Backpacker Magazine is looking for you..

“BACKPACKER is looking for volunteer hikers in the Southern states to collect gps data on trails. Please contact me directly if you're interested in helping us map out America's trails.

-Kris Wagner
Map Editor
BACKPACKER magazine
kriswagner@backpacker.com”

“boy you sure are gettin flooded on this thread....want me to toss some of these loud mouths in here”

“So they want us to help them for free so they can profit from our expense?”

“No... you buy the GPS, walk all over the Smokies, Pisgah, Cherokee, Chattahoochee National Forests... and they might give you a baseball cap, <G>

(or how about 25% off your subscription?)”

“Quick..everybody hide!!”

“and they might give you a baseball cap
Tilt

I guess you didn't see on the other side...they ran out of baseball caps. Now they give away free clever toothbrushes.”

“No More Baseball Caps? Somebody's going to be upset.”

“bp2go had to delete the thread he started telling everyone they were out of hats because so many of the backpacker.snobs cried and whined.”

“if they provide me with a female trail ho to romp with during the evenings.”

“LMAO stikmon!

Dub - i can't believe they deleted that thread for whining. Are ya sure? I gotta stop ignoring threads I think will be no fun.”

“Yeah, he deleted the thread. I posted to it calling them whiners and then went to check the next day to see what I stirred up and the entire thread was gone. So I made another asking where it went. Steve made some edits to it but wouldn't offer an explanation.”

“Well I sent Kris an email, just to see what the scoop was for sure..

hehe.. I'd go do it.. maybe.. depends on which trails.”

“Geez - give the guy a break - you guys are being rude just because he is from the magazine. I am sure there are some people out there that would love to see some of their efforts being used to help guide others.
- just my opinion
dawn”

“But they're so Evil over there... LOL”

“Not for me, they're not!

And what you find on the "other side," please leave on the other side. Thank you.”

“For a guy threatening to sue Rodale, TD sure spends a lot of time covering their projects.”

“*laughs *

Sue Rodale? Never heard of her.”

“I forgot about this little thing.

on our recent trip to Harriman State Park, AmyG came upon a group of people in the parking lot. She noticed that they all looked confused, so she being the sweetie she is, offered them help.

then that same same day while we where on the trail she noticed the very same group and once again told them if they needed anything to just ask.

this is the story behind these newbies:

one guy was a freelance writer and was doing a story for "Backpacker Mag", he was the trip leader and he got 9 of his newbie friends to go on a backpacking trip and see how everyone does.
the problem was, he was as clueless as to what to do as the rest of them. The mag gave them all the gear they needed.
but they did not know anything.
no idea where the water source was or even how to use a water filter, they were so clueless. we noticed that they did hang a bear bag, but that too fell in the middle of the night.
I can not understand how a mag can even send anyone into the wilderness that is that clueless.”

“That figures.”

“Jeezus. I wonder if Guns and Ammo Mag will give out guns to newbies and send them hunting?”

“thats kinda funny, maybe he'll talk about the friendly, attractive and helpful hiker that he ran into in his article.”

“LOL i gave him my name (I tried :))”

“yea, they had no idea what they were doing. the bear bag was also hanging ON the trail.... which later on that night had fallen down.”

“They could send me a bunch of gear. I'll use it.
8D”

“i know right... i can pretend i'm a newbie. i've only been doing it for a year, so that still qualifies me as one anyway!”

“Ha Ha! I am so skinny they wouldn't figure me for one.”

“Those #@$%^&! stole my water filter!!!”

“What is backpacking?
























See I can lie too.”

“Dear Backpacker Magazine,

I'm a newbie for ultralight titanium backpacking...



Please send me gear.”

“LOL @ Bobo. They probably have no idea what a water filter is.

Look at this newbie. What is it? It might be a backpacking bong.”

“zac, i thought you were going all Zen on me or something.

i guess i need to scroll faster”

“Zen? Like that poor rabbit that runs across the divided highway narrowly being missed be on coming traffic?”

“


I think it is a bong. You place the hose in your mouth and pump the smoke into your lungs. WOW! Backpacker thought of everything. Now what is this thing called a tent do?”

“Now what is this thing called a tent do?”
Bloody Knee Gravy
12:46:08 PM
10/19/04
ignore this user

It's a place where you can sit and clam bake.”

“Duh, the story is going to be made by the amount of mistakes people made.”

“Personally, I don't think it's funny. I wonder if liability laws would have applied had they got themselves in trouble.

Doug”

“Hell I could fill at least a year's worth of magazines with mistakes my friends or myself have done.
Can you say alcohol and axes do not mix?”

“I bet they signed something”

“this guy was either a great actor or clueless.
i think if you go into any form of wilderness, and have no idea what you are doing, then it is dangerous in any form!!

I would never have taken 9 people into the woods and pretend that i knew what i was doing.
if he was lying, then he had no right to. if i was his friend and heard him say what he did to me, i would have packed up and left.

Amy asked if anyone had a whistle or something like it, one snotty lady piped up and asked "why would i need that"

HELLLLLOOOOOO”

“hehe.. that is soo funny... "scary.. but true" sort of story..

;)”

“Along the same line.
was taking a Scout group for a hike in the Delaware water gap.

A woman in (yes) high heeled shoes come up to me, points to the AT and asks me "where does that trail go".

"Mt Katahdin, in Maine" said with a straight face.
All the Scouts bust out laughing.”

“oh pleazzeee, some of the more experienced backpackers probably watched them the whole time. I am sure backpacker mag wouldn't risk anything...hmm, maybe not huh? I don't know. I sort of curious about the story now.

I see the unexperienced all the time. Never saw anyone in high heels though, that's funny!! Saw a guy in sort of dress shoes and nice pants (well nice is relative) once though. My kids freaked when they saw him because he just didnt' fit in.

but...I wanna write for backpacker mag. backpacking in the eye of a German?

5'2" and under. Still able to backpack??

Shoot, there must be a story somewhere.”

“lol. It's kinda hard to bust into BP mag. They seem to be pretty choosy.”

“*sigh*

I'd never get in. My hiking close are always dirty and never color coordinate.”

“yeah gem, you could do a story on hiking in ledderhosen :D”

“That's okay.. I went whitewater rafting near the Cumberland Gap with a friend once and the 2 of us somehow got stuck in a boat with 2 little old grannies who were there for a "scenic view".... Lucky for us, the guides sensed that we wanted a little more adventure and let us use an inflatable funyak for a bit....

Unfortunately, we hit the whitewater going sideways and did exactly what they told us NOT to do-- 1 of us climbed on a river rock (possible river worms-- yech!) and the other one of us (me) tried to stand up in the whitewater and bloodied a knee....

BUT... we did ask for adventure, and floating peacefully down a SLOW whitewater river was way to boring for us!”

“I just hope that group made it out OK...I mean, they were a whoppin' mile or two from the cars.
:p

The funny thing about the situation was that even though they were rapid-firing all sorts of questions my way, when I started to give them some basic answers, they were confrontational and unfriendly...
truly, I was trying to be helpful, not butt in. THEY were the ones who initially approached me at the trailhead and asked for help.

dorks.”

“AmyG... American hero.












LOL! Hiya AmyG! ;-P”

“ohmadawg, remember that thread?! LMAO

Hi Lips! Long time, girl.
:)”

“Well, fortunately it was just Harriman, which is pretty much surrounded by the Hudson River and NYC suburbs. But still, there's bears up in them hills there.

WHAT IN THE HELL WAS BACKPACKER THINKING???”