Math is hard.

[Puddlefish]

My daughter did the 18ish mile out and back to Owl's Head hike. She reached the summit and was chatting with a group of old timers. They chastised her for leaving the trailhead at 8 am, instead of 6 am like they did, and questioned if she'd have time to get back before dark.

Let that sink in, she left two hours after they did, and arrived at the summit at the same time. That's two hours faster over 9 miles...They were all heading back to the trailhead at the same time, and they were worried that she'd arrive back at the trailhead after dark, because she recklessly started so late in the morning.

[AllDownhillFromHere]

In Stehekin earlier this year, when we applied for a camping permit, the ranger on staff cautioned my hiking partner that "you'd be doing just over 20 miles". She responded "Sir, I've walked 2572 miles to get to this point, I think I can walk another 20 tomorrow."

[Traffic Jam]

Speaking for myself, I appreciate when other hikers show concern for my daughter’s welfare.

[Puddlefish]

Speaking for myself, I appreciate when other hikers show concern for my daughter’s welfare.

I don't disagree, but there's showing concern, and there's ignoring the basic math in front of you. She's hiked over twenty 4,000 footers since mid July, she's got the knowledge, the gear, the experience, yet she gets a lot of old men on the trail mansplaining about how difficult the trail is to her and they aren't hesitant to blather their unsolicited outdated opinions at her.

But, I thought I'd focus on the comedy aspect that the group giving the advice very likely finished after dark, and they accused her of starting too late. She knows her limits and planned her hike with sufficient tolerance for error.

[Time Zone]

She's hiked over twenty 4,000 footers since mid July, she's got the knowledge, the gear, the experience, yet she gets a lot of old men on the trail mansplaining about how difficult the trail is to her and they aren't hesitant to blather their unsolicited outdated opinions at her.

Math must indeed be hard, given the popularity of the lottery. But why do you imply they should have known the vast experience of the stranger in their midst? Does she get it across right away, when introducing herself?

[Puddlefish]

Math must indeed be hard, given the popularity of the lottery. But why do you imply they should have known the vast experience of the stranger in their midst? Does she get it across right away, when introducing herself?

I didn't imply that they should have known about her experience. I'm flat out stating that they have no idea what her experience is, yet that doesn't stop them from opening their mouths. They shouldn't have presumed to give unsolicited advice to a grown woman, without even bothering to ask about her experience. The joke is that these old guys screwed up their own hike timing so that they were nearly certainly returning to the trail head after dark, yet they felt they were somehow qualified to dispense advice to a better prepared hiker. (Better prepared based on the simple math that should have been obvious to most people.) Granted, the last three miles is along a straight logging road, so I'm sure they were fine.

I get a different point of view when I talk to my daughter about hiking and her perspective on it. I wear trail runners, absolutely no one comments on my shoe choice. She wears trail runners, she's had a dozen people tell her she should be wearing hiking boots this year. Even guys who are dealing with heavy blistering problems from poorly fitting boots find it acceptable to comment on her trail runners, which is also a bit amusing.

Anyway, all the humor has now been sucked out what was meant to be an amusing story about old men who can't math. Hiking Humor forum!

[Astro]

I didn't imply that they should have known about her experience. I'm flat out stating that they have no idea what her experience is, yet that doesn't stop them from opening their mouths. They shouldn't have presumed to give unsolicited advice to a grown woman, without even bothering to ask about her experience. The joke is that these old guys screwed up their own hike timing so that they were nearly certainly returning to the trail head after dark, yet they felt they were somehow qualified to dispense advice to a better prepared hiker. (Better prepared based on the simple math that should have been obvious to most people.) Granted, the last three miles is along a straight logging road, so I'm sure they were fine.

I get a different point of view when I talk to my daughter about hiking and her perspective on it. I wear trail runners, absolutely no one comments on my shoe choice. She wears trail runners, she's had a dozen people tell her she should be wearing hiking boots this year. Even guys who are dealing with heavy blistering problems from poorly fitting boots find it acceptable to comment on her trail runners, which is also a bit amusing.

Anyway, all the humor has now been sucked out what was meant to be an amusing story about old men who can't math. Hiking Humor forum!

I get and appreciate your humor about the growing lack of practical math skills. I now teach college students and I try to get across to them the real world is math word problems.

On the other hand these guys may be giving advice that is not needed to someone they do not realize is more experienced, but I would also like to think it is well intentioned.

[Traffic Jam]

I didn't imply that they should have known about her experience. I'm flat out stating that they have no idea what her experience is, yet that doesn't stop them from opening their mouths. They shouldn't have presumed to give unsolicited advice to a grown woman, without even bothering to ask about her experience. The joke is that these old guys screwed up their own hike timing so that they were nearly certainly returning to the trail head after dark, yet they felt they were somehow qualified to dispense advice to a better prepared hiker. (Better prepared based on the simple math that should have been obvious to most people.) Granted, the last three miles is along a straight logging road, so I'm sure they were fine.

I get a different point of view when I talk to my daughter about hiking and her perspective on it. I wear trail runners, absolutely no one comments on my shoe choice. She wears trail runners, she's had a dozen people tell her she should be wearing hiking boots this year. Even guys who are dealing with heavy blistering problems from poorly fitting boots find it acceptable to comment on her trail runners, which is also a bit amusing.

Anyway, all the humor has now been sucked out what was meant to be an amusing story about old men who can't math. Hiking Humor forum!

If it’s any consolation, I suck at math...and looking at what forum I’m in.

