Resupply and being in towns/hostels is the worst part for many. You might have been catching them at a time when they just wanted to get the heck out of there and get back to hiking.
In my experience I've found that there are 2 major "classes" in the demographics of thru hikers...retirees or other "old guys" and young people (usually college kids). Generally I've found the retirees to be quite friendly and open, and the younger people usually come off a little more rude and standoffish. This of course is just a general statement and not everyone fits the mold. Plus considering I'm 42 I probably appear to be an old fart to the college kids. An interesting observation I have made is that a lot of time when I do one of my long sections and I keep up with a group of young thrus for several days they tend to change from ignoring me to me becoming "an equal". Maybe it's got something to due with an unspoken respect that I'm keeping up with them or something...I don't know...whatever...just HYOH and all that good stuff
AT: 2007-2019 (45 sections)
JMT: 2013
I have noticed this also more and more on the trail. I think there are two reasons, one is that thru-hikers do for better or worse seem to constitute, or feel that they constitute, their own society. It is just like in high school, not a lot of interest in what's happening outside your clique.
Second is your (and my) age. Face it, you're invisible. Once many people have figured out that you're not going to be able to hook them up with anything they're interested in getting, their willingness to interact with you drops to zero.
True story of what happened to me vis-à-vis this exact problem: a few years ago I attended a long training weekend for outdoor facilitators. I was easily the oldest person there by 25 if not 30 years, we were all folks working at summer camps in the area but very few people my age do that. Other than giving me one-word answers to my friendly comments and questions, I got ignored. Totally.
That was sort of annoying but ok until it turned dangerous, which happened the second day when we were doing a trust/teamwork exercise, and I got dropped 15 feet straight onto my head ... at least in part, I have always felt, because the people who were supposed to be helping me literally didn't "see" me. I suffered a concussion, horrible bruising, and was out of commission for the rest of the weekend (not to mention, developed an abiding fear of climbing for high elements). Despite all that, none of the folks in the group, other than the facilitator himself, even asked me how I was doing afterward, including the specific guy who dropped me.
I would hope that my own adult children would not act this way toward their "elders," just as I would hope that other twenty-somethings would be more empathetic and interested in something outside their own friend zone and devices as LW says. And I always hope on every trip to be proven wrong.
Jane in CT
It could be something far more simple. I know when I have been walking a while (several miles to several days) I become increasingly reticent as the day goes on. I will start out saying hello to people and valuations like "have a great hike" and other such things, but as the day wears on and the miles pile up, those turn to "hi" and eventually to a nod and smile. I am not being unfriendly, I am simply in the moment and you happened upon me (or I you).
I have a few friends who I share hiking time with, after the first few miles, conversation dies out to only important issues like which way at a poorly blazed fork. Time is passed in companionable silence, which does have benefits in spotting wildlife and hearing others long before they appear.
I've noticed the same thing... Most thrus are 20-something (maybe 75% or more) or older folks who are retired. At 41, I'm in the middle. I can keep up with the younger people for the most part, but the older hikers are more likely to be friendly, at least at first. I have more gray hair than most people my age so I probably appear to belong to the "old folks" group, although I like to hike longer miles.Originally Posted by Berserker
In my experience I've found that there are 2 major "classes" in the demographics of thru hikers...retirees or other "old guys" and young people (usually college kids). Generally I've found the retirees to be quite friendly and open, and the younger people usually come off a little more rude and standoffish. This of course is just a general statement and not everyone fits the mold. Plus considering I'm 42 I probably appear to be an old fart to the college kids. An interesting observation I have made is that a lot of time when I do one of my long sections and I keep up with a group of young thrus for several days they tend to change from ignoring me to me becoming "an equal". Maybe it's got something to due with an unspoken respect that I'm keeping up with them or something...I don't know...whatever...just HYOH and all that good stuff
So the OP did not disclose any information about the age of these hikers, yet many replies consist of older hikers talking about what a bunch of a-holes young hikers are. If I was a younger hiker and read that, I would be standoffish towards y'all. Maybe when you show up with disdain you get it back.
Moosling: A lot of those kids worked their but off to make the money for their hike while going to school.
I had good luck meeting friendly people on the AT in '10 and '13. On some sections in '14 I saw a lot of young d-bags. On the PCT this year I saw a lot of d-bags of all ages. I think entitled and/or party crowd hikers are being drawn in by the promise of partying and trail magic.
While hiking SOBO in VA this spring, I passed many hikers. Resting at vistas was about the only time during the day when anyone would want to chat. Rarely would anyone want to stop and chat along the way. You get into a rhythm and don't want to loose it.
When first getting to camp, there are chores to do. Where's the water? Is there space in the shelter or do I look for a tent spot? Once the chores are done, then you can start to be social.
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Telling someone that they "show up with disdain" or "attract negativity" is just another way of blaming or undercutting the person who speaks up. I approach my time on the trail the same way I go about my life: friendly, open and interested in other folks and their stories. It is a fact that many (not all) younger people have no time at all for older hikers. It is a fact that many thru-hikers are way too involved in their own social bubble and trail drama to have any interest in meeting someone outside of it. Wait until you are older and if you are still fortunate enough to be actively hiking you'll see what I mean!
