Hiking under the influence (of electronics)

[RollingRock]

I like to hear the sounds of nature while I'm hiking...the wind, the babbling brook, the birds, footsteps, jets, planes, the cog whistle....

When backpacking, I carry a small radio with a huge antenna. I like listening to the local rock station for the music, weather, news, etc. After being out in nature all day, it provides me company, friendship, a voice. I can listen to the radio while cooking and chilling out. In case I would offend anyone, I do have earbuds in case nobody wants me to share.

 

[DayTrip]

Though I never listen to music thru earbuds while hiking, I believe I have heard playing in my head the repetitive rhythmic beat of Led Zeppelin's Kashmir on a couple of death marches.

Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd tends to invade my mind on long trudges out of the woods late at night like Lincoln Woods or a road walk.

 

[jfb]

I don't bring electronics, but sometimes sing to myself. Favorite hiking song is "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts."

 

[Sanbu]

Some people must like the sound of their own voice. One of my Chinese trekking guides had the habit of singing on the trail, then immediately playing back a recording of it from his cell phone.

 

[Sanbu]

Edit: change “stinging” to “singing”

 

[Mike P.]

If I sang, stinging would have been correct..... A voice meant for the car only when the radio is played loud enough to cover me.

 

[Jazzbo]

I'll say one thing for solo bushwhacking. I did a solo bushwhack to Mount Chandler an area teeming with wild life in spite of (or perhaps due to) past logging activity. Hiking solo there is no loud conversations to cause critters to head for cover well in advance of your passage. I saw cow moose and calf. I saw two bear cubs scramble up a tree. Obviously I made no effort to get closer due mother's instinct to protect. One could say hiking in a group isolates the party from more intimate experience of nature just as much as listening to the ear-buds.

 

[Mike P.]

I'll say one thing for solo bushwhacking. I did a solo bushwhack to Mount Chandler an area teeming with wild life in spite of (or perhaps due to) past logging activity. Hiking solo there is no loud conversations to cause critters to head for cover well in advance of your passage. I saw cow moose and calf. I saw two bear cubs scramble up a tree. Obviously I made no effort to get closer due mother's instinct to protect. One could say hiking in a group isolates the party from more intimate experience of nature just as much as listening to the ear-buds.

I agree, I see much more wildlife solo and much closer than I see it with small groups. If I go with the scouts, we don't see anything except a squirrel or a songbird who are more use to people.

 

[peakbagger]

I have the same experience when solo hiking. When I am doing AT boundary work, the area is generally in the deep woods rarely visited by anyone although the boundary swath sometimes is clear enough to be a game trail. One day I was sitting next to boundary marker I recovered writing some notes and had a woodchuck walk by me by about a foot away from where I was sitting. I see lots more wildlife when I am off trail even when I am making noise going through the woods. I usually have a ACR whistle around my neck to give a toot if the larger animals like bears and moose are inadvertently heading too close in my direction. The ACR toot doesn't sound like anything natural so it wakes them up that something unusual is in the woods.

 

[Nessmuk]

Deep in the backcountry one time while hiking solo far off trail, I found myself in the midst of the tallest stand of juicy delicious red raspberries like I had never seen before. While munching away, I discovered that I was walking on a previously trampled trail winding through the berry patch, not made by any human. So I began to sing and carry on a talking conversation with any large critter who may have been present behind the next bush. Nothing came of it, but it was exciting for a while.

 

[Ed'n Lauky]

If everyone would just get one of these it would take care of everything. https://www.amazon.com/The-NoPhone-...pID=31OBcDwFLpL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch