An LNT request for hangers

[rocketsocks]

When it comes to the outdoors, yes, you are right---people will do whatever they want to do. But there are two kinds of outdoorsmen---those who walk on two legs into "deep" areas far from roads; and those who skirt around the edges and stay close to their vehicles, i.e. rolling couch potatoes.

Point is, the closer a place is to road access the worst the human behavior---trash, turds, noise, alcohol abuse etc. But go deeper into rugged country and the idiots thin out as they just don't have the gumption to carry both themselves and their idiocy too far in.

I pull many---many--- backpacking trips in the Southeast mountains and never see a soul---either backpacker or dayhiker. You just have to know where to go and pick areas and trails which are off the map for most casual trekkers.

As to your final point---forcing compliance---well, Miss Nature has a wonderful way of forcing her compliance on countless idiots---especially in the winter. Go out in the worst weather (Miss Nature's Best) and you'll be certain to have it all to yourself. Therefore winter backpacking at 0F is always the best time to go backpacking and the best time to watch the Just Right folks scramble back to their indoor thermostats and significant udders.



Avoiding the AT is an excellent way to avoid these smart phone lemmings and their ilk. When I pull AT trips I always try to camp a mile before or a mile after a trail shelter. 90% of all retardants can be avoided this way.

significant udders...Brilliance!

[Puddlefish]

HYOH, but don't make anyone else hike your hike. Preaching to the choir, almost certainly.

Those kids were noisy late at night! Those old men were noisy in the morning! Reasonable people will disagree on the rules and what is considerate to others, and all too often they look at things solely from their own point of view.

That said, we should encourage threads like this. Maybe it will cause just one hiker to take a second look at their potentially annoying practices.

[Deadeye]

Hammocks don't make problems, people do.

If a retardant is sleeping in a tent, and there's no one there to be bothered, is he still a retardant?

I gotta get back to work.

[rocketsocks]

I wonder if there's a study out there in the ether somewhere that says repeatedly strangling a tree for periods of 8 hrs causes no significant damage?

[Deadeye]

I wonder if there's a study out there in the ether somewhere that says repeatedly strangling a tree for periods of 8 hrs causes no significant damage?

According to the trees in my backyard, they can handle it quite well. I've spent many nights from the same trees and can't see any noticeable damage. There's no way to camp without some level of damage - tenting at the same site quickly compacts the ground so things have a hard time growing.

In the big picture, I think our impact - whether hanging or tenting - is pretty minimal. In the small picture, i.e. that patch of compacted ground or that soft-barked young tree, it may not be so pretty. We've all been through those sections of trail a few hundred yards either side of a shelter with a fire ring and seen the area picked clean of anything that might burn.

[T.S.Kobzol]

there are more hammockers than rock climbers? I would not have thought that.

[bayview]

I agree HYOH as long as it has minimal impact on environment and others. If your actions are ruining it for others then you have messed up. If it causes harm to nature, then you have messed up. Respect goes a long way. I treat others the way I want to be treated. Of course most people reading this thread are probably respecting the area it is the knuckleheads that trash everything without regard to others.

[Abatis1948]

Great sunrise experience at McAfee Knob this Easter morning, save for one unfriendly exchange with a couple of hammock hikers wandering around the cliff area flashing full power headlamps into our dark-adapted eyes and eventually choosing a solitary pine sapling clinging to the rock edge as an anchor for both of their hammocks.

After a short chat about how much I wanted the tree not to be a broken stump the next time I came up with everyone else to welcome the sun, they agreed that the tree was sketchy for the top hammock. They relocated the cliffside end to a couple of 1 1/2 inch rhododendron bush stems, again at the cliff edge. Fine. HYOH.

But, a request. I understand that mountaineers sometime drive pitons into cliff rock to set their tents on a cliff edge, but there are a lot more hammock hangers, yes? Risking damage to fragile vegetation and blocking other hikers' view just is not good stewardship. Please -- don't?

They were using the old style narrow straps, too.

I hang and I assure you most hangers are considerate and practice LNT. Please visit hammock forums and go to the outing planning and trip report section. You will see many hammocks hung correctly. I have run into folks using tents who fit the description you give, but fortunately I have run into many more who are considerate of others. I assure you it is not the type of shelter that makes people who they are. It begins at home.

[pafarmboy1]

To tagg, Tipi, Deadeye and whomever else that believes they are somehow funny with their nauseating play on words......

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[Abatis1948]

To tagg, Tipi, Deadeye and whomever else that believes they are somehow funny with their nauseating play on words......

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Thank you pafarmboy.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[Tipi Walter]

To tagg, Tipi, Deadeye and whomever else that believes they are somehow funny with their nauseating play on words......

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I never used the R word as in your example. Read more carefully. "Retardant" and "Detardos" are completely different words from "R". And "Idiot" is still in common usage and thankfully can still be used without fear from the language police. As can "Lunacy", especially when referring to "motardos" who ruin the outdoor experience for the rest of us with their behavior.

[pafarmboy1]

I never used the R word as in your example. Read more carefully. "Retardant" and "Detardos" are completely different words from "R". And "Idiot" is still in common usage and thankfully can still be used without fear from the language police. As can "Lunacy", especially when referring to "motardos" who ruin the outdoor experience for the rest of us with their behavior.

