music or sounds of nature

[kiluam]

who listens to mini discs or cds or radio or whatever while hiking? ive always found it to be intriguing because to me the idea of hking is to exercise obviously but mainly to get away from everyday stuff..yet i see hiker after hiker with their headphones on..even people hiking together..i dont bother myself with music on hiking trips, unless of couse its natures music.

[Arizonaheat]

I agree with you, the whole idea is to commute with nature and enjoy the sights and sounds around you.

[desert dweller]

I think that some folks have trouble being left alone with their own thoughts. When I first started backpacking, 25 years ago, I tried to bring along some classical music. My thought was to experience the hike like I was watching an outdoor/nature documentary with an orchestrated musical soundtrack. What I realized, very quickly, was that listening to music, or any other recorded sounds, greatly reduced the "wilderness experience".

I have carried on this opinion to what some would consider an extreme. That is, when hiking with a group, I try to limit the conversation to about ten sentences per hour. Once I explain the reasoning behind this strategy, the folks usually comply.

One sees and hears so much more wildlife when there is little or no talking. (Of course, to carry the extreme a little further, a campfire is the greatest barrier to experiencing Nature. Also dogs (no offence to anyone who brings along their pups) affects how one experiences nature.

So, I guess I am a purist in some way. When backpacking alone, silence isn't a problem and I stopped having a campfire years ago. When hiking with someone else, I explain the philosophy and get them to try it out.

[Canyon Dweller]

I have always found that music on the trail is not nessasary. For me a good backpackin trip is getting away from our modern commodities.
I don't go to the extreem of ten sentences per hour tho.
_________________
Mountains are there to be climbed!

"Meaningless! Meaningless," says the teacher, "Utterly Meaningless, Everything is meaningless."-Ecclesiastes 1:2

[desertgirl]

I totally agree with desert_dweller on his thoughts in this regard.....& have had the opportunity of sharing his thoughts on this subject! Desert_Dweller led us on a moonlight hike while at Reavis Ranch & it was a definitely magical time -- no lights (headlights that is), no banter --just the sounds of nature....It was great!

1) Headphones -- You are killing your senses when you have a constant feed of music/noise into your ears! It takes away from hearing the birds, trees, babble of water and any thing else that make music in nature. I am not into having headphones on even when I run/workout so this is not a big deal.

2) Pets -- I used to hike quite a bit before I had a dog & I always saw wildlife on most hikes. Since I have a dog now ( & ocassionally take him with me) -- any hike he goes on I have not see any wildlife I'd prefer to hike without pets - its easier on the pet, me & wildlife around me!

3) Campfires -- Personally I'd do without them for the most part. It leaves a mark on nature that stays for 1000's of years, depletes scarce resources & drives away night life with light/smoke and kills your night vision. It leaves a smoke smell in yor gear that takes quite a bit to get rid off & on extended hikes it makes you smell of stale wood smoke.

If you are prepared for the weather, you really do not need a fire to keep warm. A few layers & you are toasty!

However, its a great coming together for a group.....again depends on your objectives for the hike. If you must have a fire, please put it out 100%! I have come across too many fires that still have glowing embers ....

4) Trail Banter -- Minimized talking & spacing out your hiking party lends to a much better experience of the solitude of wilderness. I was hiking alone this weekend at Catalinas (Ponatoc Canyon trail - low use, no dogs allowed since it is Bighorn Sheep Area) & had the opportunity to see many big horn sheep at close quarter -- may be too close for comfort!)

5) Trail Trash -- It just aggravats me to see apple cores, orange peels strewn along trails..Even though it is biodegradable, these things need to be packed out

6) Camp Improvements -- Do not build semi-permanent structures. Its one thing to clean up the site for the tent (remove big rocks /sticks - may be you should look for the best possible site w/o improvements) but entirely another matter when you start leveling the site! If you build fire pits ( I'd much prefer there are no fire rings built -- since they tend to signal its Ok to build a fire!); dismantle them when you leave the site. and please pack out your trash -- includes cans, foil etc. Do not attemp to burn them.
_________________
Photos: http://www.pbase.com/desertgirl/galleries
Life is but a dream ...there is no end to what you can dream!

