most electronic gadget users have a mind set very similar to cigarette smokers of the 1950's and 60's. they feel they have the right to use them any time any where no matter how it impacts others (movie theaters, restaurants, wilderness).
Freedom is Not freedom to do what you please.

Edited by asandh on 07/02/2011 08:01:59 MDT.

Why are so many people on this site anti-electronics? It seems strange that they will adopt any number of modern advancements in gear and fabrics if it makes their trip more enjoyable but if it has a battery in it it's taboo.

I carry a GPS, mark all my tracks, match my photos to said tracks and look at them in Google Earth. It increases my enjoyment of the outdoors with pre-trip planning and post trip review. It certainly doesn't reduce my enjoyment of the outdoors as it's rarely out of my pack.

While sitting in my tent listening to the rain beating down, I like to listen to my MP3 player "with headphones". Does that disturb anybody? If I was watching a movie would that somehow be worse?

It seems OK to carry a PLB (ultra modern technology) but nothing else electronic if you want to be a real outdoorsman... I don't get it.

Is failure to move wih the times a remarkable character trait?

Edited by skopeo on 07/01/2011 14:24:00 MDT.

there is nothing wrong with electronics and modern technology, though I question whether some of it is truly an advancement.

Edited by asandh on 07/02/2011 08:08:07 MDT.

If your phone is causing interference with your wild pure soul, change carriers. If you find it umbilical, you're not doing it right.

The inability to extricate one's soul from one's smartphone when in close proximity suggests a greater attachment to technology than I have.

Regarding Art's previous post, rude use of technology is indeed like bad manners in smoking (a habit I equate with being willfully flatulent), but the problem is with individuals' manners, not the technology.

My iPhone increases my connection "to the void" by streamlining my gear (I carry fewer gadgets, be they electronic or analog, and it's more seamless in use), and speeding my navigation (10 seconds with the GPS app doesn't interrupt my "commune" so much as several minutes puzzling over a map. I don't even have to stop walking.).

Several college friends and I took a trip into the Teton Wilderness last summer. One of them, Joe, set out determined to do all our navigation sans electronics. Within a matter of hours, the "trails" we were on became invisible and we had to stop for extended periods to figure out where we were. A couple of times we had to trek through a half mile of marsh grass to get back to the trail. We weren't touching the void because it was dang hard to find the void. On day 2 I broke out my iPhone, and we didn't get stuck or lost once for the rest of the week. Our commune was continuous. Our minds at ease, we didn't "touch" the void, we charged it with primal abandon.

Art, have you read "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"? It has an extensive philosophical discussion of technology and its integration in our lives. The author was, of course, using the metaphor of fairly simple internal combustion engines as his "technology", but engines also have an air of mystery about their workings to those not intimately familiar with them (like me, for instance), a mystery that becomes frustrating and burdensome when they don't function as wished. I think you might find the discussion illuminating, and it happens in the first several chapters. It might help you stop viewing the rest of us as the spiritual cripples of the backcountry, stumbling blindly with the narrow focus of a child chasing a ball into traffic. It might even give you an idea of what you're missing yourself.

Edited by AttaboyBrad on 07/01/2011 15:49:25 MDT.

Tim,

I posted a first impression of the Nomad 7 last weekend. You might want to look at it. It works as specified at home. I don't see me using this backpacking as I rarely take electronics... but on an extended thru hike I would consider it.

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re: Art's post. I really could care less what other people do, and don't care to change anyone else's mind. I don't even try to convince people to try backpacking if they have never tried it. As a matter of fact, I wish they would stay out of the wilderness... it is already too crowded :)

For me I rarely take any electronics to include a camera. I take a mini photon light and that is it. I use technology everyday... smart phones, smart phone as a modem for my laptop, sync phone with computer, etc, etc.

For me, I hike to enjoy the wilderness, and have no need for music, data or communication. I usually hike alone because I don't want to communicate with anyone for a while, I want to enjoy quiet and my surroundings. I enjoy my own company.

My compass weighs under an ounce. I know how to use a map. No batteries to go dead, and less likely to break a compass. I have never broken a compass. I have broken electronic gear at home, under less primitive conditions than when I hike.

I do buy new technology gear if it reduces weight.

If you need or want an iPhone or other stuff, take it. I could care less what you are seeking on your hikes. Heck, take a boom box, just don't play it loud enough to bother others. Take a cooler if you need ice cold beer. It is none of my business.

If I were to hike the PCT, I would probably take my iPhone. But I would only use it to call my wife once in a while, because she would not let me take the trip if I did not call occasionally.

Marines in Afghanistan are now beginning to use flexible solar panels at remote outposts to charge the many batteries they use for weapons, communications, night vision gear, GPSs, etc.. The photo I saw showed about a 10' X 10' area covered with flexible solar panels at a post located overlooking a steep, wooded mountain valley.

This has helped greatly in keeping down the amount of fuel needed to power electric generators and thus keep down losses from ambushed fuel convoys.

Will we ever see small, light, highly efficient solar panels for backpacking?

Edited by Danepacker on 07/01/2011 16:51:27 MDT.

Eric,

There are small efficient panels, mono-crystalline construction. With any panel, efficiency depends upon proper orientation to maximize solar collecting. Problem is using them when hiking, we are constantly moving in many directions, in and out of shade.

Now where you live, if you just hiked north all day in the desert you could do pretty well.

Tim,

You asked about recharging the iPhone while hiking. I just finished a six week hike in Turkey, and we used the iPhone to carry our maps.
(Trip Reports Part 1 and Part 2)

Here is a lot more information about how to use an iPhone4 while backpacking. AlanD and I did a LOT of testing of battery conservation, and this article documents everything we learned.

In Turkey, we were able to recharge in shops, since we were never more than 4 days between shops. We used all of the battery conservation measures I describe in that article. We used the iPhone 15-30 times per day for 30 seconds to perhaps 3 minutes per use. Our battery drain was between 7% and 20% per day. Based on our usage, we could have gone for 5 to 10 days between charges. We used the following apps:

1. Gaia GPS for maps. (There are no good paper maps of Turkey, as per government policy)
2.Turkish-English dictionary with audio
3. Birds of Northern Europe
4. GoodReader and ReadItLater (for reference material about places we were visiting)
5. Emerald Chronometer (for sun, moon, planet info)

We used Safari when we were in a cafe with WIFI and electricity in order to save more wiki pages (using ReadItLater) for the sites we were approaching.

Hope this helps, AmyL

Edited by drongobird on 07/08/2011 06:32:04 MDT.