Anyone with the slightest bit of common sense can see through this statement. So I guess it makes sense that you believe it. It's not the first time you've made an ash hole comment.

By the way, ash hole is a divot in the ground used to plant a certain type of tree. Don't read into it otherwise.

[Tipi Walter]

Anyone with the slightest bit of common sense can see through this statement. So I guess it makes sense that you believe it. It's not the first time you've made an ash hole comment.

By the way, ash hole is a divot in the ground used to plant a certain type of tree. Don't read into it otherwise.

Eventually we won't be able to use a whole slew of words because they will be perceived as offensive. "Veteran" will surely offend the majority of non-vets out there. "Able-bodied" will torque out the handicapped. Posting trip reports with pics could offend those with impaired sight. Communication watchdogs are now drooling over "idiot" and "lunatic".

If you get your way all writers will be writing pablum suitable for the text in coloring books for toddlers. Becoming inoffensive results in the loss of our last great American freedoms---Ridicule and Opinion.

[Maineiac64]

To tagg, Tipi, Deadeye and whomever else that believes they are somehow funny with their nauseating play on words......

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Thanks. I agree.

[BuckeyeBill]

Tipi,

Again you are offering sound advice and opinions. In my state, the legislators have removed words such as Retard, Retarded, Lunatic, Feeble Minded and Stupid just to name a few from various laws that deal with some form of Mental Illness, Mentally Challenged. I personally would never call any one with these disabilities a retard, lunatic, or stupid. I volunteer an few days a month at a nursing home and there is a group of kids that come in to do activities with the residents and a second group that they are trying to teach them basic skills in order to gain employment else where once they come of age. I actually hired one kid to work during the summer around the shop. It was a great decision as far as I'm concerned. He was so proud of himself.

Now when it comes to some new hiker or an old timer that doesn't know etiquette or LNT, I try to show and help them with a easier way or the proper way. No Name calling. But if they continue to do it the way they were doing in the beginning well I am sorry but they are a tardiot in my book. Albert Einstein said Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

[rocketsocks]

Please don't use the term "couch potato" either as it may be offensive to the "fine furniture guild of America" ...or at least the agriculture workers, well someone will be pissed somewhere I'm sure.

[BuckeyeBill]

Please don't use the term "couch potato" either as it may be offensive to the "fine furniture guild of America" ...or at least the agriculture workers, well someone will be pissed somewhere I'm sure.

............

[AllDownhillFromHere]

Hear hear. 9/10 when someone drops HYOH it's an excuse for being a douchebag.

But he's not talking about those 68 things, he's talking about hammockers with entitlement fever who demand to ruin a spot (and possibly a tree) with their drooling need to set up at the edge.

Adding "HYOH" is perfect proof of how the HYOH mantra can be misused. Examples?

Want to take a dump right in camp and leave it on the ground? Why not? HYOH.
Want to let your dog sleep with you in the shelter? HYOH.
Want to build a big bonfire and yell thru the night with your friends? Sure, why not? HYOH.
Want to bring a trombone and blast out tunes? Sure. HYOH.

HYOH is NOT an excuse for idiocy.

[Tipi Walter]

Now when it comes to some new hiker or an old timer that doesn't know etiquette or LNT, I try to show and help them with a easier way or the proper way. No Name calling. But if they continue to do it the way they were doing in the beginning well I am sorry but they are a tardiot in my book. Albert Einstein said Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

"Tardiot" is an excellent variation and combination of two words associated with Trail Idiots. Einstein I think would've changed his quote if he saw some of the crap I've seen in the last many years---

As in "Insanity is leaving ungodly crap along trails and in various campsites; and doing this over and over again and expecting the same filthy results."

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A random chair left in the middle of nowhere on the Panther Creek trail in TN.
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A firepit hell-wad on Slickrock Creek in the Kilmer/Slickrock wilderness.
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This would've really got old Albert's attention---A fecal load with tp left in a campsite on the South Fork Creek trail in Citico wilderness.
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A pile of cans in a firepit on the Stratton Ridge trail and miles from any road.
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Camp crap left by idiots on Snowbird Creek in NC---and miles from any road.
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Typical NC firepit on Snowbird Creek.
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Redneck effluvia left at a campsite in Cold Spring Gap on the Benton MacKaye trail.
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Very weird---a roll of toilet paper perched on a stick and left in the middle of Crowder Camp on Fodderstack Ridge in TN.

Please don't use the term "couch potato" either as it may be offensive to the "fine furniture guild of America" ...or at least the agriculture workers, well someone will be pissed somewhere I'm sure.

I often use the term "rolling couch potato" for nature tourists---windshield tourists---who never leave their cars and walk. I'm worried most especially about offending potatoes and other vegetables.

Hear hear. 9/10 when someone drops HYOH it's an excuse for being a douchebag.

You're right.

[Hosh]

Well maybe some of your "rolling couch potatoes" have physical restrictions and viewing nature is only available to them from a vehicle. Maybe they would otherwise be stuck inside and being outside provides for their physical and mental well being.

You always project so much negativity towards anyone who may act or think differently than you. Some how YOU have found the WAY to enjoying the outdoors. The rest of us mere mortals must listen and learn from the master.

Sad really, but it does provide rationalization for why you stay away from everyone for 2/3rd's of a month. Not sure you're missed.