We are about to 'lose' Hopfrog, one of my most regular commenters on here over the past six months or so. He's decided to take some time out to hike the Pacific Crest Trail, a 2,650 mile stretch of mountain country, from Campo on the Mexican border to Manning Park in Canada. It's a challenge that's likely to take at least six months. And although he's taking his i-Phone, I hope he won't be making too much use of it - a key element of the appeal of such an adventure is, surely, detaching oneself from the hubbub of modern life, escaping the burden of constant 'connectivity'. So.... we're not likely to be hearing from him much in the comment threads until the end of the year.
Hopfrog is no tyro at this long-distance hiking lark. He walked the entire length of the Appalachian Trail back in 2002. Indeed, his online monicker was originally a "trail name" given to him by a fellow hiker on that trip, because of the bad limp he'd developed (inspired by a particularly gruesome Edgar Allan Poe short story). You can follow his progress on this new adventure on his blog (mirror here).
Best of luck, HF. I am mighty envious.
7 comments:
Whoa, what a pleasant surprise! Thanks for the write up and well wishes Froog. Your absolutely spot on about the breaking of the tech tether being a big part of the experience and that comment tells me your one of the few who seem to 'get it'.
I've already gained a deeper appreciation for you long time bloggers. I've encountered quite a few technical difficulties but seem to have sorted most of it out now.
Also, I am doing a mirror blog over at trailjournals.com which is a collection of diaries and microblogs done by a whole variety of thru-hikers. I'll post my trailjournals link while I am here because I know blogspot is inaccessible for most people in China and with the CCP showing an incredible amount of crackdown and cowardice recently, I doubt it will be accessible anytime soon.
The trailjournals site, which may or may not be reachable is:
http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?trailname=11518
Hopefully all those brave leaders and net goons don't fear the free speech and thought of a few hikers.
Good luck to Hopfrog on his awesome adventure.
On the subject of detaching oneself from the comforts of home when travelling, Evan Esnos' wonderful account of touring with a party of Chinese in Europe underscores how reluctant (by design, I suspect) the Chinese are at freeing their souls of all that Middle Kingdom baggage when abroad. Recommended:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/evanosnos/2011/04/chinese-tourists.html
Thanks Stuart. I read that article too, pretty interesting and pretty consistent with what I have found with most of my Chinese friends whom I've gone out to eat with here in the states. We take turns picking out restaurants. They always pick a Chinese restaurant! I couldn't imagine being in Europe and not eating the local cuisine anymore than I could imagine going to China and seeking out a Big Mac.
I tend to find articles like that - about how narrow the horizons of the Chinese are, and how limited their thinking, even when they venture outside of China - rather depressing.
However, the link did lead me to this surprising new item. Still rather depressing, but with more compensatory guffaw-value.
Take care out there, HF.
The idea of trying to traverse high mountain passes with that much snow on the ground is utterly terrifying to me.
Best wishes, Hopfrog. I've very much appreciated reading your back-and-forth here with our mutual friend. And I'll try to drop in on your journal to see how things are going -- if for no other reason than to pick up exotic but convincing lingo about experiences I couldn't possibly have had. (Self-arresting. Postholing. Glissading. Indeed.)
Will also forward the links to some avid hikers in the family!
Thanks again gents!
@JES, I've also enjoyed the back and forth with our host here. A worthy adversary/accomplice whose arguments had me re-chiseling way too many of my Mt. Rushmores!
I'm glad I could return the favor with regards to the exotic lingo. I've enjoyed and envied your ability to turn exotic vocabulary into verbose music, in both your comments here and over at RAMH.
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