[Cdt-l] cell phones & wilderness mindset

[Brett]

> Nothing bothers me more than reaching a remote mountain top only to find
> some other hiker gabbing away on a cell phone.  Perhaps it's just me, but I
> find that it instantly destroys the feeling I have that I'm someplace remote
> and disconnected from the world I left to be here.

The irony here is that the opposite feeling is engendered when the "cell 
phone party" (it could even be me or you) is discovered on yonder 
mountain top with phone in hand, alternately holding it high overhead, 
squinting at the screen, and muttering expletives about the fecklessness 
of your chosen service provider. This particular sideshow can go on for 
a period of days or even weeks on some parts of the CDT. And that's with 
the big boys; you know, the carrier with that annoying guy and his 
thousand-fold posse of lock-stepping minions that purportedly follow you 
around all day. The level of petty frustration here is directly 
proportional to one's sense of remoteness, the "cell phone as lead 
brick" phenomenon an integral part of how Wilderness still moves people 
in the 21st century. (It moves them on to the next mountain top for 
another go-round with their uncooperative cell phone.)

Where are America's last pockets of wilderness? We need only glance at 
the coverage map of the major cell service providers to learn where the 
masses of people don't yet live, and where the infrastructure of modern 
America has yet to penetrate.

http://www.verizonwireless.com/wireless-coverage-area-map.shtml

- blisterfree

On 12/7/2010 1:00 PM, cdt-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:
> Message: 3
> Date: Mon, 6 Dec 2010 10:31:43 -0800
> From: Wayne Smith<bumblefist at gmail.com>
> Subject: [Cdt-l] Cell phones and other tech on the trail
> To:cdt-l at backcountry.net
> Message-ID:
> 	<AANLkTi=hCzNHwR6f-0nXjzxVmDDBnERRJhXqX-FsZdD- at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> I just thought I'd add my own two cents on this topic.  I have no problem
> with what ever people choose to carry on the trail, but I do believe that
> some etiquette should be followed when using certain things in the
> backcountry.
> Nothing bothers me more than reaching a remote mountain top only to find
> some other hiker gabbing away on a cell phone.  Perhaps it's just me, but I
> find that it instantly destroys the feeling I have that I'm someplace remote
> and disconnected from the world I left to be here.
> My brain seems to have a way of feeling connected not just to the other
> person standing on that remote mountain top, but also the person on the
> other end of the phone conversation.
> It is hard to explain.  It is as if an unconscious part of my brain is
> recognising that there is a third person involved somehow in the situation
> and my brain then tries to connect myself in a feeling of space to that
> third person.  I no longer have the feeling that the rest of the world is
> far away, I feel as if it is right there with me on that mountaintop.
> I'm sure I'm not alone in experiencing these types of feelings around people
> talking on cell phones in the wilderness.
> I certainly do not think that people shouldn't carry cell phones, or any
> other type of communicating device.  I would be very happy if I or someone
> else was hurt and we had a way of calling for help, but I do believe that
> it is simply good etiquette to not use them when other people are around if
> you are just calling to chat.
> Talking on that cell phone could be ruining someone else's wilderness
> experience.
>
>
> Gretzky