The new plague ? Portable bluetooth speakers on hikes

[Hallu]

I came accross this new trend last September in the US. People grab their portable hike, use their bluetooth MP3 player or their phone, and just play loud music while hiking. It's not widespread yet as far as I can tell, but it's really annoying... Has it started to happen in Australia as well ? I am yet to encounter it in France. I like music. If you're brave enough to carry your guitar up a mountain, feel free to play it. I remember a member of this forum who carries his bagpipes up Tassie peaks, and that's pretty cool. But don't use your speaker to play Coldplay in my face when I'm trying to enjoy a quiet walk in nature... Plus you're scarring away wildlife, so what's the point ?

[Nuts]

Plus you're scarring away wildlife, so what's the point ?

Maybe in large part, that is the point, scare away cougars, lions, cranky moose, bears? I met bike riders with loud bt speakers on handlebars and quickly did the same (for beary places). Would be just a bit annoying otherwize.

[geoskid]

I can understand not liking any music at all playing. As soon as you accept anything playing at all , then I think it you need to accept anything playing. Y'know, personal preferences and all. Best to learn to hum. I still haven't followed through on playing Hayley Westenra full noise across a remote lake on the Central Plateau yet - one day!

[johnw]

I came accross this new trend last September in the US. People grab their portable hike, use their bluetooth MP3 player or their phone, and just play loud music while hiking. It's not widespread yet as far as I can tell, but it's really annoying... Has it started to happen in Australia as well ?

See my comments in this post about one experience I had, http://bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=26812#p338617, and some other comments that follow it. I'm happy to say that I haven't yet encountered this behaviour elsewhere here, but it is a worrying trend. The playing of guitars and bagpipes on remote peaks I can relate to, but this other stuff borders on antisocial IMO. If they want to do it why not use headphones, then they can blow their eardrums out to their hearts content without annoying the rest of us

[Hallu]

Well the people who I saw doing it weren't hiking alone, so it was to "share" it with everyone I guess...

[andrewa]

WT *$&# does one want to go “bush”, and then immerse oneself with any urban noise? Just seems incongruous to me.

Maybe I’m getting older and grumpier( probs no question about this!) but my time in the bush is to escape from all the crap of city living.....I do, however, recall, about 30yrs ago, listening to music on my Walkman whilst ascending Bogong, to distract me from the misery of the walk, but, the music was only impacting on me.....and maturity has changed my mindset to enjoy any “miseries” of walking uphill with a rucksack.

I have also previously “tripped”, and “accidentally” spilled my tea on an adjacent camper’s duke box, and then had the misfortune of “tripping” and spilling my second cup of tea on the same obstacle a few minutes later......when they were playing music at 4am. As we were car camping that time, I had the additional benefit of using my chainsaw at 7am, near their tent, to carefully cut some tables and stools from the fallen log near their tent.

A

[wayno]

i've seen it in NZ, a few times on more popular walks, the wilderness is not a place for loud music , use earphones, some people think loud music should be the default background noise...
they should be banned from parks... some people just don't get what being in nature can be about.
or you'll have people watching videos at night on their phones with the external speaker.

[ILUVSWTAS]

Came across 2 young ladies from the mainland walking the Freycinet peninsula circuit as a daywalk a couple of months ago. They had some god awful Beiber or Sheeran style rubbish bellowing out as they rushed past. Annoying yes. They had to shout to each other to talk over the music.

[Xplora]

The very last straw, which caused me to not renew my Wild Magazine subscription, was the review of portable speakers to annoy everyone else around you. A bit like smokers who don't ask if it is OK to smoke near you before they light up, you play any kind of music in the bush to the annoyance of others and you can expect it to get busted. More reason to walk away from the crowds. In Vic National Parks it is also an offence for which you can be fined.

National Park Regulations
73 Operating annoying or disturbing devices or equipment prohibited
r. 73
(1) A person must not, in a park, use or operate any device or equipment that produces noise that is likely to cause inconvenience or nuisance to another person.
Penalty: 10 penalty units.

A penalty unit is $161.

