Is the weight worth it? I agree with using it in town but is the monthly cost worth a phone in town? Buy a 1000 minute phone card a Sam’s Club or Costco for $40.00. It should handle town calls.
On my hike in 1999, I met a section hiker who carried a cell phone and a satelite phone. His wife want him to call home regularly and check in. It was the sacrifice he made to hike the trail. However, on several occassions he could not get a connection.
Darth Pac-man
It’s not the weight, it’s not the cost, it’s not even the annoyance of seeing the gutless wonders talking on the phone. Seeing their matching GoreTex and Packs is more irritating. By using cells anywhere, any time you are promoting the construction of the obcene towers on every mountain top in Amerika. If hikers are too stupid to fight the creeping filth that is cell towers, just pave over the AT like everything else.
Blue Jay
Tanner,
It doesn't matter who sees or doesn't see them. The birds getting killed by those towers don't know the difference (see my above). Why would someone carry a phone just to use it in town? Sheesh, I bet your gear list is a nightmare. But hell, that's none of my business -as long as you don't make me carry it- at least until birds start dying.
Normally I wouldn't care, but CELL TOWERS KILL BIRDS! And that is a fact. Have a good conversation.
THA WOOKIE
Geez… I was gone for a week and missed this! Just thought I’d add my two cents to the several dollars already out on the table…
This season, I will be carrying a cell phone. Over a year ago, I swore never to use one. And then my mom got sick. And sicker. And when we realized that things could turn in a moment… she could take a fall, or just roll over wrong… things changed. So I got one, so that my brother and me could be home within three hours of any call received.
I still have it, and I was not planning on taking it with me. After all, what could I do? Call to tell someone I was being maimed? The safety wasn’t an issue. It doesn’t make it any safer. But my aunt pointed out that if something happened, if my father got sick or for some other reason, I needed to be home, I would feel absolutely awful if I couldn’t be reached.
The phone is as much an annoyance as it is a help in my day-to-day life, I admit. It makes you do stupid things. And I still don’t get the etiquette, and have offended a few friends. And if you use it out there, you have to realize you’re giving up a little freedom. That you’re maintaining ties to a busier, techier life. For me, there are just certain ties that I do indeed want to maintain. Out there, it’s a little bit of weight that might just make a big difference?
So, the towers go up. And before them, so did the electrical lines. And the earth was paved and sewers dug. And yes, many people hiked before we had them, and yes, it’s a personal choice. And no, I don’t feel gutless for carrying one.
Susan
I’m not letting the bird issue be ignored. People like John Muir (co-founder Sierra Club, so-called “father of our national parks”) fought hard for the protection of birds. A year after his death, the last Carrier Pigeon was killed. And the people then had their “good” reasons, you bet. I’m sure they are a lot better than today’s. Take Susan’s, for example: She tries to connect her mother’s illness to her need for a cell phone. Just because the technology exists, she feels obligated to have one. While I’m sure Nextel and Verizon agree wholeheartedly, with this, I respectfully disagree. I think we have a responsibility to say NO to the obligations opressing our freedoms and murdering wildlife. We must be willing to make decisions based on our ethics. If we are against the slaughter of innocent birds across our country and the world, then MUST stick to our beliefs. If financially supporting such killings are the only route around losing touch with home, then perhaps we should stay home with our sick and bereaved. I say this with utmost respect for the lives of our loved ones. If my Mama was on her deathbed, a cell phone wouldn’t do any good, because the best reception comes from two people face to face, hand in hand. Static will not be my Mama’s last words. (You brought it up)
THA WOOKIE
Cats kill more birds than cell towers. Death to all cats! I whack em as often as possible.8)
Lone Wolf
Gees. I was just asking a simple question. Why is it so bad to have a cell if no one see’s it or hears it? I didnt know people were going to hate me because of it. Yea, I hate the way technology has progressed, even in the hiking world…But there is nothing you can do to stop it. Some people feel more comfortable with certain items. I never even said if I was going to bring one or not, just stating a viable question to see what the cell haters had to say. The Appalachian Trail is supposed to have this family atmoshere with people being helpful and nice— guess not here in this descussion. I am out to hike my own hike, not to have things or not have things that certain people agree upon. THA_WOOKIE…please check out my gear list and tell me if I get your approval…
www.trailjournals.com/tanner
See you all on the trail…I hope you all have a good hike and stay safe.
