Have You Ever Defended Hiking?

[Woody]

I haven't really had to defend my hiking. I had one guy at work telling me about "when I get to be his age". I asked him how old he was. Then I told him that I was already 7 years older then he is. I think I'll keep hiking!
My wife doesn't really mind me hiking solo any more. I took up rock and ice climbing a few years ago. Now she is happy when I tell her I'm just going hiking.
Too many other internet boards have people that are just trying to pretend that they are tough or better than you are and they end up flaming the other posters regardless of the subject. Life is too short to be that mean and unhappy.

 

[jbreen]

Makes me Glad I am single and do not have kids . If I did have a wife and kids you can be damn sure they would be hiking at some level or at least real camping at a placeW/O eletric hook ups and all the amenties of home.

cue the visa card commercial announcer...

What can beat seeing your children being completely amazed when finding their fifth toad or salamander of the day on the trail, pointing out the bear claw marks on a beech tree (the bear once ), moose off the trail, etc? That's a bene of hiking.

Jim

 

[Lizzy]

I never smoke pot climbing a mountain. The exertion form climbing burns the high off way too quick. It would be wasteful....not part of the hiker's way. Any hiker/hippie/pothead knows the best time is at the top, late in the date, no one "strange" is around.....preferably w/ some buds, cuz by yourself is kinda lame (smokin not hikin......hike solo all the time).

Gotta love those turd sandwiches out there who just throw these old-fashiones stereotypes out there just for the sake of getting total strangers all riled up...........bunch of buttheads!

As far as the wifes attitude, she did Hancock with me, and Chocorua....but that's it. But I don't complain....there's too many other more important thing about her that I love that her not being all gung-ho with hiking is fine by me.

But I gotta being the GD cell phone with me. I usually call as soon as I get back to the car. Let her know that I didn't get eaten by a bear. Or the abominable snowman.

later bros

and sistas

 

[forestgnome]

I never defend or praise hiking or living in the mountains, except with like-minded people.

 

[ALGonquin Bob]

No, I don't defend my hiking. I'm more like, "you go do your thing, and I'll do mine". I work in a hunting & fishing store (it's a job), so my co-workers and customers certainly don't "get it". My local friends and family don't "get it". I find that the only people who understand are you good people out there in VFTT land. Thanks for being there! And thank you, Darren, for creating this site. -Bob (ALG)

 

[sierra]

If someone ask me why I climb, I simply respond " If you have to ask, you wont understand the answer"

 

[Periwinkle]

Ah, presumptuousness.... one of my major pet peeves....

The only thing I think we can assume about the hippie-hating-gas-man is that he likes to flame. Making assumptions about his person or motivation is pointless. And presumptuous. Although highly amusing!

But, it's a good point to be taken in not making assumptions about people -- here or in real-life. Seriously, if you met me out on the town, you probably wouldn't peg me for a hiker. Well, maybe the calve muscles would give me away.... But on an average day or night, particularly if indulging in all my bad habits .....nah....

You never know who might share your interests if you jump to conclusions about others. If you judged me on external factors that have nothing to do with hiking: where I live, what I do, the car I drive, what I look like...the shell, you'd never know the little trail snail that's hidden inside.

For me, when it comes to others' perceptions of me and my interests, I try very hard to have a sense of humor about it all. The only people I bother to "defend" hiking to are those I know and love because I value their opinion. Because I want them to understand why I want to do what has come to matter to me so much. It's my thing. It's personal. I try to share the experience with others when they truly seem interested, but if they're not, c'est la vie.

 

[Maddy]

I feel no need to defend hiking to anyone anymore. They have no compreshension of what I am talking about and could care less. The almighty $$$$$$ is their god and they worship it well.
Wicker basket parties, chef so and so parties, house decorations, who has the best house cleaner, shopping adventures in the malls keep them fulfilled. I forgot to mention the recipes and dinner parties. I wish them well in the pursuit of materialism. Whatever keeps the boat afloat.
I recently made the mistake of mentioning that it had been a wonderful experience sleeping in my teepee (megamid) in the back yard with the full moon, campfire, etc and the response was "what on earth did you do that for?"
I try not to let these things slip out but it does happen now and then.
I think what we all have here, our great love of mountaineering, is an incredible gift.
I am so grateful for it and really appreciate having these forums where I can read about like-minded people's adventures, look at their neats pics, learn more and more about safety, gear, and hiking mutts.
My only regret is that I cannot spend more of my life in the mountains.

 

[post'r boy]

defend hikin'????

why bother???

