are tech toys spoiling the wilderness experience?

[Ken Thompson]

What is the Wilderness Experience?

[Mike M]

something along these lines

 

[jscott]

I appreciate your bucking me up Doug.

[W I S N E R !]

Good answer Mike.

[jscott]

purple haze

[Nick Gatel]

What is the Wilderness Experience?

Taking pictures of yourself on a backpacking trip to paste on your Facebook, Twitter or Instagram page.

[jscott]

You guys might ask your wives, or a friends, if they understand what’s meant by ‘the experience of giving birth’. My guess is they will. You, not so much.

I mean by ‘the experience of being in the wilderness’ exactly what most people who speak English understand by that.

[Pedestrian]

Is it that painful? Being in the wilderness??

No wonder some people get so grouchy……about being “in the  wilderness”.

;)

[jscott]

I always ask for an epidural with my permit.

[Pedestrian]

“I always ask for an epidural with my permit.”

But do you always get one?

Maybe you ought to also seek an epidural on the way home….

 

[Brett A]

Taking pictures of yourself on a backpacking trip to paste on your Facebook, Twitter or Instagram page.

So true. Maybe it’s just me but it seems like a crazy number of people have died or gotten severly injured attempting to do just that!

[Ken Thompson]

Being out there with the planes and satellites overhead.

[Manfred]

Jeff,

It’s puzzling to me that you are suggesting that “on perfectly safe trails” which you define like the JMT, people shouldn’t take gizmos – and on top of that claim that their wilderness experience would be negatively impacted if they do. Not only does it seem irresponsible to me in light of SAR reports from the JMT to make such statements, but I find it offensive how you dismiss other backpackers’ wilderness experiences as not real if they carry giizmos. Your last post is bringing this thread to a new low for people like me whose first language is not English. Really? Wow! According to you my wilderness experience is not real and doesn’t count as wilderness experience because I carry an inReach. Furthermore you seemingly imply that I don’t even understand ‘wilderness experience’ like all the other people who speak proper English.

May be the current shelter-in-place is putting you in a weird mood? May be it’s time for a backpacking trip to relax with the help of  some wilderness experience? I will be the next 2.5 weeks on the Sierra High Route. This time I will take 50% more time than on this prior SHR trip. That will give me more time to immerse myself into the wilderness away from cellphone reception, the internet, constant video conference calls, etc. and enjoy the wilderness experience even more than back then. Back then I carried gizmos and I will again this time. They won’t stand between me and my wilderness experience – and even with limited language skills I know ‘wilderness experience’ when I see it.

Enjoy your hikes, immerse yourself in the wilderness and – may be – be happy for everyone else who enjoys the wilderness experience in their own way.

Manfred

[Brett A]

Not to detour from the thread (or maybe its a good time to take a breather!)…

Manfred,

I hadn’t read the account from your first SHR trip. I’m SO envious! Incredible! Looking forward to reading about how this one goes

[Ken Thompson]

Let’s pretend that backpacking was invented last week. Would taking electronic devices be wrong? Are people trying to fight change or embrace the only constant in life?

[BlackHatGuy]

I ain’t the forum police, but it seems this thread has about run its course. Jeff seems to feel (I say seems because I don’t want to put words in his mouth) that we’re losing something special by letting electronics invade our wilderness treks. I think he makes a fair point when talking about those who are immersed in their phones and such when in the wilderness, it’s just that most of us haven’t actually seen someone do that, so much pushback and disagreement from most of us.

I think if we stop thinking Jeff is talking about us directly (even if he did kinda start his initial post that way) we might find some agreement with his musing. Not complete agreement mind you, since I’m not allowed to completely agree with Jeff on anything, it would upset the delicate balance of the universe. I’d certainly agree that too much focus on electronics in the wilderness changes the very nature of an older concept of a wilderness experience. I’m just not willing to also say that it’s necessarily a bad thing, it’s just a different thing.

[W I S N E R !]

I think that’s pretty fair Doug.

[jscott]

Well said Doug.

