So I am out in Bend Or and I plan to do a few trips for Trail Magic and I wanted to know what kind of things have you really wanted while thru-hiking ??
SSDD
Trail Magic - Pacific Crest Trail
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#2
That’s what i wanted most when i was in central Oregon. DEET, followed by multiple clothing layers, headnets, citronella, perhaps a straitjacket…
But if you mean food and drink, fresh veggies and fruit, followed by red meat, followed by beer and coke. I did ok on the trail with sugar and salt intake, and general junkfood and carbs. What was missing was fresh vitamins and fiber, iron and protein, and altered states of consciousness.
If you want bonus trail angel points, make sure that if you leave a cooler behind, that you go check on it and clean it up very soon. There’s nothing more depressing than seeing a cooler, running up to it, and finding it empty or full of garbage. That’s just the worst feeling. If i didn’t SEE that i missed trail magic, i never felt entitled or like i needed trail magic at all. But if i saw evidence of it and missed it, the self-pity became epic.
:cheers
Cuddles
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#3
This may be an unpopular opinion, but please think seriously before providing trail magic. I think a cooler “out in the wilderness” spoils the feeling of nature and being away from civilization which is a major reasons for my backpacking.
My first thru hike didn’t have trail magic and I learned many life-lessons such as delayed gratification, patience, self reliance, planning ahead for what I really needed versus what I wanted at the moment. I learned that I wouldn’t die without a beer, or if the skeeters were biting me. I learned to improvise with what I had or do without; that being uncomfortable is not the end of the world.
If you try to meet a person’s needs and dreams you take away his/her learning experience which, for me, is also a reason for a thru hike.
As more and more angels provide magic the challenge of thru hiking is dumbed down.
Thank you for thinking of others, though.
YMMV
Less is More
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#4
I’ll probably just open up the same can of worms debate on the issue, but my personal take is that road crossings, where 99.9% of trail magic occurred, aren’t wilderness areas anyway. There were thankfully huge areas, like the High Sierra and the vast majority of Washington, which were wild and i would sure hope never have trail magic intrusions. When i want that kind of experience, i know where to go, including the CDT if i want that kind of experience on a thru-hike. But the PCT had so many challenges, experiences, and self-preservation fulfillments, that knowing somebody cared and wanted to make my day at a road crossing was a really great part of the hike as a whole.
When is too much help or magic really TOO much? Everyone has a different line drawn, but for me it’s simply to keep the wilderness wilderness, and if there are 1000 angels at road crossings, that’s 1000 times to be grateful.
Cuddles
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#5
I understand what people are saying about the “intrusion” of trail magic but I have a question. If you feel it is an intrusion do you accept the food, cold drinks, whatever being offered?
Poptop
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#6
I knew some hardliners of different varieties on the trail this year, but i didn’t know anyone who didn’t accept food/drink when offered. Even with the great water cache debate, i didn’t know anyone who completely said no to caches on the trail. Some used a little, some used too much. But everyone used them and was grateful.
But my impression from those on message boards that are against these “intrusions” is that they wouldn’t accept what’s being offered.
Cuddles
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#7
Just a FYI I would not leave any thing out for more than a few days before going back for it 
But I thought it would be cool to have something for some who may want/need it 
Good input and all others are welcome I hope to see you on trail.
HYOH :cheers
SSDD
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#8
If a cooler at a road crossing I don’t see how that is ruining anyone’s “wilderness experience.” if you don’t want it, just walk on by and teach yourself yet another value, restraint.
I’m glad you learned lessons on the trail, Less is More, but forcing everyone else to attend “school,” might run counter to their personal desires. I say leave magic at the road crossings. People who don’t want to partake don’t have to.
Joker
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#9
At the end of the day, the deft magician always does a vanishing act. So let it also be with their bag of tricks. Pack it in, pack it out.
.
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#10
Really, the best place for trail magic is in a trail town. So let’s call it town magic. What’s more, the potential rewards are much higher for the angel this way, since hikers are already present in town en masse on a daily basis.
.
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#12
It’s not magic in a town. It might be nice, but anyone can have a soda or an extra bit of food in a town.
I always find the people who keep accusing (insert token hot topic) of ruining their “wilderness experience.” I hate to tell you, but the trail is man-made. The roads you cross are man-made. You go into town to pick up supplies. If you want a true wilderness experience, hike the Sierra high route.
If you don’t want the trail magic, walk by. It’s really that simple.
Joker
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#13
The Sistine Chapel is manmade. Does that mean it’d be okay with everyone to keep a cooler of beer and bags of Fritos up on the altar?
.
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#15
I think we should put cell towers in wilderness areas. It would be really helpful and I would personally be grateful. For those of you who don’t want them there, don’t bring your cell phones into the wilderness. Just walk right by them as if they were not there.
More seriously, I found the trail magic to be pretty non-existent outside of a few water caches and organized efforts in SoCal. I certainly appreciated them, though I tended to avoid the caches. The Hat Creek Rim cache was an exception. On the AT I found it pretty intrusive, with people driving to an access point close to a shelter in Shenandoah, then coming down with a cooler full of Sam’s Club soda and wanting to talk trail. Or running the gauntlet through the Zoo in NY, with every third person wanting to stop to talk with an offer of a ride or food.
On the PNT and the GDT, no one had heard of those trails or magic or angels and I really, really appreciated what people did for me. In Bonners Ferry, ID. a homeless person offered me a sleeping bag and a package of hot dogs because he thought I was hungry and cold. He didn’t ID me as a hiker, but rather as a human being and was willing to share what he had to help me. That was magic. I guess since it happened in a town, though, it doesn’t qualify.
Suge
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#16
Way back when (1972), the year that there were a total of less than 40 known end-to-enders, trail magic didn’t have a name yet, just as most hikers didn’t have a trail name, but it was amazing. One time, for me, it was literally as if an Angel appeared to save me in a painful situation that ended up with me recuperating in bed for a week, nursed back to health by people who drove by and stopped at the precise moment that i stepped out of the woods, in pain and needing an emergency tooth extraction, which happened within the hour, thanks to the Angels.
Fenu
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#17
Of course their is the opposite of trail magic, I call this “tragic”, when you come to a cooler on a hot day only to find empty cans and garbage. A little demoralizing. In the end though, the best trail magic was the fact that I managed to quit my job, disentangle myself from the minutiae of everyday modern life and granted myself the opportunity to have such a wonderful experience.:cheers
jalan jalan
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#18
…it’s the end of the Bush/Cheney era!!!Except paying for it, of coarse. Peace to the magicians and angels out there.
fishngame
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#19
Last year I posted on WB about a “missing” cooler I had left about 200 yds from a road on the AT and resupplied weekly. I was surprised by the venom I received from many. However, ACTUAL Trail maintainers gave useful criticism and suggestions without being hateful. The most heartening responses I got, though, were notes in journals and on slips of paper in the cooler from actual hikers, thanking me for the magic. By the way, it’s okay with me if you leave your trash in my cooler. That’s part of why it’s there. I’ll dispose of it for you. Mango nobo '06
Mango
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#20
I Always thought a Massage would be nice after a long day.Any Trail Magic Hotties up for that? I’LL be doing some AT up North this summer.
old&intheway