Others Bug Me With This in the Backcountry!

[Tad Englund]

OK, I’ve been told to ”hike your own hike”.
Sometimes when I HYOH, I can’t! Others don’t let me.
Because “others” while hiking their own hike, decide that I need to hike THEIR hike with THEM instead of my own. Here is my problem:
1. I don’t like ( I hate!) the smell of:
a. Cigar smoke
b. Pipe smoke
c. Cigarette smoke
d. Marijuana or the like, smoke
Any of these can permeate a whole valley (especially pipes and cigars). While others are relaxing, they are ruining the experience for everyone else around! Not just in your camp but even clear across a lake or valley.
What about “Leave no trace”? If I can smell it, you are leaving a trace! Usually far more then a trace!
I know this might be offensive to some, but I beg you, please allow me to “hike my own hike”.

[Robert Bryant]

Seriously, LNT and smoke. If you are trying to make that argument then you need to stay home because your footsteps are encroaching on my wilderness experience on the opposite coast.

If you don't like your neighbors then pull up your shelter and move on.

[Tad Englund]

Robert, LNT and smoking does apply if it isn't from a camp fire. The stuff I discussed stinks-
I think footsteps is a big stretch.

Why if I'm across the lake should I have to "pull up" and move on, because someone else is stinking up the place?
I guess you are one of those who want me to hike your hike.
Also, its hard to "pull up" if the guy a qtr mile up the trail is smoking something while you are hiking, I'd would already be "pulling up"! Am I then suppose to "put down"- again someone else wanting me to hike their hike.

I live in Washington State and I'm use to the "no smoking in public places" law (inside or out), I think if it is good enough in the smoggy city, why doesn't it apply to the country?
Why do a few have to ruing it for the many, just because they want to.

As to LNT, the last principle is (copied from their website):

Be Considerate of Other Visitors
• Respect other visitors and protect the quality of their experience.
• Be courteous. Yield to other users on the trail.
• Step to the downhill side of the trail when encountering pack stock.
• Take breaks and camp away from trails and other visitors.
• Let nature's sounds prevail. Avoid loud voices and noises

Please explain to me how my comments don’t apply. Also, I would add Smell to: “Let nature’s sounds and smells prevail”.

Maybe I am a lone ranger on this one.

[Tom Clark]

I'm with you on this. I'm more irritated by the "unnecessary" aspects of those situations that I didn't come to the wilderness to experience. If I wanted to smell cigarette or cigar smoke, I'd hang out at a bus stop. A small camp fire that is burning efficietly is OK, but hen someone restarts a smokey fire in the morning just to warm up while hanging around camp stinks.

[W I S N E R !]

Go hide in the woods. Stealth camp!

1. You will never be encroached upon by neighbors whether by smoke, noise, unsavory language, ill-trained pets, hippy drum circles, poor fashion, or general fun in the outdoors.

(Last time I camped in a crowded spot I saw a stoned kid fall at least 20 feet out of a tree at night…All I could see was the light of his headlamp slowly working it's way up the tree- then I hear a crack- then the light, with him still attached, plummeting to the ground. A rare experience that made it totally worth having neighbors.)

2. You can walk around camp naked (without drawing disgusted or lusty glances, depending…).

3. You'll never have to listen to camp songs:
..The other day (echo)
I met a bear (echo)
Out in the woods (echo)
A-way out there(echo)
Altogether:
The other day I met a bear
out in the woods a-way out there…

**Note to scout leaders: this is NOT LNT, it gets stuck in your freakin' head for days.

4. Every logical place to poo will not have already been pooed in.

The benefits go on and on.

[Joe Clement]

Wow, I'd hate to have a nose that sensitive. Carry some vapor-rub, and put it under your nose. Works good when your hiking partners get gassy too…..

[Daniel Fosse]

ooboy, well be sure to let me know when and where you are camping and I'll schedule around it. Cigarette, pipe, cigar, and or camp smoke are guaranteed to be emanating from my camping spot, where permitted. It’s not illegal, I’m not hurting the wilderness and I don’t require approval from LNT to do it. I completely understand what you are saying but I will not abstain from said activities.

[Ali e]

Boohoo the beers flat and my … hurts

Is this a real post or a joke?

[Rich Steixner]

I submit that I don't like the smell of curry. nN fact, I hate it and it makes me ill. Since curry is not found naturally in the forests of North America, nobody should be allowed to cook it in the backcountry.

I submit that so that I don't have to be reminded that there are other human beings in the world when I'm in the backcountry, only foods that can be found naturally to those woods be cooked or prepared. That includes morning coffee.

However, since marijuana and tobacco grow in various places in north america, they may be smoked in camp or on the trail.

I hope my sarcasm is coming through.

[Chris Chastain]

The aroma of burning leaves of one sort or another has been wafting through the forests since before the dawn of recorded history. One of man's simple pleasures, and many times, a necessity.

I try not to unintentionally annoy others in the backcountry.
Perhaps if there are others around it isn't truly backcountry?

In all seriousness, the phrase "get over it" comes to mind.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Hey Tad, I agree with you!!

Hate, hate, HATE the smell of cigarettes. A quality pipe tobacco can be OK….but not in the backcountry. Cigars reek no matter HOW much a person paid for it.

Weed…yeah, no thanks.

Now the smell of bacon sizzling will never be hated :-D

[Joshua Gilbert]

Okay, you may not agree with the OP, but there is no need to be quite so crude about it.

While I don't agree with the OP, I'm not offended, and you guys are being fairly offensive, so knock it off.

[Devin Montgomery]

Is it weird that I bring durian fruit with me on every hike? It works wonders in keeping the bears away!

[Ali e]

What about POOPY? Is it still ok to poopY? If it is then you find poopY less offensive than the smell of smoke? I'm just curious how you get to the trail to hike, if you drive then I have to smell your smog and thats ok with you? I better stop before I start making sense. :(

[Nate Meinzer]

I'm not sure how smoking violates "Leave No Trace" ethics as smoke is carried away with the wind and quite literally leaves no trace at all. By your logic, farting in the backcountry or being too stinky would be violating leave no trace…..

[John S.]

LNSM- leave no skid mark.

[Ashley Brown]

I hate cigarette/tobacco smoke.

However, I also hate camping close enough to anyone else that I can even see their tent. Hell, I don't even like sharing a valley with anyone else. I like to be alone in the wilderness, not part of a little backcountry "town".

Ergo, cigarettes don't bother me. I hate them, but you won't catch me close enough to anyone else to smell them.

[Anonymous]

Tad,
I'm curious: Where do you hike in WA that you run across smokers frequently? There are dozens, if not hundreds, of trails to choose from where this is highly unlikely to be a problem. I'd search them out if I were you because you're just not going to get people to stop smoking if they feel like it. Major bummer. I know because I hate tobacco smoke, too, but that's the way it is. All you can do is evade them.

[Anonymous]

Works good when your hiking partners get gassy too…..

So does a match. ;-)

[Anonymous]

"Is it weird that I bring durian fruit with me on every hike? It works wonders in keeping the bears away!"

Ahhhhh, durian, the food of the gods. I don't know about keeping the bears away, but it sure makes me long for the company of a woman. In S.E. Asia it's considered an aphrodisiac, with good reason. I wonder if you could use it to chum in one of those young lovelies camped in yonder grove? Hmmmm.
Definitely add this one to your list, Tad.

[Lynn Tramper]

If you feel that strongly about it then you really need to go hiking in true stealth mode. I am more offended by the noise other people make, but am not about to ask them to stop chatting, snoring, coughing or singing just because I'm trying to listen to the birds and the wind in the trees. It's just the price you pay if you hike in popular areas. Thankfully in these parts there is still plenty of true wilderness where I can mostly avoid people if I choose to.

Now if those pesky birds would just stop making so much noise first thing in the morning I could get a good night's sleep!

I hate the smell of DEET. I wish folks wouldn't wear it in the back country…

[Tony Wong]

Tom,

Don't forget that you can use it as a weapon to club a bear if all else fails!

Big, brown, spikey ball of fruit that smells like gasoline.

I have tried Durian in Singapore with my wife's family.

They went nuts over that stuff….kinda gave me a burning stomach ache.

Aphrodisiac??!!!

I would love to meet the woman who was turned on by a smell of a Durian Fruit.

One thing that we can agree on is that it would keep bears away….stuff is overwhelmingly fragrant.

I think that they are not allowed on the subways in Singapore, they are soooo nasty smelling.

-Tony

[Tad Englund]

Tom, I usually hike in the cascades between I-90 and the North Cascades Hwy. I only run into this issue about once a summer. But I still run into it. I have had to "deal with it" a lot less these days then in the past. Though those that smoke seem to be more "in your face" about it now then they were in the past though. Again they expect/force me to hike their hike with them. A little off topic- some of you might be old enough to remember Steve Martin’s skit while he’s on a plane… An often repeated line from it… “When asked, do you mind if I smoke? I say No, do you mind if I Fart.

I brought this topic up because I had read on another thread that some people like to smoke something at the end of the day. I was just giving my reaction to what they perceive as enjoyment for them, totally destroys my enjoyment.
I knew this would strike a nerve for some, but living in the NW, I sometimes take the lack of smoke for granted and I thought those in who might not have had someone explain what the majority of civilized society feels.
I still scratch my head as to why the very small percentage feels that the masses have to “get over it”. As always I’ll continue to hike my own hike while hiking others hike with them.

Boy do I sound like I'm whining! If you ask my wife she, would come up with a lot better things that bug her about me then my complaint in this thread. Thanks for reading.

[Rich Steixner]

Okay, you may not agree with the OP, but there is no need to be quite so crude about it.

While I don't agree with the OP, I'm not offended, and you guys are being fairly offensive, so knock it off.

The OP made what sounded like a pompous and unreasonable request, and he got responded to in kind. Every post but yours made a point about the topic. If you want to yell at someone, go find a classroom of unruly children.

[Tom Clark]

This went no where fast.

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