Others Bug Me With This in the Backcountry!

As much as it might fill up an outdoor romantic's most fantastic moments of REM sleep, in reality we don't often get to experience wild places entirely as we might prefer. One of the real keys to maintaining happiness out there, I find, is to shift focus away from what's realistically beyond my power to change.

Edit: In case it's too obscure, the image shows an average day's worth of commercial airline traffic in the skies over the United States. In many wilderness areas, jet noise is an inescapable reality and a far more dominant sensory presence than an ephemeral whiff of smoke.

The reality here is it's only burning leaves. That's it. Almost all cigars and pipe tobacco are 100% natural no additives nothing that is not wholey organic. I actually smoke cigars and a pipe, but have never done so on trail or in camp. I know people who don't care for a camp fire because it is a fairly particular smell…I'm sure many of us love it. Personal preference here. We aren't talking about someone throwing plastic bottles and tires in a camp fire. All in all…some smoke, some hum on trail, some people have dogs, some have kids, some people are on bike, some won't get out of your way…be careful what you complain about, because no matter how much you can feel as though you don't annoy other people I can guarantee someone thinks YOU are inconsiderate. Note YOU is plural in this context. We all need to vent sometimes…just be willing to take your lumps. I respect your standpoint Tad, but I find your expectations unrealistic.

Methinks when we are out with people (and strangers are people too) — then it is expected that we accommodate each other — within reason. This should apply both on the sidewalk and on the trail — at the mall and at campsites.

To me, a small campfire (where allowed), folks chit chatting, and yes, even smoking a cigarette or a cigar or two — are OK. Nudity, hollering all night or blasting a boom box at high decibels are not OK.

If you don't want to be bothered by others — or conversely if you want to go naked — then you should find a truly secluded place.

Jonathan, I appreciate your response.
To be honest with you I don't even remember what I wrote in the original post. I know it was something about smelling someones smoke.
Yes it was a rant, but I think everyone at sometime or another gets a thought about something that is bugging them. My problem is that I sometimes speak AS I think, instead of thinking before I speak. My wife always says to me, "do you think you can change the world with that comment?".

> The reality here is it's only burning leaves. That's it. Almost all cigars and pipe
> tobacco are 100% natural no additives nothing that is not wholey organic.

And carcinogenic, both as primary smoke and as secondary smoke.

Cheers

Plus if you skip the "boom box" you drop 3 to 12lbs. , and that doesn't include that sheet of cardboard you carry just in case you need to break dance to scare off the bears. ;)

Do you ride a horse Roger?

Benjamin, like the smokers- I'm addicted and can't stop speaking/writing AS I think-

If
>Nudity, hollering all night or blasting a boom box at high decibels are not OK.<
is 3 or 4 or 5 cigars too many or peppermint pipe smoke? Its hard to draw the line, though you did on hollering or boom boxes- those loud guys, like the smokers would say "get over it". Where does personal enjoyment end and public responsibility start. I have hiked next to a group that thought no noise was to loud. Yes, we moved on, but there should be a line somewhere. You drew the line with "Nudity, hollering all night or blasting a boom box". I was just drawing the line at smelling others smoking.
Depending on the music, I find smelling others smoking to be more offensive.

There is no answer. There is no line.

God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.

Please note this is not meant to be a religious comment as I am agnostic, but I thought the sentiment fitting.

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

Hey Tony,
I carry one in the back seat of my car in case of attempted car-jacking. If the smell doesn't deter them, the bear treatment will.
Durian is one of those "ya love it or ya hate it" things. I am wild about it myself. It's one of my most favorite things to eat. Going to and from India to visit family, we usually stop in Singapore, and I always make a beeline for the north end of the Bugis Market where the Malays sell durian. You can eat it right there at these rickety little tables. I ran into a group of Indonesians there one time and, after they got over the shock of seeing a Westerner go
into an altered state as he snarfed down his second fruit, told me they had come up from Jakarta just for the durian. According to them, Malaysia grows the best durian. Funny, I never thought it smells like gasoline-something much more sensuous. I, too, would have loved to meet a woman who gets turned on by durian. Too late now-I'm married and my wife can't stand the smell or taste. So it's solo missions for me. :(
P.S. It's not just the buses and subways; Most hotels have signs forbidding people to bring it into their rooms. Like I said, it's considered to be an aphrodisiac in that part of the world… ;-)

"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."

Tad,
It's a tough one, no doubt, but if it's that infrequent, I'd just hike on past and put some distance between you and them. And for sure don't go hiking with people that smoke. That the backpacking version of "seppuku", a slow and painful way to go.