[kiluam]

i saw a funny, but a rather disturbing family on saturday on the flatiron trail. there was the mother and father, and two young kids, must have been about 8-10 yrs old. as i moved to the side a little to let them pass they also stopped for a breather..i asked them if they were going all the way to the top. they said very enthusiastically "you betcha" i wasnt so sure if the two younger kids would have the easiest time getting up there, as they looked kinda bony. the disturbing part, they all had headphones on and between the four of them, they had one really small thermos for water..i was pretty sure they were going to come back prett quickly..THE ENTIRE FAMILY HAD HEADPHONES ON!!!! why??!! they might as well just walk around the house a few thousand times with the radio on..anyways as jim morrison said: "people are strange"

[plummer150]

I couldn't even imagine listening to any kind of music while i'm hiking. Just the sound of absolutly nothing but quietness and the wind is enough and perfect for me.
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"IRONMAN" cometh, hiketh, destroyeth

[Daddee]

For me - it depends on what type of hiking I'm doing. If I'm going to just run up Squaw Peak or Camelback - well, there isn't much peace on the trail, and I don't much like listening to all the other conversations around me, so I put on the music and do the hike.

However, if I'm going somewhere where I CAN commune with nature - then all bets are off - I have to be able to hear the sounds of nature - the wonderful non-silence that you find in the wilderness that can tell you so much about what is going on around you.
_________________
"Only small minds want always to be right."
- Louis XIV

"...haven't you lived long enough to know that two men may honestly differ about a question and both be right?"
- Abraham Lincoln

[maryphyl]

I like both--sometimes it is fun to have music in my ears and race along. Most of the time it does not occur to me.
_________________
Shikekeh hozhoogo naasha.
I walk in beauty.

[Nighthiker]

Their is a lot of music to enjoy along the trail, the phainopepla and its quiet love song, the pyrrhuloxia annoucing your arrival if you trail winds thru wolfberry bushes and the owl, the original varmit caller. The hoot will make its prey nervous and cause it to bolt from its hiding place and the owl will eat.

Hiking in canyon country above the Mogollon Rim and below the ledge of some unnamed canyon snaking off to the Little Colorado, the wind will echo off the rock.

Campfires ? I seldom have a campfire, the aroma of the sycamore after a late spring rain, the yellow flowers of the palo verde and the vanilla aroma of the pine trees; all are pleasant to inhale.

[ck1]

I've never considered headphones as backcountry gear, though I do agree with Daddee..if you have to do Camelback(which I personally don't consider "hiking", perhaps better called "urban rock running") then headphones might be the way to go...

I respectfully don't agree with Desertgirl on pets...

[evenstar]

I take my cell phone if I'm gonna be hiking where I can get a signal, but have never turned it on. Strictly for emergancies.

As to the music on the trail, can't see it. Hiking, to me, is a meditative experience when I'm alone just like running was back in my running days. When I'm with others, prefer their company.
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http://members.tripod.com/~evenstar/index.html
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When the Man waked up he said, "What is Wild Dog doing here?" And the Woman said, "His name is not Wild Dog anymore, but the First Friend, because he will be our friend for always and always and always. Take him with you when you go hunting."
--Rudyard Kipling, from Just So Stories, 1902

[Canyon Dweller]

I have found cell phones to be irritating. I can understand taking them for emergancies, but not just to talk on. I was in Colorado on top of a 12,000 foot pass and somebody from Texas pulled out his cell phone and started talking away about how he is up on this "high pass in Colorado." It was very irritating, and the guy was loud.
_________________
Mountains are there to be climbed!

"Meaningless! Meaningless," says the teacher, "Utterly Meaningless, Everything is meaningless."-Ecclesiastes 1:2

[ck1]

"Guess where I'm calling you from?"!
_________________
-Colin

"The Journey is the Destination"

[cactuscat]

Music : no. Cellphones : no. Dogs : BIG NO!!

I can't enjoy my hike with a dog along, and will never go on a hike if I know there will be one.
I might bring a cellphone in case of emergency, but I only have a Cricket phone, and they don't work anywhere I hike, so I don't worry about it. I think my hiking partner usually has one along.
I occasionally bring a certain CD along to listen to when I get where I'm going, but not while hiking.

LNT for life!