I was fortunate enough to spend some interesting time with a ridge-runner last summer - this is someone who had actually thru-hiked herself the prior year - and she was completely over thru-hikers. It was sad to hear it, really.
Jane
The ages of the first two hikers were ion their late 20's. The Triple Crowner was in her 30's. I still think it was a simple matter of that since I was not part of the trail clique, I was not worthy of someone to talk to or exchange ideas. They were not reacting as if they had better or more important things to do, they interaction with me indicated that since I was not the same as they were (a thru hiker), why should I even talk to you.
Yes I was indeed blaming the people who rushed to talk about "these kids today" without the OP even mentioning age, I thought that was pretty clear. Calling something you can't demonstrate or quantify a fact does not make it so or not so; example: it is a fact that some older people meet younger people with disdain and with constant comments on their youth, and presumed inexperience and lack of knowledge, and lots of "wait until you are older" comments. That kind of arrogance is pretty off putting, it suggests "don't talk to me until you can measure up". It would be as silly as if I constantly told people to wait till they had been to all the countries I've been too before they could speak about the world. As the rare 30y/o long distance hiker I see the way some older hikers treat the kids off the bat, and see how it creates distance. Plenty of the kids create distance too. When hikers just act like we're all hikers out there cool stuff happens, and great friendships start.
I think as numbers have gone up, many thru-hikers are not as starved for company and feel less need to just chat with anyone. Also, you are seeing more examples of various types of people that exist in society out on the trail. Some are use to being "special" for being a thru-hiker and when they meet someone who has done what they've done and maybe more, they don't get that warm fuzzy "I'm special" vibe and it turns them off.
I find myself hiking on parts of the PCT a lot and meet both SOBOs and NOBOs. In recent years, as the numbers have gone way up, the percentage of people that want to talk, even though I'm a former thru-hiker and I can share information on the trail they are about to encounter, has dropped; unless I'm giving them a ride.
That said, you do still run into hikers that don't want to shut up. A SOBO I ran into just south of Tahoe last September, loved to stop and talk to people for long periods of time. I ran into him 2 days in a row and we talked a long time each encounter. NOBOs had told him that he needed to stop doing that or he would never finish. He didn't listen and was having no problem doing 30 mpd despite stopping to talk. Two other SOBOs that I ran into a few days later in north Yosemite, were in too much of a hurry to make the Tuolumne Grill for lunch to talk
I don't have the experience of many on this site but I've hiked on the AT in PA, NJ, NY and spent a week in NH and I can tell you that I've been very impressed with how friendly, polite and generally helpful every single thru-hiker has been that I've met. Reading on whiteblaze you might get a different impression but it has not been my experience.
Trail drama...I've never experienced it and intentionally hiker around the AT bubble. But I have heard enough stories to make me laugh for a few minutes before I want to cry the rest of the day. (Wilderness and drama make me want to cry)
Ask almost any thru hiker for help, advice, or a question and they will talk. Try to give them advice after their first 200 miles and they have no time for it. Funny how that works.
Last edited by Cobble; 07-26-2015 at 22:38.
AT (LASH) '04-'14
That was my experience this summer at the NOC and in Maine where we did some hiking. They may have been a little quiet at first but they opened up and were very nice and friendly.
Maybe they were very tired and just wanted to relax with their food ? Were they talking to each other ?
If they were not talking to each other, I would guess they were too tired for conversation.
Absolutely, I wasn't refering to everyone, but there are certainly people out there like that that were able to do it on mommy and daddys checkbook and their appreciation level of both the trail and other hikers may be different than anyone who worked hard to save and plan for a thru hike, thats all I was saying.
I'd bet it was a combination of a clique that formed on the trail, them being tired, and the agoraphobia that sets in when you are out on the trail for a few weeks. When I got to Newfound Gap and saw the zoo that was going on in the parking lot all thoughts I had of hitching into Gatlinburg for food and fun disappeared and I wanted nothing more than to get back into the woods and away from all those people.
I suppose there are many possible answers, many of which been proposed. Perhaps it could be something simpler than that. I imagine a person who is hiking three long distance trails has had essentially the same superficial conversation a thousand times (What's your name? Where you going? Where'd you start? How much does your pack weigh? What kind of stove you have?....) If you meet someone in passing and you know suspect you will not be seeing them again, it's hard to have a deep meaningful conversation and tedious to have yet another superficial one.
A lot of the NOBOs this year on the CDT flipped up to Glacier to get away from the snow in the San Juans.
I don't ever try to talk to thru-hikers unless I'm out on the trail. They are not friendly in town and in general they are only friendly when they think you are another thru-hiker. When I'm out on the trail, I usually try to tell them up-front I'm just section hiking and that really weeds out the friendly ones from the ones who only talk to other thru-hikers. In general, the older they are the more friendly they are.
If you hiked the PCT in the 1970s, I totally want to hear your stories. 1975 is when I first heard of the PCT. To think anyone was doing it back then just makes me want to hear about it. What a true adventure that must have been! So if that's you, please keep trying to be friendly so maybe I will meet you someday.
Some knew me as Piper, others as just Diane.
I hiked the PCT: Mexico to Mt. Shasta, 2008. Santa Barbara to Canada, 2009.
put some food on a table and you will have a flock around you in not time
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