The Spirit of the Appalachian Trail: Community, Environment, and Belief

Chapter 6. Hiker Ethics: Interactions with the Support Network and Volunteers

chApTer 6 hiker eThicS: inTerAcTionS WiTh The SupporT neTWork And VolunTeerS Positive Perspectives on Hikers This project tapped five sources of information on the ethics of Appalachian Trail hikers, the hikers themselves, the support community, environmental and trail professionals, journals published by 2,000-milers, and personal observation . The comments of hostel managers and owners of trailside businesses reflected the perceptions of hiker-friendly communities and organizations, who while loving the hikers also bore the brunt of any disrespect AT users showed for people living along the trail corridor. The informants for this project represented the tolerant end of the spectrum. They mentioned numerous situations where they had served as peacekeepers, calming irate neighbors or providing a safe place for hikers to stay where they could avoid conflicts with the permanent residents of the Appalachians. The vast majority of interviewees had highly positive feelings toward hikers and noted what good people hikers were. Kesher Howes remarked that it was one in fifty who would not help with chores at the Rutland hikers’ hostel. One business owner said that some hikers took getting used to, but he had never met one who was not basically a good person. Gary Poteat commented that of the approximately five thousand hikers who had visited the Blueberry Patch, he had only told one “to leave and never come back.” Bill Gautier of Holy Family Hostel in Pearisburg, VA, took me outside to show me an area of property that the church had acquired adjoining the hostel. The hikers had helped clear the overgrown area and build a fence. More than one informant reported hikers who were landscapers or painters who had stayed for an extra day or two to install larger decorative planters, to renovate a lawn area, or to repaint a bathroom with a peeling ceiling. Although some chores were hiker ethics 100 closed to hikers, owing to insurance regulations concerning use of motorized equipment or other risks, the vast majority of hikers had a sense of giving back to the communities supporting them. If a hostel manager walked in asking for help moving some supplies or cleaning a shower, the hikers responded. Many of the informants considered the hikers as a group to be honest and willing to care for their trail companions. Gautier remarked: “Hikers do not steal from each other.” He verified his view with the fact that he could not remember hikers ever taking anything from the hostel, and that on one occasion, when gear went missing, the hiker who had accidentally packed someone else’s backpacking stove with his own gear called back a couple of days later to report that he had it, and tried to determine who it belonged to. Another hostel manager admiringly described a hiker who, on finding another hiker’s poles on the trail, went to look for him by hitchhiking north, and then walked the trail south until he found the owner. Multiple informants described the trail as encouraging simplicity and appreciating the basics in life—central hiker virtues. Negative Perspectives on Hikers When asked if the hikers ever caused any problems, the respondents fell into categories based on whether their organization was directly recreationally oriented or not and whether it was indoors and in confined space or outdoors and allowing people to move freely in the open. The perceptions of representatives of religious and nonreligious organizations were very similar, with one surprising exception, discussed below. Among the businesses where hikers contact other customers indoors, the consistent concern was hygiene—particularly intense body odor owing to lack of access to showers. The owners or managers of enterprises, such as organic farms, where close contact between AT hikers and other customers was a minimal concern generally did not mention the AT trekkers’ accumulation of dirt and unique aroma. Reports of odor increased from south to north. This may be coincidence, but could also be because of aging gear, soaked and soiled repeatedly, inviting microorganisms. Long-distance hikers may become adjusted to their own pungent body scents and those of their companions, and thus less concerned about the perceptions of onlookers, or onsmellers . Leaving backpacks outside does help to reduce affronts to the nonacclimated . The problem is not just skin bacteria and fungi, but gear and clothing hiker ethics 101 also become rank (fig. 6.1). The bartender at Inn at the Long Trail kept a bottle of clothing deodorant (Fabreeze) under the...