 

[sweeper]

No I don't. If they don't get it no amount of words will help. Besides isn't the backcountry crowded enough? No use stirring up converts and giving people new ideas. Let them live in their Ivory Halls in ignorance of the backcountry.

 

[jmegillon149]

Its weird, people don't give me crap for hiking, they usually seem interested, and seem impressed, since they don't see themselves as able to do it. My hiking has never gotten me called a hippie, my love of jambands and tie-dye on the other hand do - but hey if the shoe fits, I might as well wear it!

"I don't have a problem. I have my hiking under control. It's not like I'm smoking crack or shooting heroin!"

Gotta disagree with this one, I've hiked with Double Bow more than once and he most certainly is an addict-I love hiking, but this guy is out of control!!

 

[Tom Rankin]

Maybe the 'hippie' thing refers to thru hikers who haven't had a shave or a hair cut in a quite a while. A lot of thru hikers appear this way, but I'm sure not all of them are truly hippies.

The more I hike, the more I meet people from all walks of life, young or old, rich or poor, liberal or conservative, who cares!?

Get out and hike!

 

[Double Bow]

Gotta disagree with this one, I've hiked with Double Bow more than once and he most certainly is an addict-I love hiking, but this guy is out of control!!

If the straightjacket fits, the voices in my head tell me to wear it!

 

[WhiteMTHike]

Thank You All

I want to thank all of you who responded to my post. I'm not one for flame wars on the 'net because all they do is escalate the blood pressure but I'm glad I defended hiking. After reading all of your posts I appreciate the support and all of you make it worth the time to defend hiking and my fellow hikers.

As for that blowhard on that other web page. Well I went to that board again, not to post but just to lurk. That guy not only bragged about "pushing that hippie hiker" off the board but he was also flaming single parents, people with kids in Daycare, a mountain biker (called him a pot smoking hippie as well) and in general, anyone else who is not as financially well off as him. As I was reading this I couldn't help but ask myself what I was doing in his hell when I could be back in heaven on VFTT with my fellow hikers. So I'll put this to rest by just letting the little man live in his little world and again give my thanks to all of you.

HIKE THE GOOD HIKE!

 

[JonD]

Don't waste your time with that guy. You've got to live your own life. If I ever feel like I have to defend hiking to someone, I just invite them on a trip. No one's accepted yet. If someone is that close-minded, they're a lost cause. Enjoy yourself!

 

[MadRiver]

As a former pot smoking hippie turned Ralph Lauren poster boy, I too get strange looks and remarks when asked what I am doing on any given weekend. I usually just smile and tell them that my tent is made out of Herringbone tweed.

 

[funkyfreddy]

hiking is a psychic multi-vitamin for me.

As someone who did hardly any hiking this summer I now realise that my need to hike is non-negotiable......I have to get out of the city and into the woods regularly in order to maintain my sanity!

 

[slowandsteady]

As someone who did hardly any hiking this summer I now realise that my need to hike is non-negotiable......I have to get out of the city and into the woods regularly in order to maintain my sanity!

Well said! I focus much better on work and home when I'd had a nice long walk in the woods.

Minutes after we met, my husband of 24 years and I discovered a mutual interest in hiking, XC skiing and outdoors in general. Well we’re still hiking together and will go for a hike to celebrate our anniversary in September, as we have for most of our anniversaries. Our son, now 12, has been hiking with us since he was a toddler. I have to admit it was pure patience and bribery to get him to go in those early years (but the hikes gradually got longer with plenty of m and m’s and skittles). This summer he recently completed a couple of hikes/backpacks with groups of kids his age and he is hooked. This was confirmed when he said he much preferred the back country sites in the dry river wilderness to the dry river campground.

When our son received his 4000-footer patch this past spring a reporter at the local paper here in suburbia thought it interesting enough to interview him and write a feature article about his hiking, and a little about the 4000-footer club, with a front-page photo and all. The response was really favorable but there were two negative remarks, both from people I would consider overly competitive in most areas of their lives. One remark was along the line of why the paper would publish anything that no one in our town could possibly be interested in given we have no mountains and the other was from a man who remarked “hiking – that’s just putting one foot in front of the other – no big talent there”. Yikes.

We’ve has a handful of comments in that vein over the years – mostly from people who just want to know why we don’t just go the Cape and sit on the beach like all the other families from our neighborhood. I used to respond with something like “well, be glad because that’s one less family on the beach” or “isn’t it great that we don’t all try to be in the same place at the same time?” but now I just smile and say to each his own or something benign.

And, so, isn’t it fortunate that all of us don’t want to be in the same place doing the same thing at the same time?