[wayno]

invariably the music i've come across is loud, pop music, the last sort of music you want to hear in the wilderness...
i sometimes listen to loud pop music when driving to keep me alert, but its completely insentive and arrogant to subject other people to that in a public place , especially in parks...
its the i'm in a park so i can do whatever i like now mentality

[Lamont]

The reasons people do this and I have come across this here and worse recently, and it will increase, as it is just a reflection of peoples lack of empathy. The world is directed this way. Do it because "you're worth it". "No one else matters but me". This is the mantra of Australian culture. Australians more and more want convenience at all costs and the impost of the pursuit of ease and convenience on our fellow citizens is behaviour with a distinct absence of empathy. BF Skinner mapped it out so well-to increase the likliehood of desired behaviour -reinforce that behavior when it occurs. Not only do so many parents and guardians reinforce egoist behaviour but it is the prevalent ideology in Aus. A bloke on redditUL some time back wanted to pull up and start playing his guitar at campsites and most supported that. The naysayers were in the minority.
So get used to Taylor Swift (or Tina Arena for you hallu apparently she's big in France) belting out at you from that speaker because she's coming and you might as well get used to it. Or be prepared to pour your whiskey over the speaker and assume a karate stance a la Elvis in Blue Hawaii.

[Walk_fat boy_walk]

i've seen it in NZ, a few times on more popular walks, the wilderness is not a place for loud music , use earphones, some people think loud music should be the default background noise...
they should be banned from parks... some people just don't get what being in nature can be about.
or you'll have people watching videos at night on their phones with the external speaker.

Yeah mostly seen it in NZ, and not just on Great Walks, backcountry as well. Almost every time has been Israeli backpackers for some reason, they're generally polite and all but don't seem to get the noise pollution they're inflicting. I love music, playing and listening, and don't discriminate by taste... everyone has different ideas of what "good" music is. But hearing any sort of music blaring in the wilderness is annoying af.

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[Heremeahappy1]

Saw (and heard) two groups at the Prom Southern walk in Sep 2018 with loud speakers, along with vaping and cans of beer. A bit much for 9am? My theory is it helps them to be comfortable and keeps the scary natural sounds away. What did I expect from the Prom? That was the last trip I was happy to pay fees for, next trip I will be stealth camping and truly keeping away from these types. Clearly the Parks staff are not able to. Ive walked at the Prom for years and have never laid eyes on a ranger.

[bernieq]

I, too, have encountered a loud speaker at the Prom - fortunately going the other way.

But, coming to a wilderness experience near you (if you're in Vic), are solar USB charging stations - on the Grampians Peak Trail. Now you can have noise and flashing lights for the whole bushwalk - what a disaster.

[Nuts]

I can understand not liking any music at all playing. As soon as you accept anything playing at all , then I think it you need to accept anything playing.

It's true, there should be no discriminating for eg. Mozart V's Metallica, The Scout Songbook, incessant chatting, loud snoring.. all controllable
I had a pleasant convo with this lovely family on Huckleberry Pass, not 50m after leaving them, and in being not far from their car, dad decided to unload his remaining handgun clip into a tree It can get much worse than the need for an odd expected toleration, yet some form of noise making is accepted (over there).

[crollsurf]

I haven't noticed it while walking but at campsites, it's been like that since the invention of ghetto blasters. I find if you need to walk to the site, people are respectful. They're more likely to keep you awake talking and giggling. At car camping sites... Yes well that's another story.

Personally it wouldn't bother me, they'll come and go quick enough. No different to the incessant chatter that some groups go on with when walking.

[Zzoe]

I think on a bushwalk any fom of amplified sound should only be heard through headphones.

We recently had the joy of a whole pack of girl guides truning up after dark to pitch tents within five meters of our own, and then listening to a sentimental collection of Disney Classics on tinny (but loud) speakers, complete with a rowdy sing along; at about 10:00 pm. In the morning I gently asked if they were hiking on to the next site, and- if so- might they pitch in a place more appropriate for such a large (and unregistered) group. You'd think I'd unfairly condemned them to hell.

They hiked all the next day with blue tooth speakers hanging if their rucksacks, and then set up said speakers at the next shelter, and continued the party. We pitched our tent as far away as possible and became a place of refuge for other hikers seeking respite. I can feel my crusty middle aged-ness dripping off me sometimes!

[Orion]

Hallu, where specifically did you encounter this?

