Music and Mountain Lions
Should there be music on hikes? A lot of people have different opinions so I thought I would throw my two cents in as well. Here are my thoughts on Music and Mountain Lions.
Courtesy
If you are the type of person who shows up to a trail with a blue tooth speaker blaring your music so everyone can hear you are probably also the type of person who doesn’t mute your phone on conference calls and uses speaker phone in public places. If you need to go to the middle of a trail to try to draw attention to yourself in this way you probably need to take a look at some personal life choices. Some people tend to go to nature to enjoy…nature and not listen to your “mountain jamzzz” playlist. Please don’t be this person.
There are quite a few people that wear headphones when they get out especially the trail runners. Absolutely no problems with this at all.
Safety
Personally I don’t like to listen to any music while I am out enjoying a hike for a couple of reasons. First of all, its nice to get away from the sounds of society and even nicer to hear the sounds of birds chirping, a stream babbling, or to know when something is around. Nothing like coming around a corner to see a mountain biker descending towards you at around 9,000-mph. If you aren’t listening to music you will be able to hear the bikers and get out of the way.
More importantly it is important to hear if you are being stalked by say a bear or a mountain lion. Now here is my very solid advice if you hear a mountain lion approaching…marinate. Seriously, you aren’t going to win a fight with a mountain lion unless your name is Chuck Freaking Norris so why delay the inevitable. I always keep a nice Hollandaise sauce in my pack. That way if I hear a lion approaching I just apply generously and wait. The added bonus to the Hollandaise is if you don’t see a hungry carnivore you can always dip your granola bar in the sauce and finally have a snack you don’t have to choke down. If you don’t have a Hollandaise, I’ve heard a nice soy/ginger marinade works well…then again if I’m hearing about it I guess it doesn’t work that well!
More from the Fatman
If you enjoyed this post you may enjoy more of the posts on my Fatman’s Rambling page. Blogs such as “Hiking Alone not Lonely Hiking“, “Winslow, Arizona” and “Screw it, I’m Trying” as well as many others may interest you there. If you have any comments or topics you would like me to cover, feel free to email me at fatmanlittletrails@gmail.com. Or you can keep the conversation going by following me on any of the below social media platforms.