Hiking Etiquette
The Great Outdoors: part six
When out hiking on any given trail we inevitably have ‘encounters’ with others out enjoying nature, these human encounters can be with other hikers, horseback riders, cyclists, or motorized off-roaders. Now ‘trail etiquette’ dictates that hikers should always step back off the trail a few feet to allow these other trail users passage, it goes without saying, everyone knows this. But the other part of this, that also seems inevitable is the natural human instinct of a friendly verbal exchange i.e., communication aka chit-chat.
We always try to strike up a conversation, but care should be taken to keep it ‘light’ and never get confrontational, avoid personal opinions on politics and religion. Once while hiking to Indian Rockhouse at Buffalo Point another hiker came up behind us to pass, we stepped back off the trail just as courtesy dictates, as he passed with his leashed dog, I said something like “You know dogs aren’t allowed on the trails at Buffalo River?” He didn’t even acknowledge that he heard me, just kept on going down the trail.
As we continued hiking, I got to thinking about that encounter and realized it’s none of my business what others do while hiking, if they want to break the rules who am I to ‘interfere’. I’m actually pretty lucky he chose to ignore my ‘confrontational comment’. I’ve since learned to keep it light, safe topics like; the lovely weather or beautiful scenery are always good ice breakers and always seem to lead to the question, where are you from?
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| Bradley Falls |
We have seen soda bottles stuck on a branch in a small tree at the edge of the trail marking a turnoff, this is not a justifiable excuse for leaving your trash. Build a small rock cairn instead and stick your coke bottle in your pack or pocket. I usually carry a plastic shopping bag attached to my daypack for the water bottles and beer cans we inevitably find along the trail, and it’s usually almost full when we get back to the car. Wouldn’t it be great to return with that bag empty.
Fluorescent ribbon tied in trees sure has become popular in recent years, I’m not a big fan of this either. I suppose it isn’t as trashy as a Mountain Dew bottle stuck on a branch, but before you follow a trail of pink ribbon tied to the trees you should ask yourself why someone tied this ribbon in the first place. Occasionally the ribbon will be tied to help others find their way, but usually it’s done by someone who isn’t sure where they are, and the ribbon is tied to help them find their way back out after they realize they are completely lost. We have followed ‘ribbon in the woods’ many times, sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t.
Something else to think about that comes under the heading ‘hiking etiquette’ is trail damage. It’s not just the ATV and horses that tear up the trail, hikers do it too. Have you ever been hiking down a hill on a trail with a switchback farther ahead, seeing a steep little ‘shortcut’ you take the shortcut making the hike a little shorter? This little shortcut can damage a trail just as much as any horse or ATV.
The damage is started by the tired or just lazy hiker who inadvertently kills the vegetation by creating that little ‘shortcut’ the very vegetation that holds the hillside together to stop the forces of erosion. Making the slope easier to hike up and down isn’t the only reason the builders of the trail put in switchbacks, it’s also to slow down and spread out the run-off coming down the hill every time it rains. This is why steep trails built straight up a hillside soon turn into gullies. We should never shortcut a switchback, it damages the resource and besides you shouldn’t be in a hurry anyway, slow down and be kind to your trails.
Okay I have one more thing to bitch about then I’m done, I promise, and that is ‘noise pollution’. I love music more than most, in fact music is a big part of my life and has been ever since I began acquiring a musician's skills at the young age of eight. But there’s a time and a place for everything, and ‘the trail’ is not the place for music, save it for when you get to camp.
At some of the more popular swimming holes we have noticed, people like to bring their ‘music’ with them, now-a-days that is most often in the form of Bluetooth speakers ‘connected’ to the music library on their phone. This is fine I suppose until they start turning up the volume to compete with a neighbor down the beach who is playing some other genre, soon they’re both blasting everybody’s tranquility into oblivion.
We were hiking a while back in the Hurricane Creek Wilderness attempting to reach the Natural Arch (see: 85 Rock Creek Bluff Falls) when we heard faint music in the distance, the music got louder and soon we could also hear ‘engines’ approaching. This young couple with big smiles on their faces came around the bend on two small 4-wheelers one with a huge ghetto-blaster strapped on the front, they were having a great time cruising around and ‘rockin’ the wilderness. Of course the music was loud, it had to be to drown out the sound of the 4-wheelers. This is a true story, I’m not making it up, but the point is if you really have to have music on the trail wear some earbuds or headphones, please have a little consideration for others.
The sound of silence can be a wonderful thing, I remember we were hiking Roundtop Mountain (see: 32 Roundtop Mountain) and the sound of all the traffic racing by down below on Highway 7 was really starting to annoy me, then as we ‘rounded’ the mountain over to the west side the traffic noise became ‘blocked out’ by the mountain. The lack of noise became overwhelming, and the sound of silence was simple beautiful serenity. We always try to be as quiet as possible while hiking so we can hear everything nature has to say.
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