[Dan]

I just came inside from using my augmented reality iPhone astronomy app to help me view constellations. Never fear, I was just out on my deck, so I didn’t ruin my wilderness experience.

[W I S N E R !]

I will admit I like playing chess in camp. And chess in camp makes you look like a woke dirtbag, especially when it’s being played like an alcoholic in the Patagonia ad.

(At least white appears to be safely castled behind the Budweiser tallboy).

But let’s be straight here. When I see my opponent play 5. … Nxd5?! and I’m wondering if I can sucker them with a knight sacrifice 6. Nxf7 and launch the Fried Liver Attack for some lively action…well, in the heat of battle I’m not exactly having a “wilderness experience”, am I?

I might as well be sitting on a rock and collecting Charizard in Pokemon GO.

And for those of you backpacking book readers, Diary of a Wimpy Kid or Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban are most definitely a waste of the wilderness experience. At least lie and say it was a hardback edition of Leaves of Grass, not something you bought at the supermarket checkstand.

[HkNewman]

It comes down to what bugs most hikers as technology progresses from magnetic compass to do it all handheld smartphones .. more powerful than a room of 1960s computers reportedly.

If someone is in a tent watching a movie on their electronic device with earplugs in and other noise cancelling practices, is it really harming anyone else?    On the other hand ..

… someone blasting music on their speakers bugs most other hikers, plus it affects the wildlife which is illegal (not sure it’s enforceable unless caught in the act).   Same with most phone calls if someone gets service.  Everyone has a story about the social butterfly yakking away at the vista over a cell phone.

Then again, I took a break with some PCT Section B hikers at Splinters Cabin when there were cell phone signals even on the “beach”.   So everyone is snacking and visiting –  then one of the section hikers got a dozen messages from the sheriff.  He called the #.  One of their shuttle vehicles got stolen and joyridden right into the side of an 18-wheeler on I-15 at freeway speeds.  Luckily close family picked him up at the nearby TH where he could get the matter sorted (instead of showing up a couple days later at Cajon Pass wondering “where’s my car, dude?”).  Same thing if family is worried, a phone conversation or sat comm ping could avoid a SAR launch with buzzing helicopters and such.

I am for keeping tech as hidden and non-intrusive as possible  (which includes low weight), but it can prove beneficial.

[Brett A]

I thought this was timely. So I just got a text from my son. There’s a pic of a tiny camper that he just purchased. He added that now he’ll be able to play video games in the Great Outdoors! Tongue-in-cheek maybe but knowing him it wouldn’t surprise me.

My wife and I have done quite a bit of the AT but the Sierras have always been on our bucket list. I refer him to some pics but added that you’re gonna have to walk. He responds back that it looks like there’s no wifi and that I should record it in 3D so he can do the hike with his VR headset back home. Go figure.

Maybe we are losing something. On the other hand, I suspect he won’t be in need of an inReach while sitting on his butt playing video games in a campground.

[Brett A]

I am for keeping tech as hidden and non-intrusive as possible (which includes low weight), but it can prove beneficial.

My feelings as well.

[Jenny A]

“Dagnabbit!  We used to eat our woolly mammoth raw, and then some bonehead started cooking his meat.  Now everyone does it, and eating just isn’t the same.”

Perhaps not the best example, but it illustrates how things change.  I think folks ought to be able to haul as much crap as they want into the back country…but that right ends where it infringes on others’ right to be free of that same crap.  Blasting music and flying drones come to mind.  For that matter, so does building a gigantic bonfire and getting obnoxiously drunk.

I propose that it’s not the increasing amount of electronics in the back country that is the problem; it’s the increasing number of users who for whatever reason are oblivious to the thoughts and needs of others.  Some people use electronics to insulate themselves from what might be unfamiliar or scary situations, but that also closes them off to potentially connecting to the outdoors and truly living “in the moment.”  Different strokes for different folks, but I don’t want to hear your music or smell your pot.

 

[jscott]

“Perhaps not the best example…”

Indeed. For the record, I cook my food.

[Author]

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