easily in the snow, or in a maze of logging roads, or
in areas where the PCT has diverged yet both routes
remain well-marked by both tread and PCT trail emblems
(north of Lassen, before Old Station).  In that last
case, having a gut feeling that I was off-route, I
took a bearing on Potato Butte, and finding it to be
due north when I expected it to be north-east, I saw
that I was too far east.  I headed directly west on a
fire road, and within 15 minutes I was on the PCT
again.  The fact that I was able to assess my
situation and calmly deal with it (aside from minor
annoyance at the fact the old PCT was still marked as
the PCT) came from having successfully dealt with
similar situations in the past.  GPS would have solved
the same problem, but I enjoyed being able to do it
myself.  A number of hikers that day alone took the
wrong path, and a couple of them found themselves well
on their way onto the Hat Creek Rim, dehydrated, with
no water.

At some point I will want to walk the PCT again, and
if kids or some other circumstance in my life dictate
that I need some sort of gear to make it happen, well,
so be it.  But until then, I'll leave it at home, and
try to take with me a degree of tolerance for those
who opt otherwise (who knows, I may need a phone or
want to hear about the news).  However, I will
probably also leave home any patience I have for
people who can't find a way to discretely use their
cell phones in the wild, or fo those who feel that
their bongo drums or didgeridoo are so wonderful and
primal that everyone out there needs to hear them. 
For those folks, as a distance-hiker I will have
either enough of a stench to drive them away, or at
the very least power in my feet to hike on.

Iron Chef


		
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