Jul 14 2009
Missinaibi River Live Blog: LOAPC
Several weeks ago, the Governor of South Carolina, Mark Sanford, told his friends and associates that he would be hiking the Appalachian Trail and out of contact for the week. Of course, we all know that Governor Sanford was off to Argentina to visit his mistress. And the idea that he could keep a mistress secret was not the only ridiculous aspect of the story. Even more ridiculous is the idea that you could hike the AT and expect to leave contact with the rest of civilization.
First off, there is a decades-long tradition of informal communication along the trail. Comment books are placed at most campsites and trail heads. Hikers use these to tell others of problem bears, mouse-ridden shelters and/or offensive fellow hikers. Hikers also take on trail names and dish dirt on each other during long-distance trail hikes. Each hiker gains a reputation. Some check in on others. In some cases, this trail communication helps the trail community to police itself and avoid encounters between incompatible hikers. This system, alone, would have blown Sanford’s cover in just a few days.
But the advent of modern communication devices like cell phones and netbooks make the idea that one could leave the grid on the AT a fairly ridiculous notion. Hikers on the trail sometimes have more technology than people sitting at home on the couch. And this is good in many ways. People get rescued by using cell phones. Others are able to keep in contact with loved ones.
I bring this up because an interesting post passed through my Google Reader this evening. It comes from the RSS feed of the Lansing Oar and Paddle Club. Apparently, a member of the LOAPC is among a group that is paddling the Missinaibi River in Northern Ontario. This is true wilderness. Even places like Yosemite and Yellowstone have enough activity to make encounters with other humans likely during a weeklong trip. That is not true of Northern Ontario. I once waved to a man along the White River in nearby Pukaskwa National Park. He had been paddling the river and had not seen another person in five days.
Still, the LOAPC has a post from a paddler on the trip. That person used a satellite phone to help update the blog. Even in the wilds, we are never really disconnected from the world.
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