I see it and hear it occasionally here (California) but almost always pretty close to the road on day walks. It's younger people most of the time; sometimes it's older people with ethnic music. So far it hasn't become a big issue in the backcountry, at least not that I've seen. Loads of people in the wilderness hiking with earbuds permanently implanted so I wonder if some fraction of those will start carrying speakers at some point. I passed a store in town the other day that sold only bluetooth speakers. Dozens of different models.

I hate it, personally. But they clearly don't. I expect to see more of it in the future.

[ofuros]

Ahh, the rise of the boom box backpacker...I usually hear them well before I see them on established tracks.
Thankfully, haven't come across them off track...yet.

[Hallu]

I witnessed this on 2 separate parks Orion, both totally not popular spots. The first one was in Medicine Bow national forest, West of Cheyenne. Not as crowded as places like Rocky Mountain National Park for example. It was a young American with his father. The second time it was on an even less popular spot, the hike to Willow Lake in the Sangre de Cristo mountains North of the Great Sand Dunes national park (so not in the park, and you have to drive a few miles on a very bumpy dirt track to get there), it was two totally unfit geeky looking Americans (if you've seen Spiderman Homecoming, they look like Peter Parker's sidekick in fact). But at least they listened to descent classic rock.

Hearing your stories though it sounds like I got it easy. That thing with the group of girls at 10 pm would have been too much for me, I'd have said shut up or your speakers are going down the mountain. In American National Parks you're safe because rangers don't kid around. They actively police the area, and even then there's a host at every campground doing patrols and enforcing quiet hours from 10 pm to 6 am. Guns are allowed in national parks (yes it's insane...), so they try to prevent any dispute.

[Lamont]

Zzoe you should have assumed the karate stance-you could have intimidated a few of the little terrors (soon to be big ones) before they swarmed you.

[Orion]

Hearing your stories though it sounds like I got it easy. That thing with the group of girls at 10 pm would have been too much for me, I'd have said shut up or your speakers are going down the mountain. In American National Parks you're safe because rangers don't kid around. They actively police the area, and even then there's a host at every campground doing patrols and enforcing quiet hours from 10 pm to 6 am. Guns are allowed in national parks (yes it's insane...), so they try to prevent any dispute.

Huh? What stories? I don't know who you're thinking of but I don't believe it's me.

And I wish campground quiet times were enforced in National Parks in the U.S. It sure hasn't been my experience.

[stepbystep]

Had some young blokes in Kakadu last year with one of these. Twits.

I will however take my ghetto blaster to the shores of Lake Malbena should the 'luxury camp' mooted for that wild place go ahead. All welcome. Bring booze and a full bogan attitude. Want to make sure twits like me don't do that? Come to this...

https://www.facebook.com/events/281336922486932/

Next Sunday, Civic Square, Launceston.

[peregrinator]

This reminds me of another looming pestilence. Drones.

[Zapruda]

I asked some people walking up Dead Horse Gap to turn their speaker off last summer. I couldn’t believe it. I could hear it well and truly before I passed them. They were good about it though. I think they understood my concerns.

This reminds me of another looming pestilence. Drones.

Agreed. This is becoming something I am seeing/hearing a lot more than Bluetooth speakers. There was one buzzing around Mt Jagungal the other weekend. When they catch the breeze the noise can travel quite far.

[Warin]

This reminds me of another looming pestilence. Drones.

There will be anti drone devices around ... just make certain the area under them is safe for a crash

[johnw]

This reminds me of another looming pestilence. Drones.

There will be anti drone devices around ... just make certain the area under them is safe for a crash

In NSW NPs at least, not sure about elsewhere, written permission is needed (in theory). Not that it stops the numerous halfwits I've seen. Prize idiots think they're clever flying them in your face close to lookouts etc.
https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/topics/parks-reserves-and-protected-areas/park-policies/drones-in-parks

[Mark F]

I see a big market for signal distrupters, especially in the 2.4-2.5 GHz band. Gets Bluetooth, wifi and many drone control signals. Add 5.0-5.8GHz to disrupt video and the other main wifi band.
Make your own - http://www.qrz.ru/schemes/contribute/security/jammers/drone-jammer.pdf

[trekker76]

I haven't heard them here yet but no doubt its coming. Trails to me are still civilisation anyway, I walk offtrail to get away from it all.

[Hughmac]

Encountered this doing the grand canyon walk in the blue mountains. Seriously annoying.