Trail Info Swap (Justin Fowler)

Title: Trail Info Swap

General Information about Item:

Informant Data:

Kyu Kim is a male Dartmouth student in the class of 2018. He was born in Korea and raised in the northern Virginia/ Washington DC area. During his time at Dartmouth, Kyu enjoys playing the bassoon in the orchestra. In his time away from Dartmouth, Kyu has hiked part of the Appalachian Trail (AT). His plans after Dartmouth include working as a consultant.

Contextual Data:

Cultural Context: Backpackers often travel with one another and share stories along the trail. Often there are various levels of experience within the hiking community. There are people who have hiked many trails or few trails. Further, they may travel the same trails or various trails. As there are many options on ways people can explore the trails they go on, often they will run into fellow hikers coming in the opposite directions. It is common for these hikers to share stories and let each other what they are about to see in the upcoming 100 miles or so.
Social Context: This specific verbal lore came about when talking about the different trails people can take and hike. Often, with the sharing of information and knowledge on trails, people who are more experience and have been in more pressing situations are leaned upon in order to maximize success. However, it is always best to have as current, up to the date information as possible, in keeping with this idea usually hikers coming from the opposite direction know exactly what they just went through in the past 100 miles. Because of this you can swap stories and have an idea of what is to come.

Item:

The trail info swap has been around for a long time. Ever since people began hiking and starting at different points on the trail, they would inevitably meet and exchange information allowing for dangerous areas to be avoided and potential great stops or trail magic to be enjoyed. This exchange of information is somewhat common courtesy and maintains the close relationship hikers have with one another and helps enforce the idea of community.

(Hikers often exchange information at scenic routes or common points of interest.)

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Transcript:

“Usually when you are hiking the AT (Appalachian Trail), you will come across different bands or groups of people who have hiked in the direction you are heading and you have hiked the direction they are heading. As a result of this usually you can get an idea of what is to come in the upcoming 100 miles or so of your journey by swapping information. You can hear about shelters, good hang outs, state parks and good places for some downtime. Swapping information in this way is very useful.”

Collector’s Comments:

This folk lore made lots of sense to me because if information that can be mutually beneficial can be shared, why would you not share it. Further, I like the idea how everything within the hiking community is so community driven or centered on the people within the hiking community. Nobo (Northbound) and Sobo (Southbound) were terms mentioned and relevant but as they are hiker slang, I omitted them for maximum clarification.

Collector’s Name: Justin Fowler

Tags/Keywords:

Dartmouth Folklore Archive