Keep asking, Quillan. It never hurts to ask someone, "Hi, how are you doing?" I've noticed that closer to the trailhead many people are less likely to be communicative, but deeper into the mountains people seem much more open to conversation. This seems to occur more frequently on heavily used trails, such as the Whitney or Bishop Pass trails. People from city environments are often suspicious of being questioned by strangers, or of being the one asking the questions.
Once, while heading in to Whitney on a winter search mission we encountered two young men sitting by the trail, one of them in the snow. When questioned, the one in the snow was unable to answer in a coherent manner. His partner didn't know what was wrong with his buddy. Hypothermia! We then proceeded to set up their tent and pack the now victim into his sleeping bag and do the other necessary things to prevent him sliding deeper into hypothermia. If we hadn't asked the initial question, we'd have had another victim to carry out - possible a dead one. As it was, a life was saved by our questioning.
I believe that those with a lot of knowledge and experience of the mountains bear more responsibility toward other mountain travellers. The answer to the old question "Am I my brothers keeper?" is, "YES, YOU ARE!"
If a person is one of those "It's not my business" kind of individuals, then I would want to have nothing to do with him or her, especially in the mountains.
