Re: Backcountry Meetings

Like Martin said. Most people are exactly like me out there.
I think that is good. Maybe some would not.. :)

I've met a few curmudgeons, but certainly not dangerous ones.

You will have a chance to meet as many different kinds of people as there may be. I can't imagine why any social deviant would go that far away and take that much effort to cause harm. It is too easy to be a predator in a city with running water and warm beds.

If they take my kit, they can't walk as fast with all that stuff as I can catching up without it. If they are that far in they can't carry any more anyway.

One caveat. The farther you get away from organized campgrounds and the availability of beer for "the common folk" the farther you leave most of civilizations social problems behind.

Along the trail, I can almost always strike up a conversation with anybody on the trail -- especially if they are coming up hill. Most, unless they are trying to make up miles, will chat, go over maps, discuss options. I have many email addresses of people I did not know minutes earlier. Most will enjoy your company, for a short time, in their camp. You should ask first.

What I do consider to be very dangerous are those who carry weapons on trails in the the lower 48. I don't camp anywhere near them and avoid them like the plague. They really are the 'different' ones in that setting. I suspect that is what they would rather anyway. All of the 'others' I meet backpacking (including the bears) do not necessarily pose a lethal threat to me.

Things become a bit simpler and traditional. When my wife and I were returning from one 10 day hike and others were leaving the next morning for the same area, we were 'courted'. They wanted to know about water availability, water crossings, best camp areas, condition of trails, pass snow packs and other things of utmost importance to them. My wife commented later that those were the same questions that would have been asked over the millenia of returning 'scouts', or others that were knowledgeable.

And it is international. For example, we walked UK's Coast to Coast in the 'wrong way' - to the west. Everybody we met along the trail were pleasant, interesting and interested. And there were hundreds over the two weeks.

In mountains in other countries, as soon as they found out I was a Yank, things picked up socially. Not always the same in the cities.