Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board hiking with I-pods

Interesting topic. I am an outdoor enthusiast, and not just hiking. I have more (current) outdoor hobbies than most people have in their entire lives. I love the outdoors, the sounds, the solitude, wildlife, all of it and I enjoy it in a whole lot of different ways. Most of the time music is not what I need to enjoy the outdoors. However, sometimes a little music picks me up perfectly and the rythum is just what the Dr ordered. During those times there is nothing else that could suffice. If it enhances your experience then why not, I can't say that it hurts anyone else's. Just use it responsibly.

Wes:
I actually bought the book in Yosemite at the Ansel Adams Gallery, but I'm pretty sure you should be able to find it. I can see if I can find the ISBN for you for more accurate locating.
(ISBN: 0812967011). Just found it at Border's bookstore online.
Enjoy!
-Laura

Never. Why go that far just to bring the noise civilization with you? I like my GPS but that doesn't deaden my hearing to the world around me.

Wes B:
Might also try YosemiteStore.com operated by Yosemite Association (see also Yosemite.org) They have two pages of titles by or about JMuir. An easy to carry PB title is The Wild Muir: 22 of John Muir's Greatest Adventures, Selected and Introduced by Lee Stetson, Illustrated by Fiona King for $10.95, reference #0939666758, ISBN 0-939666-75-8 (membership garners discount and helps Yosemite). Excerpt within (though not necessarily the one Hiker Laura refers to), originally from The Mountains of California, New York, The Century Company, 1894:

"I kept my lofty perch for hours, frequently closing my eyes to enjoy the music by itself, or to feast quietly on the delicious fragrance that was streaming past."

"We all travel the milky way together, trees and men; but it never occurred to me until this storm-day, while swinging in the wind, that trees are travelers, in the ordinary sense. They make many journeys, not extensive ones, it is true; but our own little journeys, away and back again, are only little tree-wavings - many of them not so much."

Title also includes, excerpt from Steep Trails, edited by William Frederic Bade, Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1918 "A Perilous Night on Mount Shasta," as well as twenty other adventures of and by John Muir.

I myself will use an IPod on occasion during a hike but make it a point to either keep the volume way down so that I can understand what another hiker is saying, or the other thing I'll do is that I'll take the ear pieces off as I come into contact with someone.

Again its a personal thing. I do make an effort to not to listen to the music *so loud* that other hikers can hear the music. That would be crossing a line I think.

I always bring my mp3 player with me when I hike. I usually don't turn it on for the first three or four hours, but eventually one runs out of contemplative thoughts and some music or a good book on tape, or radio show (hiking with Howard Stern) can be entertaining and adds to the outdoors experience. It can be an added soundtrack to the natural wonders you are viewing.

And of course if you have some uptempo music, it can really help you hike faster or get you moving when you are tired. It can be like a jolt of energy going through you and often I will "overdo it" when listenign to music and then I'll be too exhausted later after the hike.

But I usually hike by myself and rarely use it when hiking with other people. If I do use it, I have the volume turned very low, or I just put in one earbud so I can still hear other people talking.

I used to wonder why anyone would want to listen to music while hiking in the mountains. Then I purchased an ipod to use while biking. While hiking, most of the time I want silence or I am talking to another hiker, but there are a few times when music hits the spot. I figure about 90% no iPod and 10% iPod. And then generally at the end of very long hikes. Short hikes don’t merit any music.

My favorite moment with the iPod was hiking on the Toll Road to Mt. Wilson last winter and the lyrics of a piece of choral music "see the snow capped mountains" played just as Mount Baldy appear in view with the first snow of the season. I felt like someone higher up was providing the ultimate soundtrack for the hike. (And yes most people think the type of music I listen to is weird.)

I know this was off topic and I apologize to everyone. Laura and Supertramp (one of my favorite bands), thanks so much for the info. I will check out your leads and let you know of my success. I am not much of a reader, with work , kids, family and hiking I don't get much time. But I will make it for these books once I obtain them. Thanks Much! Wes.

