I’m sick of politics lets talk backpacki ng

“I'm sick of hearing about whats going on in DC. Any one got any good backpacking stories, Like having a bear still their food, forgeting the tent poles or somthing. I'm just sick of all this politcal stuff.”

“ok i'll start the stories off. The frist time i went backpacking was with a scout group. My parents were in charge, which is nice but you like to be on you own. Well any way we had to walk more then 5 miles to meet the requirements, Well there wasn;t much close to our house, so we had to walk in a cricle. Well no of us knew this and most of the kids complained all the way, speacily the girls, well the next day instead of hiking 5 miles back we went a differnent trail and got back in like 15 mins. Man were some of the kids mad. But i loved it and have been hooked every since”

“Well this one time, july 4th, '99... wait, no... that's a canoeing story, how about the polar bear, no... canoeing again, or this one time on the bloodvein river canoeing... grr all my good stories are canoeing stories.

My backpacking trips usually go pretty smooth and don't lead to big stories..”

“I hear ya bro. I'm sick of political threads too. I even e-mailed Matt to see if we could have an "Ignore this Thread" feature just for that reason.”

“well i have one from saturday night actually....even made a little song about it...hold up now where the hell did i put that”

“"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH,
Went to Springer and it was high,
Stayed one windy rainy night,

Went to Springer and it was good,
Had no fire cuz there was no wood,

Went to Springer to clear my head,
Stormbringer lives 2scoops is dead,

Goin' back to Springer real real soon,
Hopefully you'll be there too.”

“This one time at band camp...”

“Hell, I'm kinda sick of them too, but I'm so involved with the crap, it's all I think about anymore.

Talking about bping will give ole' BB something to look forward to again.

Nice story Photoguy!”

“The one thing I will not do is get involved in the Political threads, Sexual inuendos or even the religious threads. One thing I have learned on a camping/ backpacking/and/or canoeing trip is to never bring up one of these subjects, even if I have personal feelings on the subjects. Don't get me wrong, I have strong beliefs, I just don't think a backpacking thread is the place to share them. There I said it. I feel better now!”

“Buddha, you should quit that socialist politico job and find something respectable.”

“Had a bear steal our food last morning out on a weekend trip, at Shenandoah. Darn bears are so aclimatized there he just untied our bear bag and walked off. Buddy almost got up to pee when I knew the bear was right there, until I stopped him. Have several mementos from that morning I keep with the rest of my gear, as a reminder.

There, that count?”

“Dang it Tango! You stole my line.... ;-)”

“MOOOOOOOOOHAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAA”

“I put on my pack.
Put my boots in the track.
Headed up that mountain
to make my attack.

I breathed the air
Felt the wind in my hair
With three miles behind me
I have not a care....”

“...when all of a sudden
a dust storm arose
that wasn't Mother Nature
It was Pennsy with no clothes!

I said put yer clothes on
Mr Pennsy, I do declare!
But he just ran out ahead of me
shouting, More Speed! no clothes, no hair!!!”

“Several years ago, the Publisher of Backpacker Magazine was trying to influence Congress to increase taxes on backpackers. He testified that,

"If you take the average readers of BACKPACKER magazine as representative of the core, or center, of this outdoor user universe, you'll see median household incomes of over $62,000, and 79 percent are college educated. They are not anything but "upper class" to my mind."

In my humble opinion, my learned friends at Rodale Inc. are wrong. Backpacking, by its very nature, can be a very thrifty activity. Backpacking is one sport were more money won't necessarily make you a better backpacker like in many other sports. When you start imposing a flat tax on the activity, some people will drop out. Those people who drop out are going to be on the poorer end of the scale. I disagree with the idea that backpacking should be the province of the rich. For instance, in order to pay for the rangers and facilities at Isle Royale National Park, Michigan, the government imposed a flat tax on the users. Half the campsites there can only be accessed by boaters. The vast majority of those boaters go out to those campsites in boats that cost more than a years total income of the median American family. In other words, the very rich upper class. Why should a backpacker pay the same flat tax as a boater? The economic effect of this flat tax at Isle Royale is that the backpacker is subsidizing all those expensive docks, navigational markers, marinas and marine services for rich people.

The magazine publisher's testimony shows that the magazine has a political bias. In this example, the editor was trying to directly influence a political decision. When Backpacking Magazine engages in a political activity, it will of course turn off some segment of our society, and to some extent, turn off people to engage in backpacking. The fewer backpacker there are, the more endagered our activity becomes. Thier politicizing the magazine will have just the opposite of the intended affects. Backpacking Magazine should be trying to promote the sport, and not try to influence politics.

What do you think? Do you agree with Rodale Inc. that backpacking is for the upper class?”

“Nice arguement, but I have to say, maybe we can start a thread about this at the bottom, so we can keep the sanctity of this original thread.

whaddya say? I'd be more than happy to discuss this.”

“I think my new boots should arrive tomorrow. Now I just hope they fit right. If not they said they would change sizes for free so thats ok at least. I will let you know how they work out. Also im looking for a light day pack size 2100-2800 with an internal frame. I saw a Kelty for like $50 good deal?”

“$50 - good deal!”

“Buddha Bear, if you want to argue opposite position with me, I'll save you the bother and concede to you right now. And I'll save myself a beating. The real point I was trying to make is that backpacking talk can legitimately include political talk. Examples:

Fee increases at backpacking trails:

Can't go backpacking- got fired.