[keithd]

Anyway, all the humor has now been sucked out what was meant to be an amusing story about old men who can't math. Hiking Humor forum!

I thought it was funny.

[illabelle]

In a former life I was a high school math teacher. While there is humor in this story, there's also the tragedy of widespread numerical illiteracy. It's kinda like fat jokes. In America we're all fat, so we tell fat jokes as a way of coping and poking fun at ourselves. But it's tragic that we're all fat. (Yes, yes, I know that we're not ALL fat, but you know what I mean).

Thank you Puddlefish (edit: originally said Astro) for sharing the story!

Seems like every year when I was teaching, even with the smarter kids, there would be a point where somebody asked what time it was, and the reply was, it's "quarter till" or "quarter after" the hour. When I told them that some folks think "quarter" means 25, like 25 cents, therefore 25 minutes, but it REALLY means 1/4, like 15 minutes, all over the room I could see bulbs lighting up over their heads as comprehension came to them.

Somewhere all over WB, light bulbs are lighting up!

[garlic08]

Math must indeed be hard, given the popularity of the lottery....

Ambrose Bierce said, "Lottery: A tax on people who are bad at math."

[keithd]

I also think there's another funny part to this story: the notion that some people think trails close when it gets dark. Some of my best hiking experiences have been after dark...I love night hiking.

And that reminds me of a similar story. I'm also a caver, and one of my caving buddies told me about a time he crawled out of a hole after several hours underground. When he exited, there were several people standing around the entrance. They peppered him with questions about caving, and one of them asked, "What do you do if you come out of the cave and it's dark outside?"

Luckily, I wasn't there, because my head would have exploded trying to decide which sarcastic response to give.

As a former English teacher, I would say it's not just a "bad at math" problem...it's also a critical thinking problem.

[The Old Chief]

Math is good to know but I am so thankful for taking Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 in high school. Not a day goes by that I don't solve my problems with a good old dose of Algebra. When you figure out what "x" is everything else is a piece of cake.

[Puddlefish]

In a former life I was a high school math teacher. While there is humor in this story, there's also the tragedy of widespread numerical illiteracy. It's kinda like fat jokes. In America we're all fat, so we tell fat jokes as a way of coping and poking fun at ourselves. But it's tragic that we're all fat. (Yes, yes, I know that we're not ALL fat, but you know what I mean).

Thank you Astro for sharing the story!

Seems like every year when I was teaching, even with the smarter kids, there would be a point where somebody asked what time it was, and the reply was, it's "quarter till" or "quarter after" the hour. When I told them that some folks think "quarter" means 25, like 25 cents, therefore 25 minutes, but it REALLY means 1/4, like 15 minutes, all over the room I could see bulbs lighting up over their heads as comprehension came to them.

Somewhere all over WB, light bulbs are lighting up!

I'm a math major, the idea of mixing units (dollars and hours) was beaten out of me early (figuratively, by one of my amazing math teachers.) The idea just horrifies me. I have a relative trying to convince me that I should teach math in my retirement. Little things like this are why not every math major is qualified to teach math.

[Puddlefish]

If it’s any consolation, I suck at math...and looking at what forum I’m in.

I'm several kinds of colorblind, so I have to manually check what forum I'm in, every time. I don't want to be that guy giving stupid advice about my favorite AT hostel on a California trail (again.)

[Traffic Jam]

Math is good to know but I am so thankful for taking Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 in high school. Not a day goes by that I don't solve my problems with a good old dose of Algebra. When you figure out what "x" is everything else is a piece of cake.

So true. I barely passed algebra and geometry and now need it a lot for weaving...have to do a lot of line drawing to make sure my math is correct. Wish I knew then what I know now.

My brain prefers the “little o’ this and little o’ that” method.

Heck, my hiking is the same way...my mileages are based on ‘give or take a few’. My family always adds a few miles to my plans, just in case.

[4shot]

In Stehekin earlier this year, when we applied for a camping permit, the ranger on staff cautioned my hiking partner that "you'd be doing just over 20 miles". She responded "Sir, I've walked 2572 miles to get to this point, I think I can walk another 20 tomorrow."

This reminds me of one of my stories from my thru hike. I was in Mass (iirc) and there was a bad storm on top of the ridge. High wind, thunder, etc. I blue bazed a side trail to get to a lower elevation. The trail dumped me into a small park of some sort. The weather was better down low and a family was cooking out under a pavillion (mom, dad, teenage son). They offered up some burgers and I, of course, obliged. They weren't too familiar with the AT nor realized they were so near to it so where surprised to learn that I started my walk in Ga. After hanging out a bit, I explained that I needed to depart as I was trying to get to the next town (don't recall and too lazy to look in my journal) before dark so I could resupply.

The teenage boy said "that town is 14 miles away, no one can walk that far!". The mom looked at her kid and said exactly this... "Son, don't be stupid. This man has just walked here from Ga. I don't think 14 miles is that big a deal to him!".

I laughed but realized later it's sad that we live in a world where a teenager thinks that walking 14 miles is an impossible feat.

[DownYonder]

Since there are so many math teachers & math majors here; can someone explain to me why it is so much easier to add ounces to my pack than it is to subtract ounces?

[Mittagsfrost]

Just try it with a full pack! Then it would be much easier to subtract ounces (or should I say grams, since you are an UL hiker?) then to squeeze in (add) them.

[FreeGoldRush]

it's sad that we live in a world where a teenager thinks that walking 14 miles is an impossible feat.

He was right. It is impossible. That's why hiking 20 mile days feels so good!