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  1. #1
    Registered User
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    08-08-2018
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    Blacksburg, VA
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    Default Help me not be a jerk

    I'm a lame day hiker, done a few overnights, and moving into section hiking, but I absolutely love being on the trail. I live pretty close to the AT in southern Virginia, and try to get out on local trails (AT and other) a few times a month. Unfortunately I haven't been about to get out for a month or so because life and work has been in the way.

    Here's my dilemma - I "mostly" have off from work this Friday, and am really dying to get on the trail. Unfortunately I have to do a conference call for work at 11am. I know the trails around here well enough to know areas that have good cell coverage that I could hike to in time for my call. I also like to think of myself as respectful of other hikers, and don't want to be a jerk.

    So here is the question, do I:

    1. Go on the hike Friday to the location w/ cell coverage, try to step off the trail a bit and do my call, at the risk of disturbing other hikers with the outside world.

    2. Skip another week of hiking to take this stupid call.

    The rest of the weekend I have family commitments, so Friday is my only shot. What do you think?

  2. #2

    Default

    IMHO Go for it, bring a headset and avoid sitting a scenic view where other folks may want to be.

  3. #3

    Default

    Agreed. Just step off the trail a bit as you said so that you won't be right on top of people walking by.

  4. #4

    Default

    Noone will care. People take phone calls on the trail all the time.

    Best to bring a set of earbuds and just go somewhere quiet.

    Honestly. Most people will be jealous your getting paid to work from the trail lol.

    Sent from my SM-J737V using Tapatalk

  5. #5
    Registered User
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    Purgatory, Maine
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    Default

    Just the fact that you asked this question in the manner you did marks you down in my book as not at all a jerk. Many happy days of hiking to you.
    Everyone has a photographic memory. Not everyone has film.

  6. #6
    Registered User
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    06-25-2012
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    Lurkerville, East Tn
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    Default

    I am SO OFFENDED that you feel entitled to talk on your phone while out in the woods. How dare you infringe on my enjoyment of the wilderness!






    Just kidding!!!!!

  7. #7
    Registered User LittleRock's Avatar
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    01-10-2014
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    Default

    First, day hikers are not lame!

    Second, if you find a can find a nice place to sit (maybe bring a camp chair) out of sight of the trail, I doubt anyone will even notice you're on a call, much less take offense.

    Heck, if the trail is easy enough you might even be able to do the call while you're walking.
    It's all good in the woods.

  8. #8
    Registered User Christoph's Avatar
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    02-18-2015
    Location
    Valdosta, Georgia
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    51
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    Default

    Take a hike, pal! No, really. You can step off trail a bit for a call, people do it all the time. Right now, there's not a huge influx of people (which in itself can be more annoying than a phone call), so you should be good to go.
    - Trail name: Thumper

  9. #9

    Join Date
    05-05-2011
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    Default

    I didnt have service in southern va...so your provider must be bettern mine

    Why you want to rehike trails you know...instead of that you dont?

    No one care if take a call. Use earphones.

  10. #10
    Registered User
    Join Date
    08-08-2018
    Location
    Blacksburg, VA
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    Default

    Thanks for the feedback everyone! Friday's hike is a go!

  11. #11

    Default

    Is it offensive to others if I have to take a call from home while hiking? Do I care? Being courteous to others is easy enough as you suggested.....keep out of the way and volume modulated...but who has the right to tell you not to live your life as you need or want to do?

    Take the call....enjoy your hike....don't worry about those who might present themselves as "trail police" and critique how you choose to HYOH.
    "Maybe life isn't about avoiding the bruises. Maybe it's about collecting the scars to prove we showed up for it."

  12. #12

    Default

    Take the call at trailhead parking area or quiet parking nearby, hike afterwards. You'll enjoy the hike more without interuptions. You'll just be thinking about the call until you make it. Less possibility of external interuptions or accidentally being outside of service.
    "Sleepy alligator in the noonday sun
    Sleepin by the river just like he usually done
    Call for his whisky
    He can call for his tea
    Call all he wanta but he can't call me..."
    Robert Hunter & Ron McKernan

    Whiteblaze.net User Agreement.

  13. #13
    Registered User
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    01-09-2008
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    Eastern, Tn
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    Default

    Take the call. Everyone talks up and down the trail with and without a phone. There's no difference, talking is talking.....

  14. #14
    Registered User
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    12-28-2015
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    Bad Ischl, Austria
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    Default

    The only time I've stepped on an US based LD trail, it happened that I was with a nice American couple, he being kind of a consultant who had to perform several telefone conferences.
    He did it in a way that I would never had noticed what he really was doing had he not explained it expressedly. He just timed the hikes and his business in a way that he could do the later without disturbing the former, or any of his co-hikers.

    OTOH, I had been in the Middle East on a mountain hike with a mixed group including some locals one of them being a "male Alpha-type", who, after having finished the hike and finally back in the camp, started to make phone calls, speaking (shouting) straight into the group so everybody had to stop talking because you couldn't understand your own word.

    The fact you are asking here indicates you sure are not of the 2nd type.

  15. #15

    Default

    GO off trail if you are familiar with that area. Go far enough and talk as low as you can. Never miss an opportunity to be in Nature. You're not a jerk. A jerk wouldn't ask this question, they would just assume they could talk on the trail as loud as they need to. Have fun!

  16. #16

    Default

    Why not just go after the call? I actually don't mind either way, but just saying, one phone call doesn't make the whole day wasted
    Long distance hiking made simple at https://www.youradventurecoach.com

  17. #17
    Getting out as much as I can..which is never enough. :) Mags's Avatar
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    03-15-2004
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    Colorado Plateau
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    49
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    Default

    Treat the call like going to the bathroom: Be discreet, do it in private, and continue on when you are done. Nice compromise that works for everyone, I think.
    Paul "Mags" Magnanti
    http://pmags.com
    Twitter: @pmagsco
    Facebook: pmagsblog

    The true harvest of my life is intangible...a little stardust caught,a portion of the rainbow I have clutched -Thoreau

  18. #18

    Default

    Hokies rule!
    Termite fart so much they are responsible for 3% of global methane emissions.

  19. #19

    Default

    double post----deleted....

  20. #20

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by zizan View Post
    1. Go on the hike Friday to the location w/ cell coverage, try to step off the trail a bit and do my call, at the risk of disturbing other hikers with the outside world.
    I hope you picked Option #1 and I hope you return to tell us about your amazing hike that day and how you were then able to carve out some more hiking time in an otherwise hectic schedule...

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