[cdt-l] Portable email question...

[Brett]

>>And now there are threads about how to stay connected on 
>>most outdoor lists.

>>Not good. Not bad. But definitely a different focus. A 
>>focus that means wanting to stay unconnected is becoming 
>>the aberration  and staying connected is the norm for 
>>outdoor pursuits.


Curmudgeons aren't much for gossiping. On trail or off. But 
that doesn't mean misanthropy is a dead culture. It's just 
not well represented in social circles.

Those who seek refuge in wilderness from the modern world 
will always exist, and likely in increasing numbers. But I 
would argue that many thru-hikers, in the midst of the 
journey, share a need for human connection over wilderness 
connection, and in this aspect are more akin to their 
front-country, day-hiking counterparts than might be 
comfortable to admit. Whether by default, as on the AT, or 
from longing, out on the remote Divide, these days the 
social animal can be well fed if it so chooses. To the point 
of gluttony, without question, though in much subtler ways 
than for the bear who raids the picnic basket.

- bf

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----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Paul Magnanti" <pmags at yahoo.com>
To: "CDT MailingList" <cdt-l at backcountry.net>
Sent: Friday, January 26, 2007 1:28 AM
Subject: [cdt-l] Portable email question...


> Personally, I like the homing pigeon idea the best... :)
>
> Sign of the times I guess, when one the main questions on 
> all the hiking lists are "How do I stay connected to the 
> outside world?"
>
> No comment good or bad (I did use a Pocketmail myself for 
> newspaper articles afterall), but it is an observation.
>
> How connected does a hiker want to be?
>
> Once every 5-7 days ala Pocketmail? Once a day? More 
> often? Do we need web updates and weather forecasts? Or is 
> basic ASCII enough?
>
> It is addicting to get e-mail. Guilty as charged.
>
> I'd check my pocketmail every time I could. Getting those 
> little "Somebody loves me" sounds made my day. My Mom, who 
> has never used e-mail until this past year, loved how she 
> could write me and I'd write back within a few days [1]
>
> OTOH, if I could check my e-mail every chance I could, 
> would it change the nature of my hike? I suspect yes. I 
> also suspect I personally would *not* have the discipline 
> to stay away from 24/7 connection. Probably best, for me, 
> that I do not go down that route.
>
> HYOH and all that. Just an observation that more so than 
> even 2 or 3 years ago, how much of an emphasis there is on 
> staying connected. Not just on the trail, but in society 
> as a whole. Personal locator beacons were touted in a 
> local paper as MUST HAVE accessory for every outdoor user. 
> I already get odd looks from some people when I say I do 
> not take a cell phone when hiking even on local trails. 
> And now there are threads about how to stay connected on 
> most outdoor lists.
>
> Not good. Not bad. But definitely a different focus. A 
> focus that means wanting to stay unconnected is becoming 
> the aberration  and staying connected is the norm for 
> outdoor pursuits.
>
> A definite sea change in how we view the outdoors as well 
> as society as a whole.
>
>
> Mags
>
> [1] She also wrote my youngest brother in Iraq. With one 
> son walking the Rockies and another son working in an Air 
> Force hospital, e-mail was a god send for her!
>
>
>
>
>
> ************************************************************
> The true harvest of my life is intangible.... a little 
> stardust
> caught, a portion of the rainbow I have clutched
> --Thoreau
> http://www.pmags.com
>
>
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