Tanner B
Are you one of those PETA whack jobs? Susan should care more about a sparrow than her mother. Yeah right. Get a grip.
Lone Wolf
Don’t ever take these computer discussion forums seriously. You’re not bothering anyone. Your opinion is just as good as anyone else’s. Bring a cell phone if you want. Leki poles offend me but I don’t say anything about it.
Lone Wolf
Wait, why would you carry extra weight of a cell phone to use only in town, won’t a calling card suffice? Lone Wolf said it well that pay phones are disappearing really quickly. I for one will miss them. Carrying a cell phone inevitably leads to someone trying to call from the trail, not the town. That cell phone user may then go on to become part of the growing demand for more coverage AKA towers. Towers are a serious eye-sore and Wookie is more than right that they have serious environmental impact too. I fully agree with Wookie, this aspect should not be ignored. I understand people have important connections with loved ones. This has always been the case for as long as humans have been around and cell phones are fairly new. Think about it.
Sweeper
So I can’t whop the dog with my Leki that’s bighting me and now the bite is infected and I can’t walk so I’ll just whip out my paper cups and string, bio-degradeable of coarse, make a collect call to my cat loving wife after I crawl over the cliff so the people in the shelter can’t here me and now the crows not killed by the cell towers are trying to pluck my eyes out so I wash them with non-filtered water and now they’re infected too so I attempt to self ignite by shear willpower, so I don’t pollute the water down stream from my rotting corpse, that leads to rare and endangered habitats but why waste the energy since that all got paved by Dubya in the Great Paving of the Planet in 'ot 3 and 4 so I think I will just lay here and wonder why I took up this hobby when I could have stayed home and watched the Simpsons on my 500mega-watt home theater and gorged my self on junk food. Did I leave anything out?, oh yeah, Goretex…still doesn’t work, it’s raining on my blind broken and rotting body and I’m wet and cold.
Bushwhack
Susan-
I did what you said, yet did not see the phone on your gear list. You are right about the AT hikers being a family. You will meet some of the best folks out there. We are all in that family, regardless of our stance on cell phones. A great thing is that many people can freely express their opinions without fear of censorship or judgement. Thankfully, there are people out there like Bushwhach who keep the discussions from getting too serious. And there are people like Sweeper with a good sense of reason. And… well… there are people like Lone Wolf 
. So don’t take any of this too seriously. But since you asked, I would ditch the tent for a lighter one or a tarp. It’ll make the miles easier.
Don’t Forget- Cell Phone Towers Kill Thousands of Birds Annually
:happy
THA WOOKIE
wait until nextel has an ad with 2 kids text messaging eachother from different shelters or some shit.
did anybody read this months outside where they are going down the river with the satellite phone for “emergency use only” and it takes like 48 hours until they are all using it to check email? This is one reason I am going to hike the trail, just to get away from the feeling that I need to be connected to some non reality.
steevo
I remember one hike where we went in on a Friday late only to find after three hours of walking the tent site filled with weekenders blairing Led Zep from a boom box…in the middle of the forest.
Bushwhack
I really didnt expect this kind of reaction to my question. The bottom line for me is that I have needed the phone for my “real world” life and now I am stuck in a plan that I have to pay for, so since I’m paying for it why shouldnt I take it? If something happens I can call and I can use it in trail towns to call home. The minutes are already paid for so why pay twice with a phone card? Anyway… my family is all sketched out about me going on this trip in the first place and carrying a phone makes them think I am safer. I guess I just don’t see the big deal. I’m with Walkie Talkie if you have such a probolem with technology, then leave your sleeping bag, water treatment …heck leave it all at home. Go out there with nothing and survive like the Indians did.
Tawneysue
This sounds like the arguments, a few years back, about hiking
poles tearing up the trail, or lug soles on boots.
I carried a weather radio last year and it was very useful at
times. Once, all the others in camp wanted me to turn it up
so they could hear the forecast, too!
Cell phones are OK if you use them discreetly. No one wants
to hear them ring, but if you go off trail a little to make a
call, who cares? Who’s going to know?
As long as I don’t have to carry it, I don’t care!-)
Scamp
BTW, hiking poles DO tear up the trail.
Scamp
Anyone know if I can get Fox on the ridge? Can’t miss the Simpsons! I’ll use the head phones, but no hoggin the screen. Don’t forget the JiffyPop:D
Bushwhack
A sense of humor. Good to see Bushwhack. :cheers