mvs wrote:I agree Bob. I get this vibe from people grimacing at me as I run by with an mp3 player on a trail. I'm out having fun, exercising hard. I don't think that should ruin a more spiritual or contemplative experience for anyone else.

I will run with an MP3 on paved trails in town, but never on the dirt paths. My wife has in the past and I have given her hell for it since we did lose a friend that way. This last week, under the power lines behind our old place, a young man ran right up on a 900lb grizzly. The grizzly was eating berries and actually thought it was under attack! Witnesses turned in the report, but the young man never came forward, out of embarrassment possibly. After the grizzly reared, stopped the runner, he then scattered. Man, I bet that added some pep to his step for the rest of his run.

I assumed it was too many cosmos last night. Fair enough.

Dow Williams wrote:

mvs wrote:I agree Bob. I get this vibe from people grimacing at me as I run by with an mp3 player on a trail. I'm out having fun, exercising hard. I don't think that should ruin a more spiritual or contemplative experience for anyone else.

I will run with an MP3 on paved trails in town, but never on the dirt paths. My wife has in the past and I have given her hell for it since we did lose a friend that way. This last week, under the power lines behind our old place, a young man ran right up on a 900lb grizzly. The grizzly was eating berries and actually thought it was under attack! Witnesses turned in the report, but the young man never came forward, out of embarrassment possibly. After the grizzly reared, stopped the runner, he then scattered. Man, I bet that added some pep to his step for the rest of his run.

Not really a concern here in LA, unless you're in West Hollywood, and even there you'd likely survive the encounter.

rhyang wrote:We put colored tape on Bear Creek Spire's North Arete, to mark the holds. Was that wrong ?

Yep, if you left it on the route...

poor people from centuries past. no gyms to work out in, so I guess they couldn't exercise.

and surely it's impossible to enjoy the wilderness while breathing hard. I think at 140 heartrate the body shuts down the "wilderness enjoyment" response...

There aren't many gyms where I could do cardio for 8 hours without losing my mind.

People complain about everything, especially about people who can do things that are out-of-reach for them. Now that we have the internet, we can broadcast our jealousies around the world.

If you guys were causing great erosion, that might be a real concern; but you aren't. You aren't harming anything, except perhaps someone else's ego.

In my own milder endurance trips, I'm likely see no one else (except other members of my group on some occasions) all day. I can't imagine how I am disturbing the solitude of people who are not there.

Sure, there are lots of examples of groups of people who've sought out religious experiences in the mountains.... but that's probably because deserts weren't available nearby. Deserts are far easier to access for that isolated, religious, experience, and many more cultures have made use of deserts for that experience, than mountains.

Obvious that you have never been to Mongolia nor North Africa where most of the indigenous people/tribes that lived in the desert would and still do to this day, trek the mtns near by for isolation and a spiritual experience.

And how about the Tule River and Southern Sierra Miwok Indian Tribes that did the same. Initially living and farming in the SJV during the winter then trekking to the Western Sierra for isolation and spiritual peace in the summer.

And the Hopi/Navajo of the Moab area flocking to the local La Sals etc...........

Being far away from everything, having the cold winter starry sky above and a total silence around you, is a spiritual experience. Makes you feel very small, a tiny dot in the universe, and puts things into perspective.

There were 7 summits in New Mexico that were considered sacred to the Pueblo Indians. Even Sandia Peak used to acquire prayer sticks up through the 1980s. I recall there were still remnants of Shrines on Tsicoma and Cabezon in the 1980s.

Of course mountains were in general more spiritual than other places for many cultures throughout history. They were seen as a place of being closer to heaven, or as home of the spirits, or ...

Trail running is fine so long as you're not wearing these.

The mountains are not my church.

When I'm in the mountains I pay attention to my surroundings... and never use an Ipod.

Alpinist wrote:Trail running is fine so long as you're not wearing these.

I find those ridiculous looking, too. I can't say anything about their performance though.

mrchad9 wrote:
When I'm in the mountains I pay attention to my surroundings... and never use an Ipod.

yep. I want to hear the wind, moving water, the birds . . .

Dow Williams wrote:I will run with an MP3 on paved trails in town, but never on the dirt paths. My wife has in the past and I have given her hell for it since we did lose a friend that way. This last week, under the power lines behind our old place, a young man ran right up on a 900lb grizzly. The grizzly was eating berries and actually thought it was under attack! Witnesses turned in the report, but the young man never came forward, out of embarrassment possibly. After the grizzly reared, stopped the runner, he then scattered. Man, I bet that added some pep to his step for the rest of his run.

In Canmore a woman died in 2005 with 2 other joggers in her group running on the Bench Trail? I stopped going inside the forest wearing an MP3 player @ the greenspace since I read that