Well I hope you can find some people on this site to trade gear with you alteast.
Mine did.Originally Posted by Erin
And I'm glad I had that time with him. And he's glad too.
Hike anyway
Are you still planning to hike? My husband is a non-hiker too. I carry a SPOT GPS tracker and a can of bear spray to keep him appeased of my safety. Have him read some women's trail journals. There are dozens of petite, young, pretty girls that hike the trail every year by themselves with no problems. Tell him to face it, you have a better chance of getting mugged in the Wal-Mart parking lot than something sinister on the AT.
So, my son and I have been planning a thru-hike for next Mar for a couple of years.
Last week he tells me he's not a backpacker.
All my thoughts and fantasies about hiking the trail involve the 2 of us doing it together.
My husband is very leary of me going alone. He's sure that the woods are full of bad things and people and I will die out there (or worse). He's OK with this crazy dream of mine because he thinks our son is going. We haven't told him differently yet.
My son is great fun to hike with and I have come to rely on him to divy up the chores with. He gets water, I cook. I clean, he bearbags, etc. We divide weight. He carries the tent body and groundsheet, I carry the rainfly and poles. I carry the kitchen, he carries the steripen, etc. The loser of our nightly card games carries the cards the next day.
My pack and my heart just got a lot heavier. Ever since he volunteered to do this with me, I have thought of little else other than what it will be like to do this with him. To have someone to look out for and to look out for me. Someone to share stories with. I have thought of us as team Pullen.
He tells me he wants to do it for me. I don't want him there to take care of me. I want a partner to share the experience with.
Thoughts?
Dee
healthymom
i met a mother/son thru hikers in 2004 double nickle and andorhin
they were high mile per day hikers,the mothers trail name double nickle because she was 55.the next year in 2005 while i was section hiking in
vermont the son andorphin brought me some trail magic.my boys have hiked and kayaked with me for years,now they are teenagers and want to spend time with thier friendsneo
I've known for a while that my son wasn't thrilled with the idea of going. I was hoping that as we got more experience, equipment and closer to departure that he would become more excited. He hasn't. We had the conversation last week because I initiated it. I made some remark to him that he just didn't seem to be excited at all about this. He said he didn't want to have that conversation with me. I pushed the issue because I wanted and needed to know exactly where he stood.
Now I'm going alone. When I originally started dreaming of this, I didn't think anyone would go with me. Then several people said they wanted to go, mostly because they thought it sounded cool and groovy. As the reality of planning to step out of our lives for 6 months set in, they backed out, one by one. When they did, my son said he'd go. Again, as reality set in, he became less and less interested. So now he has backed out. I'm still going. I'll just have to make the adjustment to thinking of this as a solo adventure again.
Only part of the dream has died. The dream itself is still as strong as ever. I'm just mourning the loss of that fantasy. Much as we mourn the loss when we miscarry. We are mourning the loss of a dream. This is not the same magnitude, but the same type of mourning.
I still need to figure out how to broach this with my husband. I think sooner rather than later is a better idea.
Again, I thank each and every one of you for your kind, thoughtful, and yes, funny replies.
Dee
healthymom
You didn't happen to purchase a new Hubba Hubba HP did you? Just askin'
That's GOT to have her laughing!
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