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In spite of this thread – I hope you all enjoy backpacking:-) In case you forgot – here is a nice video to remind you:
https://thetrek.co/stunning-new-documentary-why-do-i-hike-love-letter-to-thru-hiking/
I was never interested in theater while school and therefore I can never “act” out in public.
Interesting thread; lots of different perspectives. Two things to add:
1. The substance of any message is dependent on both the sender and the recipient, and as such there’s no universally-correct way to handle any given situation. As members of a social species, we have certain traits and behaviors that are very common…but no matter what you intend, say, do, telegraph or imply, the other party to your actions is free to interpret them at will, by way of instinct, thought, hope, fear, experience, or any other motivating reason. This being the case, the simple axiom of “less is more” usually holds true in the case of the topic at hand: a friendly and polite greeting and/or acknowledgement as you pass on the trail offers the best chance for healthy interaction and the least chance for problematic misinterpretation.
2. Awareness – and by extension, proactive employment – of local and cultural norms often makes interactions with strangers much easier. People think, act and live differently in different parts of the world, and knowing what behaviors the people in any given area consider to be normal, polite and acceptable makes passing encounters much simpler and less potentially-threatening.
Both of these points were driven home to me when I was hiking in a different country: Germany. Before spending time on trails there, I had adopted a mostly-silent demeanor when encountering other people on the trail, and that behavior has always been acceptable for my usual tramping grounds…but in Germany, it became quickly apparent that not saying anything wasn’t just an unacceptable and mildly-suspicious behavior, but downright impolite. Thus, I began to mimic what other people were doing: a smile and a greeting from a few meters away immediately put people at ease and actually opened up a few nice conversations here and there. I carried the behavior back home, and although hikers in the US certainly aren’t as chatty as the Germans, I have found that the simple act of pleasantly recognizing another person’s presence on the trails as we cross paths – and by default, recognizing a basic commonality between us – usually carries no penalities, and it offers me up as an example of how one person can comfortably share a moment – even the most fleeting of moments – with another.
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