A few months ago I informally polled fellow grinders on what irritated them the most on the grind. I asked, "What is your biggest pet peeve on the grind?"In order of most popular to least popular, here were the top 10 most common responses :
- Hikers who take sudden breaks in the middle of the trail
- Groups who hog the trail
- Hikers who litter
- Hikers who hike back down
- Smokers
- Hikers with earphones
- Parents with kids who throw tantrums
- "Hikers" who are improperly attired
- Hikers with poles
- Hikers who take short cuts
A close second was groups who hogged the trail. How many times have we seen big groups of school kids, families or even pairs of hikers who chat while walking side-by-side? All too often and again this can be frustrating for those itching to breeze by. My advice to grinders is this: keep your head up, keep scanning the trail ahead and as you approach a human obstacle shout out in advance which side you're going to pass them - on their left or right.
One in five grinders did not like litterbugs. To be honest, I was a little surprised at this stat. I thought it'd be higher. Referring to the photo I took this summer at the grind, on a typical Monday, my friend, Carol, and I collected close to 60 plastic bottles on top of 2 bags of garbage which included everything from orange peels to bottle caps to cigarette butts to used tissue paper. Granted it's been a busy summer but that's still no excuse to be irresponsible and dump trash on the grind. I can only hope people get properly educated sooner than later on being a green grinder. The message is simple: Don't litter!
One other interesting stat that caught my eye was hikers who hiked backed down ranked at the same level as smokers. What does that mean? A downwards hiker is perceived as poorly as a smoker. On the other hand, while both are welcome on the grind my advice is save the down hikes for another trail and light up after your hike when you're far far away from the mountain. Let's keep it clean and safe for everyone on the grind.
Well, at the end of the day, pet peeves or not, let's keep things in perspective. After all, this is just the Grouse Grind. Keep it real, use some common sense out there and let's all just get along.
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