Can't bring stove in luggage on planes.

Vote for Kerry-He will turn military bases into backpacking trails.”

“heck, I agree with you on this one pro, but Matt's suggestion has awoken me from the quagmire the politicla threads' influnce have had on the true nature of this site.

Let's discuss it in a seperate thread on the down low (trademark new name for political threads due to proximity of the discussion).”

“""OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH,
Went to Springer and it was high,
Stayed one windy rainy night,

Went to Springer and it was good,
Had no fire cuz there was no wood,

Went to Springer to clear my head,
Stormbringer lives 2scoops is dead,

Goin' back to Springer real real soon,
Hopefully you'll be there too."
shep0987


i think i saw that episode! i love jerry springer!”

“"""OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH,
Went to Springer and it was high,
Stayed one windy rainy night,

Went to Springer and it was good,
Had no fire cuz there was no wood,

Went to Springer to clear my head,
Stormbringer lives 2scoops is dead,

Goin' back to Springer real real soon,
Hopefully you'll be there too."
shep0987


i think i saw that episode! i love jerry springer!"
stratdewd
09:23:07 PM
03/22/04



lol that was almost funny...”

“well for the most part this has been refeshing, any one eles got anything backpacking realated, feel free to post”

“The $4.00 per day user fee at Isle Royale goes to maintain a lot more than boat docks.
They pay trail maintenance crews, built a new visitor center at Windigo (the old one was a shack and the floor was falling through), and other maintenance items.
They also have pit toilets at all campgrounds and these require maintenance.
There are also picnic tables and shelters to maintain.
Backpackers use all of these facilities.
I have been there more than once and don't mind paying the fee.”

“I agree with you, but that was not my point.

Isle Royale Budget: $3,254,000
Number of visitors: 19,260
Cost per visit: $168.95

Pictured Rocks Budget: $1,811,000
Number of visitors: 428,390
Cost per visit: $4.22

Servicing boats with expensive marinas, gas and docks will bloat your budget. Backpackers and boaters pay the same. Backpackers are subsidizing the boaters. I do not think it's fair.”

“guys this is sounding to much like politics, take it some place eles”

“Sounds like a legitimate backpacking issue to me.”

“We actually discuss backpacking on Trail talk?”

“I am going to Pictured Rocks this year and there is a $15.00 fee for a reservation and a $5.00 per day user fee per person payable when you pick up your permit.
Don't know where you got your figures.”

“National Park Service Websites.”

“I have my reservation and it cost $15.00 and the user fee is $5.00 per day per person.
This was confirmed by a phone call to the park.”

“No wonder persecutor was banned by the dark side: he just doesn't know when to quit! And he's completely full of cr*p. Poor PG190 wanted some actual posts about actual backbacking, and The King of All Nitwits just can't oblige him. Sigh.

Here's an actual bp-ing story: I took my grown son on a trip to the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, and we camped at Rachel lake. We had chili mac for dinner, and he had the most copius gas that night that I have ever been subjected to. It was bitter cold and winds of 50+ mph, but the smell in the tent was so bad, that I kept waking up and opening the tent flaps, letting the howling wind refresh the air. Then when I went to sleep, the cold would wake my son, and he would close the flaps, starting the cycle all over again. We spent the whole night playing "musical tent flaps". Now I only bring chili mac on solo trips!”

“NEVER sleep downwind from Slugman, lol”

“it could have been worse it could have been like no wind, warm weather with a light mist in the air just enugh to keep the smell in the air.”

“Ah, a bear story... I was in Pennsylvania this past August and we decided to go blueberry picking. These were those nice, tall blueberry bushes and you had to wade in a bog to get to them. I brought the usual -- a container for berries on a strap and a water bottle on a strap so I would have everything with me. My friend. on the other hand, decided to bring his entire backpack, with snacks and such inside. He left the pack on the "shore" of the bog and we waded out. Out in the bog, it was pretty clear bears had been at the berries because nothing under bear height was left on the bushes. Some hours later we hear loud crashing noises from the direction of my friend's backpack. We hurried over (as much as you can hurry in a bog) cause I wanted to see the bear. Missed the bear, but the pack was all ripped up and the bear had eaten 2 apples, chomped down on a water bottle, and gnawed on a pack of batteries. At leaat the apples were good! My friend's camera was set up on its tripod maybe 2m away, completely untouched. OK, so it's not a great bear story, but it's the only one I've got.”

“My figures are buget figures. Cost per visit is the yearly buget divided by number of visitors during the year.
Users fees is what the park service charges people.”

“Have a nice day.”

“Why do you have to pollute EVERY thread with your nonsense? Didn't you read the title of this thread?”

“i think i understand why the other site didn't want this guy, I'm not sure this guy even likes to backpack. Even if he does he is better at bringing up trouble”

“Hey, photoguy190, you make good sense! But I noticed there are several typos on your profile. OK, more than several, many. It's funny because you are making the point that backpacking is better than drinking, but it looks like you "had a few" when you wrote it. I especially like how you mis-spelled "remember" twice. At least you're consistent, as they are both the same. LOL. (The preceding post is not intended as a slam in any way, just having some fun and trying to help)”

“The point is backpackers pay at both places.
Most Pictured Rocks visitors never get very far from their cars and backpackers support the park.”