You know you're a hiker when:

[YankeyMCC]

You carry 40 pounds of gear you're not likely to use at all TODAY on your back.

Your monthly calendar has random names of places inserted on Saturdays and Sundays only you understand.

You view duct tape in a whole new way.

You know you are a hiker when you actually think Scar Ridge in the rain was fun.

You know you are a hiker when you don't mind going up the North Slide on Tripyramid in the rain.

You know you are a hiker when you plan your wedding around your hikes

your tan line stops right around the ankle (mine is slightly below the ankle)
When half your "tan" above the ankle washes off in the shower afterward...

You walk funny on Monday mornings.

You do not own any cotton underwear.

All your co-workers know what you will be doing for the weekend without asking.

You keep an extra map in your desk at work just in case you need to answer a question.

Losing power at the house for days is no big deal.

You can name all the peaks you see from your office window.

You actually use the hip belt on your pack.

Giving a ride to a smelly covered-in-mud hiker is a no-brainer.

... your willing to spend more time in a car driving to and from a hike, than on the trail actually hiking

... the answer to "whats the last book you read" is always the White Mountain Guide

... you reopen a cut hiking that you got the previous week from hiking

... you can remember all the names of the mountains in the Whites but forget your relatives names

... you have a heated discussion over the correct pronunciation of Tripoli or Moosilauke or Kancamagus

...your mind arrives to the hike days before your body reaches the trailhead.


Courtesy of the witty folks at http://www.rocksontop.com and why many of them are NH specific.

[petronius]

1. I quibble with #1 - with the exception of emergency gear, I don't carry anything

that won't be used frequently, and try to have multiple uses for everything...

Other than that, this looks accurate. :)

[YankeyMCC]

2. I tend towards the 'pack everything'

method and get excited when the occasion finally rises on a hike for me to use something I've carried on the last 10. I feel justified :)

[petronius]

4. There's something to be said for that approach

Especially when the Prophets of Ultralight in your hiking club have been giving you endless shit over an extra 2 ounces, it's nice when that 2 oz object ends up saving their hike...

[Connonym]

3. Hell freezes over

:-P

[XemaSab]

5. You get lost in the dark but it's not a big deal

because you have a mental map of the whole watershed in your head so you don't need to actually SEE to know where you are and where you need to go.

[ThomCat]

6. "You do not own any cotton underwear"

Um, what kind of underwear do hikers wear? :shrug:

[YankeyMCC]

7. Something like this

http://www.rei.com/product/694431

And as you can see they're not cheap so we don't own many pair...I'll leave the math and implications to the audience ;)

PS: Cotton is not a good fabric for hiking, it holds moister and even when the start of the day is hot once you're up in the alpine zone you don't want that sweat still stored in your cotton shorts to freeze up on you...all the down, wool, and or gortex on your outershell will not help.

[ThomCat]

8. Ah. That makes sense.

:)