Grumpy Old Man here

If you don’t want to encounter people you should stay home.

The fact that you tried to tell him what to do….., makes you an a-hole in my book.  Then you got angry because he didn’t???

if you want to stay distanced, that’s your responsibility and it’s up to you.   if you had told me to stop and step off the trail I would have told you to go f yourself.    Just step off the trail…….. You act like you were forced to do that.   It’s what you should have done from the beginning.

Air doesn’t move and disperse very quickly in windless conditions either….. You’re going to breathe the same air the other person breathed out….at least some of it.

Even riding in cars on highways…..you can often smell cigarette smoke if a car ahead of you has somebody smoking with window cracked..

Trail runner and backpacker here.

One thing I have been told – and I feel it’s wrong- is that the person going uphill has the right of way. It’s harder to stop going downhill than it is to start going up hill. Add in running and it takes a lot more energy to stop.  It’s all about the inertia one must overcome.

while I trail run I think of the same motto I use for hiking. Hike your own hike. In other words, don’t be an jerk because someone is doing something you don’t agree with or it ‘disrupts’ your solitude.

that said, I also agree that both parties are to blame. Yes, the runner might have moved over but not off the trail as they have their own thing going on. But I also ask why should the runner (who’s inertia has a lot more energy than the hiker) be required to move off the trail?  This isn’t political or me being a runner – it’s physics. Objects in motion want to move in straight lines unless acted upon. Also the old F=MA equation. remember that?  All sorts of reasons why YOU should move over and not the runner.  You can think it’s crap but I just pointed out it’s actually physics in motion (like that pun).

Ok, so now your pissed the runner isnt bowing to your command and you yell at them?  Yes maybe you both should have shared the trail but you seem to have this attitude that the trail is yours and all else must bow to your wishes.

if I was the runner and heard you (I wear aeroplex bone conduction headphones so I would have heard you). I would have told you where you can go since the trails are for everyone. Then I’d school you (again) on the F=MA as well as inertia – the whole objects in motion wanna stay in motion along with other basic facts.  Don’t be that guy.

-Perry

Eric, from one very grumpy old man to another, I would offer this …

Be the change you wish to see in others.  You would have preferred for the kid to be gracious, kind, and accommodating.  Next time, try to show him what that looks like.  It’s hard to break instinct, but the gesture feels much better than the anger.  I’ve lugged around enough of the latter to know.

It’s possible you were a little grumpy yesterday, Eric.  ;-)

Everyone has days like that, but most likely you don’t usually get so worked up over every inconsiderate act you experience, it’s too stressful.

At least you were able to get off the trail to protect yourself. There’s one particular local trail I like that has a length section of single-track with very steep terrain above and below. Over the summer, a lot of tourists were visiting from a different state where the virus was raging. They came here to escape the virus, but ironically they brought their non-mask-wearing habits with them. After numerous stressful experiences passing maskless people on that section (which requires very close proximity), I just stopped hiking that trail for a while.

I agree with @livingontheroad. You are getting very old in your ways of thinking. Change or get off the trails.

Cheers

You shouldn’t have yelled and just stepped off the trail.

Sorry Eric, but I have to agree with the others…I think that needed to be handled differently.  I don’t know if 63 years old is “old”, but I’m pretty sure most 20 somethings think I’m an old man. Learned long ago to make the effort and take the actions to assure the outcome I prefer.  Should I have to make up for someone else’s inconsiderate act(s),  or their stupidity?  Probably not, but who cares?  I mostly hike/camp solo because that puts me in charge and in control of my hike. I create the outcome I desire.  In the long run, that is much easier, less stressful and minimizes encounters with aggressive a-holes.

”Walk away.  Enjoy your day”.

I can understand the frustration because of our current circumstances, but getting angry at a person in that situation means they owned you. Uphill, downhill, COVID, precovid, I just step aside and let the other person pass.

Nope, no call to be grumpy. You’re just gonna keep making yourself grumpy and not attract the happy people you need to be around.

When ever someone asks me “Did you wake up grumpy this morning?!”  I reply, “Absolutely not!  I let her sleep in.”

Wait: Eric has a valid point IF runner wasn’t wearing a face mask as he approached. I just came back from a hike in my local wooded large park. EVERYONE is in a face mask; there are signs saying “stay home if you won’t wear one”.

Eric, were you wearing a face mask as the runner passed? I don’t wear one all the time on my hikes but don one as people approach; as does everyone.

People here seem pretty indifferent to Covid protocol. Are you all aware of the current rates of infection, hospitals becoming overwhelmed, shortages of health workers and overworked staff and doctors? The last are going the extra mile every day. I don’t think it would be too much to ask for the runner to follow protocol, AND for Eric to step off…

Asking a runner to stop and step off is just too much?? Going downhill means all rules are suspended because, you know, you decide so for yourself? Tell that to hospital staff and grocery and farm workers. Sheesh.

Oh and runners do expel air and possible viral load much more forcefully than walkers. So do singers; that’s why choirs are suspended. so do woodwind players, etc.

Now I’m lecturing again…

Suggesting wearing masks while hiking with pack or running is dumb.   Walking leisurely around a high use park path….sure.

Ive been hiking  on 2 bigger trails recently.  No one wears masks backpacking.  Trail used for some of these trails is likely at an all-time high particularly for this time of year. on the trail I was on last week I encountered more backpackers on the most remote , least used, part of it than I had encountered on all of it before. I had gone five days without seeing a person before…. And I saw 5 distance hikers in one day on the most remote, hard to access part of it.

