Drama on the AT

[Gunner81]

I've spent a lot of time reading other people's trail journals and talking with other thru-hikers. Some seem to have drama, and other don't. Seems a lot like high school.

So I'm just curious, does drama seem to be common along the trail?

[Spokes]

Have you seen Tim Burton's version of Alice in Wonderland yet? It's sort of like the difference between the Red Queen and the White Queen.

You get both extremes on the AT........

[garlic08]

It's all what you make of it. It's actually quite possible to have a semi-quiet, semi-wilderness experience if you stay out of the shelters and stay out of the towns except to get food. Or you can hang around with tons of people all the time and have some real drama. In my opinion, any one who complains about it either way is doing something wrong.

[Toolshed]

Where there are people who are into themselves and letting the world revolve around them, there's drama. People into being positive and helping others - no Drama.

[Skidsteer]

People are people. Everywhere and all the time.

[10-K]

People are people. Everywhere and all the time.

Yep, and you take yourself and your personality traits with you everywhere you go.

[fw2008]

I prefer to avoid drama when I hike. One of the reasons I hike is to get away from the everyday drama that civilization and family life creates.
That said, I can imagine it would be hard to find a quiet spot if you're thru-hiking with the pack, except that I personally would stay away from the shelters. I like the privacy and relative quiet of my own tent.

FW

[berkshirebirder]

I must be reading the wrong journals, unless blisters, catholes, and bad weather count as drama.

[Lone Wolf]

I've spent a lot of time reading other people's trail journals and talking with other thru-hikers. Some seem to have drama, and other don't. Seems a lot like high school.

So I'm just curious, does drama seem to be common along the trail?

yup. big time

[SGT Rock]

Start in January. No one around to have drama with.

[weary]

I've spent a lot of time reading other people's trail journals and talking with other thru-hikers. Some seem to have drama, and other don't. Seems a lot like high school.

So I'm just curious, does drama seem to be common along the trail?

No!!!!!!!!!!

[Windcatcher]

Soap Operas, Reality Television, Bloods & Crips or is that Democrats & Republicans - I get them confused sometimes - Baby Boomers and Gen X'ers with all the me-me-me tendancies of a society of gotta have it all & gotta have it right now.....

There's too much drama everywhere, at least for me. That's my rant for the day, thanks for letting me sound off!

[weary]

It's all what you make of it. It's actually quite possible to have a semi-quiet, semi-wilderness experience if you stay out of the shelters and stay out of the towns except to get food. Or you can hang around with tons of people all the time and have some real drama. In my opinion, any one who complains about it either way is doing something wrong.

Well, times may have changed. Could that be? After many millennia, could life suddenly change dramaticaly in a couple of decades? But, regardless, I expereinced no significant drama when I spend six months walking north in 1993.

Well, I did encounter a few interesting folks. There was the self-confessed "failure" who had never achieved any of his dreams, and was about to fail again. He had lost 50 pounds in two months and no longer had the energy to continue north. I suggested he eat more food, but he assured me he was eating as much as people claimed one should need.

Whether he followed my advice, or the advice of anonymous "people," I don't know. But I didn't see him again.

Then there was a lovely 45 year old widow, a former divinity student, -- well she would have been a widow had she and her companion married instead of just living together until his death.

We hiked together, platonically, for two months. She sort of fell in with me because she was nervous about hiking alone. She sensed I was "safe." Was that a compliment? Whatever. A day rarely goes by that I don't think of her and our many conversations about many things.

Interesting, for sure. But drama? You decide.

I could continue. But the judgment is yours. Drama is an individual thing. I've sensed drama, boredom, and a lot of in betweens over many decades -- well quite a few decades, anyway.

Weary

[fiddlehead]

Seeing as most Americans tend to stay home and watch TV, there's tons of drama, on the AT, in comparison.
At least there always seems to be when i hike.
(except for my SOBO)

[Tin Man]

limit the drama, hike sobo

[Graywolf]

I'll take drama in the wilderness, over drama at home any time...

I remember when I saw a Bald Eagle gliding on the wind...Yeah, baby, that was drama, all the way, my blood began to flow..And the time I came face to face with a Mountain Lion..Yep, that was sure excitement, cant get that walking to 7-11..And how bout the time I saw that triple rainbow over a well watered Utah desert..That was more drama then I have had all that year..

Yes, diffenitly..Drama in the Wilderness anytime over drama in the city..

Graywolf

[Tinker]

I've spent a lot of time reading other people's trail journals and talking with other thru-hikers. Some seem to have drama, and other don't. Seems a lot like high school.

So I'm just curious, does drama seem to be common along the trail?

Some folks over-dramatize everything in life - writers especially. Aspiring writers may pad their AT adventures with "little white lies" to gain notoriety.
Hiking, in general, is a peaceful pursuit that doesn't have much drama. Peace is not very exciting to the average couch cowboy(woman) adrenaline junkie.

[Knees]

Where there are people there is drama. Some is avoidable and some isn't. Life continues out on the trail--relationships, injuries, family issues, money issues, etc...

[Jonnycat]

So I'm just curious, does drama seem to be common along the trail?

I don't know. I hike to experience the natural world, so I avoid groupings of people.

[stranger]

I agree with most of what has been said about avoiding shelters, and towns, or atleast hostels in towns. Motels offer your own room and solitude, plus many thru and long distance hikers along the AT are young, and don't have the budgets to stay in motels.

But like others have said...its what you make of it. There is no reason to hike 12-15 miles every day and stay at shelters with 20 other people unless you want to. There are hundreds of good campsites along the trail, and plenty of places to stay in town that won't be flooded by other hikers.

Drama...of course exists, simply because the AT is very social. That can be both good, and bad...depends on your preferences.