Trail Peculiarites
I had a rather interesting experience the other night, one which I still have not quite figured out. I was hiking in the Shenandoah's and arrived at a shelter for the night. There were two people there, one which I had met and another I had not. The man I had not met was a Southbounder (SOBO) headed to Springer who had started in Front Royal. I chatted nicely with him, gave him campsite suggestions and had a rather nice conversation. My group of fellow hikers arrived a bit later at around 6:30pm and we fell into our typical rapport. When my friends arrived the SOBO climbed into his sleeping bag and looked out upon us all not saying anything. This is not unusual behavior for older male hikers on the trail and did not really phase me. At around 7:30 (SOBO had long since gone to bed) while I was cleaning up my dinner pot I started sing. From within the shelter came a voice: "No singing!" A friend of mine thought he was talking to him because he was humming. I corrected my friend and stated: "No he was talking to me because I was singing." From within the shelter again came a voice: "And no humming either!" In my naivete I did not think that the man was serious. I had a nice conversation with him not long ago and thought he was joking. My friend, Honey Do, said "Oh sorry man." And the voice from within said: "Well you haven't shut up since you got here!"
I guess you have to understand that you pretty much hike alone all day long and words are not commonly used. When you get into camp it is your chance to chat and use those words you've saved up all day long. We were not a particularly chatty group so it surprised me that he said this to us.
Around 9:30pm I climbed into my sleeping bag in the shelter and turned to watch the campfire. I could hear Honey Do and a fellow hiker of mine murmuring quietly. At about 9:45 SOBO got up out of his sleeping bag and up to the fire and the following conversation occurred:
SOBO: "Well that's a nice fire you got there."
Honey Do (HD): "Thanks, yeah."
SOBO: Well you either put it out or you stop talking.
HD: Why?
SOBO: Because you haven't shut the F*** up since you got here. So either put out the fire or go back to your tent!
HD: I am not going to do either of those things. I am sitting here talking with my friend. I will sit here as long as I like. It's part of being in a shelter.
SOBO: Well you gotta do one of those things.
HD: I am not going to.
SOBO now picks up a stick and swirls around the fire spreading the coals everywhere. Subsequent language went down the toilet here and I will not regale you with all the bad conversation. Honey Do started the fire back up and sat there chatting, breaking sticks loudly and SOBO went back to bed. During this whole exchange I was laying in bed hoping beyond hope that the conversation would just STOP! I wanted to run out of the shelter and hide.
In the morning SOBO came up to me and apologized for snapping at me. I honestly at the time did not know what for immediately. He never did apologize to Honey Do. We never saw him again but I believe he has real anger issues.
I guess you have to understand that you pretty much hike alone all day long and words are not commonly used. When you get into camp it is your chance to chat and use those words you've saved up all day long. We were not a particularly chatty group so it surprised me that he said this to us.
Around 9:30pm I climbed into my sleeping bag in the shelter and turned to watch the campfire. I could hear Honey Do and a fellow hiker of mine murmuring quietly. At about 9:45 SOBO got up out of his sleeping bag and up to the fire and the following conversation occurred:
SOBO: "Well that's a nice fire you got there."
Honey Do (HD): "Thanks, yeah."
SOBO: Well you either put it out or you stop talking.
HD: Why?
SOBO: Because you haven't shut the F*** up since you got here. So either put out the fire or go back to your tent!
HD: I am not going to do either of those things. I am sitting here talking with my friend. I will sit here as long as I like. It's part of being in a shelter.
SOBO: Well you gotta do one of those things.
HD: I am not going to.
SOBO now picks up a stick and swirls around the fire spreading the coals everywhere. Subsequent language went down the toilet here and I will not regale you with all the bad conversation. Honey Do started the fire back up and sat there chatting, breaking sticks loudly and SOBO went back to bed. During this whole exchange I was laying in bed hoping beyond hope that the conversation would just STOP! I wanted to run out of the shelter and hide.
In the morning SOBO came up to me and apologized for snapping at me. I honestly at the time did not know what for immediately. He never did apologize to Honey Do. We never saw him again but I believe he has real anger issues.
posted by Noellebellz at 5:09 PM
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