We are all out there for our own reasons, and if listening to music makes the experience that much nicer, more power to you. If you don't want to listen, then that is easily not done. No one way is right or wrong. Let everyone enjoy the outdoors in their own way. One last observation, listening on an mp3 player sure seems like a less obtrusive way to enjoy music in the mountains than other means. At least one does not force his choices on others.

Wes, you can get that book and all of his writings at the Mono visitor center in Lee vining.it's on the west side of the street kinda by Nicely's. You might also check out " My first Summer in the Sierra ". I've got all of his books and that one is one of my fave's. In this book is the first time " Range of Light " is mentioned. " The Wild Muir " is a good read around the camp fire ( or the flashlight ). Every year i bring highschool students backpacking and just while it's getting dark i read to them from that book. at first they think it's gay but after the 2nd nite they can't get enough. Enjoy

I hiked with a 42 inch plasma mounted to my head as well as surround sound.

I didn't have to see that awfull blue sky / textured granite, I didn't have to listen the miserable ambience of silence, creaking, trickling water and f14's.

The only thing that bothered me was that I couldn't get a Big Mac at the mall at the top.

liquid

I just received the following e-mail from CamelBak:

"Congratulations,
You have been selected as the winners of the NEW CamelBak Hellion SC, a backcountry winter pack with built-in audio speakers."

You guys are going to love it this Spring when I head out with the boards strapped on to this thing with some of TT's favorite music (She made me promise I wouldn't tell.) blaring from it.

Peace and tranquillity in the mountains... not anymore.

BTW: this seems to be CamelBak's answer to the problem of "hearing things" that tomcat_rc mentions in the first post.

Hi. In the late 70's I was on my way out of the mountains after a long difficult multi-day trip. I was looking forward to getting home- back to my stereo and music collection. I was hiking along the Post Corral Trail toward Courtright when I heard the faint guitar riffs of AC~DC. Was I hearing things? Had I finally been in the mountains too long? No, not this time, anyway. The music kept getting louder until I finally met about four guys hiking in with full backpacking gear... and the guy in front was carrying a large boom-box blasting out AC~DC. I nodded as they went by. I'm pretty sure they weren't seeing much wildlife on their trip. It did give me an extra reason to want to go home, though. Rock on, dudes!

I'll bet the younger generation thinks it's a parody when they see the images of the boom box on someone's shoulder, but that was a common sight when I was growing up.

Light and fast? You've got to be kidding. How do you go light and fast when there's a case of beer that needs to get into the backcountry along with the tunes. (Ahhhhh, memories of being a teen and no longer a Boy Scout.)

Hmm..well..maybe you can plug a microphone into it instead of an iPod..then you can be like the Tour Guide Leader.

"...and on the right side you'll see the concrete pilings for the soon to be completed tram..."

Chris

Just a trick to those of you using your iPod in cold temperatures: When it's cold, battery life tends to be pathetic. What works for me is the "toasti toes" (or similar) chemical toe warmers. The toe warmers are better than hand/foot warmers because they have an adhesive, so you can stick them to the backside of the iPod. I'm sure this voids the warranty somehow, but it works for me and I haven't managed to kill my iPod just yet.

Can't you wrap it in some heat conducting moisture proof material and carry it next to your skin? This should work because if your skin is not warm enough to warm the iPod, you will not be in any mood to listen to music.

Funny you should mention it, but when I looked at the stats for the thing, it does include a special pocket for a heat pad on the hydration sleeve side of the pack, but didn't mention whether it has one on the MP3 player side. The player pouch definitely looks big enough to hold a heat pad if you're using one of the smaller devices.

I thought lithium batteries were good for this low temp sort of problem?

The sound of nature is great but after five days alone on the JMT last summer my mp3 player came in handy. The music motivated me when I was feeling tired. And the sight of majestic Sierra peaks mixed with classical music was a memory I'll always cherish.