People will stay usually about four or five feet apart when briefly chatting as pass….thats far enough…..in most opinions.  But that’s up to the person…..if someone wants to stay 10 ft apart that’s fine too but it’s going to be up to them to make sure that happens.

If you’re not comfortable with what other people are doing, stay home.   They’re not going to change for you.

“If you’re not comfortable with what other people are doing, stay home.   They’re not going to change for you.”

Yeah….no. I mentioned that I don’t wear a mask at all times when hiking only when I encounter people. Wear a neck buff and pull it up. Easy. EASY!

No, ‘people’ who are doctors don’t say “four or five feet apart is good enough”. You’re back to making up your own rules to suit your convenience. that’s why there’s a quarter million people dead of covid and cases are rising drastically as we speak. follow the established protocols. A quarter million dead people can’t be wrong. But you won’t; can’t be bothered.

People aren’t supposed to change for Erik; they’re supposed to care enough about other people to change their own behavior. they’re supposed to change out of basic human decency.

Erik needs to get the hell off the trail because he follows protocol?

did you read the part of my post about health care workers stressing and worse for months on end? Any thoughts?

“ I yelled at him to stop or move off the trail”

Yelled.
yeah, no.

@livingontheroad seems a little grumpy too.  :-)

kat, I don’t do that. Actually people pass me 8 feet away and I don’t think twice.

Still, some people like the runner just can’t be bothered and infect people right and left; I suppose it  would be far worse to insult their sense of divine right and, you know, cause them 10 seconds of annoyance by having to put on their mask

“gee that old asshole expects me to pull up my mask? and yells at me? ME?”

sadly the health care workers can’t just blow off these people as they pile up in the icu units–along with the thousands they infected along the way.

Wear a mask on your chin. Pull it up when appropriate. How effing hard is that?

We don’t know if the guy was or was not wearing a mask. We don’t even know if Erik was. No need to take this thread exactly where the other one was.

The health care workers!!!!!
yes, they are doing their jobs. People dying from Covid and those suffering permanent damage are a much bigger concern to me.

Good point; I probably need a nap.

still…I remember when laws began to go into effect banning smoking in restaurants and then bars. People said, ‘well, if you don’t want to breathe cigarette smoke stay home! you can’t make people do what you want. And the waiters and bar tenders and airplane stewardesses will just have to suck it up. I’ll do what I want!”

Most people I’ve encountered have done a combination of putting on a mask and stepping off trail as we approach each other. I found it somewhat difficult and fumbly to get a mask out and on my face. So I solved that problem by taking a 3 layer cloth mask, cut the ear loops off , and sewed it inside of one of my buffs and wear it around my neck as I hike. I see another person and I can quickly and easily pull it up and into position to protect us both.

Eric’s reaction was probably a little over the top, but most of us are probably guilty of some over-the-top reactions these days.  Nerves are frayed and stress is high.  The guy running down could have done differently, and so could have Eric and the world might have been a little nicer place.   I can empathize with Eric’s irritation; I can also see why the guy running down the trail saw no need for a mask.  After all, he was outside in the great outdoors with large volumes of fresh air and plenty of UV light to help kill The Bug.  Brief encounters outdoors are not the main way this thing is transmitted.

“If you’re not comfortable with what other people are doing, stay home.   They’re not going to change for you.”

Yeah….no. I mentioned that I don’t wear a mask at all times when hiking only when I encounter people. Wear a neck buff and pull it up. Easy. EASY!

No, ‘people’ who are doctors don’t say “four or five feet apart is good enough”. You’re back to making up your own rules to suit your convenience. that’s why there’s a quarter million people dead of covid and cases are rising drastically as we speak. follow the established protocols. A quarter million dead people can’t be wrong. But you won’t; can’t be bothered.

People aren’t supposed to change for Erik; they’re supposed to care enough about other people to change their own behavior. they’re supposed to change out of basic human decency.

Erik needs to get the hell off the trail because he follows protocol?

did you read the part of my post about health care workers stressing and worse for months on end? Any thoughts?

Thoughts?  Plenty.

Zero science behind 6 ft or mask wearing.

Better than nothing, I agree.  But not magic.

People been wearing masks and distancing all year…..it helps….maybe.   What helps more is not going anywhere or doing anything …..and that’s what changed.  Opening restaurants, opening bars, Sending kids to school …..THATS a big part of why it began ramping up in fall….. Kids went back to school in most areas.  With masks…..with distancing.

Any impact of people out hiking is  nil. That’s an extremely small subset of people.

As was said at the beginning of this, you can’t stop it you can only slow it.    It’s a non issue for  vast majority of people.

Today, you don’t have to leave your house for anything. Delivery services will bring food to you , will bring groceries to you, etc.   if you leave your house it’s your choice that you’re rolling the dice if your high risk.

The only goal has ever been to keep icu’s from being overrun. And really, that’s a very very small number of open ICU beds at any time…. It doesn’t take much to overrun that….at all.   Thats the problem.  A city of 500,000 people may only average 30 open ICU beds, out of 50 total.  It’s a ridiculously small number.  Earlier in year when hospitals were shutdown….icus were busy…….everything else was like a ghosttown.

We still don’t know who was wearing a mask and who wasn’t. Unless I missed an edit..it seems like we are assuming Erik was wearing one and the other guy was not. Seems like we would have been told if that were the case. Maybe neither of them were. Then what?

If i rember correctly, Erik is old enough to be considered high risk of complications.   That would explain frustration with others, but again….only YOU are responsible for looking out for YOU.  Dont expect anyone else to, and you wont be dissspointed.