Music while hiking

[gooly]

I love music and have it on all the time, at home, at work , in my car. I've yet to hike with my ipod, never even thought about it actually. I've used it to train...nothing like a shot of nofx to get up DHP for the upteenth time. I guess i would be less in tune with my surroundings, but thats just me...you can do what you want...

 

[cbcbd]

I am the same way..and I don't even have to be hiking. The thing that I find interesting is that it can be an unconcious thing and then when it becomes concious the relavance of what is/has been playing in my head is totally congruent to my situation.

Funny, when I read this I realized that I unconsciously had a song going through my head. I stopped myself and realized that for some unknown reason "Yet Another Movie" from Pink Floyd's Momentary Lapse of Reason was playing in my head. I haven't listened to that album in long time and have no idea how the song got in my head - usually words or sounds heard in "life" that are similar to a song will kick in my music memory for a particular song.
Same thing happens when hiking, but then I am just more aware that the song is there and get tired when I keep looping through one song's chorus a thousand times!!
Similar to hiking, for running I used to shun the use of music - I used to think it was a cop out, that if you couldn't run with just your thoughts, the pounding of your feet, and your breathing, that you just needed to train your mind better... well, I really enjoy music and running now... what a difference it makes to look at things from the other side

 

[MichaelJ]

I enjoy the 'pod in camp, but on the trail either the sounds of nature or my own singing.

 

[cbcbd]

No.

Ever notice how some of the longest threads are about the most trivial issues?

Doug

What? No one is ever interested in the trivialities of life

 

[griffin]

Old-timers -- 1980s?

The 1980s were just yesterday!

Never hiked with a record player, Walkman or anything like that. May have taken a small transistor radio for camp on some multi-day hikes in the 1960s -- but reception was so lousy in most places it wasn't worth doing, or we quickly lost interest, or something.

G.

We had a portable 8-track player when I was a kid - I bet it would have fit in a pack


I don't hike with and iPod/radio, because I go hiking in part to get away from gadgetry and noise; to disconnect from my day-to-day.

But if someone else wants to hike with them, HYOH, and more power to you (although I might have said something to the person who had theirs hooked up to speakers)

 

[Chip]

Got me thinking: Did some of the old-timers here ever hike with a record player back in the 80's?

I started backpacking in the the late 60's.

 

[Neil]

I remember going to a friend's house in the early 60's and they had one of -THESE-in their basement. It really worked. In fact, a lot of people had something similar kicking around.

Therefore, due to its being cumbersome and heavy, there would be have been no discussion on VFTT in the early 60's as to whether you brought one into the backcountry, unless of course your initials were PH.

(As for that plastic POS that Wu linked to Zep sounds like crap on it.)

 

[griffin]

Therefore, due to its being cumbersome and heavy, there would be have been no discussion on VFTT in the early 60's

Certainly not one of this length - carrier pidgeons wear out too quickly.

 

[Neil]

I think that does it. This thread has drifted off into the never-never land of trivial rot and useless time wasting work-avoidance and mindless drivel that some of us (not me, says he) refer to as meaningful life so as to buttress ourselves in the feeble light of our useless existences.

I think I'll put some Jimmy Buffet on now.

 

[sapblatt]

I think that does it. This thread has drifted off into the never-never land of trivial rot and useless time wasting work-avoidance and mindless drivel that some of us (not me, says he) refer to as meaningful life so as to buttress ourselves in the feeble light of our useless existences.

I think I'll put some Jimmy Buffet on now.

You used the word "buttress" - which returns the thread to being mountain/hiking related - nice work!

 

[Neil]

You used the word "buttress" - which returns the thread to being mountain/hiking related - nice work!

I also used the acronym ROT.

 

[Little Rickie]

How do people feel about people playing musical instruments in the wilds?

 

[Neil]

How do people feel about people playing musical instruments in the wilds?

I feel real good about it. I play the flute and am always on the lookout for cool echos and resonant ponds.

Let it be known that I restrict my playing styles to those that dovetail perfectly with the environment.

OTOH, 3 years ago 4 guys carried their trombones up to Marcy and played an off-key rendition of the Saints Go Marching In. I heard every false note perfectly - from Haystack

 

[skiguy]

Ok Wu.....maybe THIS classifies as oldtime. Funny thing though it would have worked on the trail

 

[Puck]

I can honestly say that I enjoy my hikes more than you enjoy my hikes.

I am an avid birder and I want to listen to what is around me. I wont talk about this pastime with just anyone. I have seen the expression of boredom before. I also don't want to be labeled a dork or nerd by others who can't live and let live.

I also use to hunt, needed to listen then also. Can't talk about that experience with just anyone either. Lots of judgement there. Both activities have groups of devotees willing to hold a conversation.

How can anyone say one way is better than another? It is what works for you.

 

[una_dogger]

Wow! This thread got pretty long today!!!

Someone made an interesting comment on long distance hikers using IPODS, I can totally relate, if I were on the trail for a long time, I'm sure I'd start to jones for some tunes. I think I spend so much of my time now surrounded by unnatural sounds --whirring machines at work, street noise at home and even in our local conservation area I hear distant cars and airplanes, etc-- that I crave *just hearing* the stillness of nature when I'm hiking -- its the only time I really get to hear it!


Was the initial poster asking peoples opinions on others or merely thier own preferences? I interpreted it as "what's your preference".

 

[king tut]

I downloaded a "nature" cd onto my MP3 player and listen to that while I hike. The birds and streams have extra base and treble, much more realistic than real nature. I am just not sure how they got the birds and streams into the studio to do the recordings.

Just kidding, I never listen to music while hiking, but if I am backpacking, then I will carry my mp3 player in my pack and listen to the red sox game or music before i go to bed. I go to the mountains to enjoy the sounds of nature. Listening to music in the mountains kinda seems to me the same as going to a club to listen to nature sounds instead of music.

 

[Mats Roing]

Amazon.com has some great nature sounds I've downloaded......it's amazing to listen to them while hiking in the woods....sounds of birds etc.....and if you come to a dry creek....you just pop in the flowing water sound and in your imagination the creek is full of water.....wonderful those Ipods are.....

 

[AndyF]

I have the "Bird Song Ear Training Guide" on my iPod which has about 50 different bird calls on it so you can learn to identify bird calls. So that way you can listen to your iPod and listen to nature.

 

[rhihn]

I am a professional musician, and my favorite music to listen to in the woods is "Ging heut Morgen übers Feld" from "Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen" ("Songs of a Wayfarer") by Gustav Mahler. Anyone listening to anything else in the woods simply doesn't belong there.

OK, so I don't even own an iPod...

Hiking with others with an iPod in their ear is, to me, really hiking alone. On the other hand, if they really ARE hiking alone with an iPod and it is inaudible, no one has any business criticizing them, in my opinion. But, also in my opinion, they ARE missing a lot.

On the other hand, one could download all sorts of "sounds of nature" from websites and listen to those while hiking, and thus be able to ignore all of those real pesky sounds of nature while hiking.

Dick