"Nudity, hollering all night or blasting a boom box at high decibels are not OK."

OK, blasting ABBA all night should be punishable by firing squad.
…but why we gotta get down on the nudists?

Tom,

I just read your email to my wife.

She says that she is your woman…she'd be happy to hike a few miles with you!

I'd leave the two of you to your lust filled Durian lovefest…hehhehe.

First time I had it was in Sinpagore….they put salt and then water in the curvature of the rind and drank it down to polish off the fruit.

Power to you for outdoing the locals with your durian fetish. LOL!

As for the topic of smoking outdoors, I find it pretty offensive, but I am not about to brain anyone with a club over it.

In general, I have found my fellow backpackers to be a courteous bunch, so I am sure the scowl on my face would cause them to give me some space.

-Tony

CHIQUITITA TELL ME WHAT'S WRONG.
YOU ARE ASHAMED BY YOUR OWN SORROW.
INNnnnNNNN YOUR EYES THERE IS NO HOPE FOR TOMORROW.
HOW I HATE TO SEE YOU LIKE THIS…

Or how about Feelings? :)

I'm terrified.

And you're scared of nudists????

:)

Craig — we need to plan a hike together! :)

I do have a chip on my shoulder about smoking. I know it’s a filthy habit and according to some people the mere smell of it causes instant cancer but I’m hooked. I don’t do it around people that hate it. My wife hates it, don’t smoke around her. Here is the “thing”, it is not illegal to buy tobacco but it is practically illegal to use in my state. You can’t smoke indoors anywhere, nowhere on public property, and nowhere within 50 feet of a door or window, so basically nowhere. I don’t smoke in my house because it makes the place reek and I have kids so it isn’t even a consideration. So that pretty much leaves my car and my yard as the only place to take a drag. I am surprisingly ok with all of this. What I am not OK with is the suggestion that I should refrain from burning tobacco when I am miles away in the wilderness, further away from people as I can possibly be. The last time I checked I paid my taxes, on income and especially on tobacco, which should cover my national forest membership.

As others have said in this thread, someone will find your behavior annoying no matter how respectful you think you are acting. It’s all about tolerance. Non-smokers have the entire state of Ohio to enjoy tobacco free lives. I just want my car, yard, and campground free to use my legally purchased tobacco products.

As for no camp fires, don’t be silly.

P.S. Any tips on quitting smoking are welcome

P.P.S. Feel free to hike nude through my camp site, just don’t step on my smokes.

> Do you ride a horse Roger?
Nope

Cheers

ok i can see if people are blowing smoke in your face or when you are trying to sleep at night all you can smell is cigarette smoke but c'mon! isn't this a lightweight backpacking site? this applies to more than just the physical right? lighten up! freedom, tolerance, respect, understanding. don't walk into the woods and complain about the trees! tad, does the smell of marijuana really bug you? if so, in what way? because people are breaking some temporal law and you are choosing not too? i eat these last couple questions if truly the smell is unpleasant to you.

we've been taught so much that we just recite and choose to believe because we don't know what else to do. this is ok of course but lets not forget we are all in different places in this worldly experience! know that trash for you is another person's treasure. sorry for the rant but lighten up! (counter rants are more than wonderful)

We're not "allowed" to yell in the city.

If we can't yell in the woods, then where?

Me thinks this is a case of expecting to be able to pick up a turd by the clean end.

My peeve is at night, it seems that plenty of people can't seem to not shine their super-bright headlamps in my eyes. People need to learn to keep their headlamps to themselves. This only happens in campgrounds, so it's not that often, thankfully.

"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."

well Rich, I'm sorry that you were offended by my post, however it came in response to two previous posts that involved derogatory comments towards the O.P. involving female genitalia. We all know how quickly civility can erode in a faceless medium like the internet, and in a community, be it online or elsewhere, community members have a responsibility to maintain civility.

Frankly, these forums are public and there are plenty of women on his site who are quite possibly much tougher than you or I, so the comments that the other posters made were sexist and derogatory (although I am sure inadvertently so), and don't have a place on this board.

As for being off topic, well maybe so, but saying "My … hurts" ain't exactly providing an insight, it's simply being crude. If a buch of us were sitting around a bar, great, no problem, but thats not where we're at

sorry for the long post everyone. I'm a high school teacher, Have to go yell at my classroom of unruly children.

I have never met a high school teacher that could take a joke.

(This IS one by the way)

yeah, we are utterly without humor, overly serious, pompous even. Never made or taken a joke in my life. My face would crack if I smiled.

Roger, thanks for editing the original post that I mentioned