View Full Version : How would you answer this question?
Drybones
12-08-2013, 10:46
I believe someone asked the question once "why do you want to climb Mt. Everest" and the answer was "it's there", not really a very good answer. If someone asked me why I want to spends weeks or months on a trail getting cold, wet, hungry, blistered feet, sleep on the ground, etc., etc., etc., I really dont know the answer myself. Do you really know why you do it?
Wise Old Owl
12-08-2013, 10:48
Because everyone else is doing it?:rolleyes:
In January issue of backpacker magazine there is a picture of a guys tattoo that sums it up. "The journey is the destination."
MuddyWaters
12-08-2013, 10:58
I believe someone asked the question once "why do you want to climb Mt. Everest" and the answer was "it's there", not really a very good answer. If someone asked me why I want to spends weeks or months on a trail getting cold, wet, hungry, blistered feet, sleep on the ground, etc., etc., etc., I really dont know the answer myself. Do you really know why you do it?
Today the answer to the Mt Everest question would be "Because even though I have little experience, I have $75,000 to spare and can pay someone to take me there, then I can brag about it to everyone I know, especially the parts about stepping over dieing people that were equally inexperienced, as I make my way up or down from the summit."
More people summit everest each year, than thru hike the PCT.
25173
Hiking on well travelled long trails, is about having a little adventure in you life, in a controlled situation.
The startling few that venture OFF established trails, is indicative that that is a little too much adventure for most. Too much planning, too many contingencies. Too much skill required. Trail hiking is easy hiking by comparison.
I love to hike. Ask them if there's anything they love to do. It's like that.
kayak karl
12-08-2013, 11:07
Why would anyone NOT want to go on vacation?
johnnybgood
12-08-2013, 11:28
My answer to this would be ; to escape the rigors of the world.
Some people drink to relieve stress, I prefer to spend time hiking in the woods .
Rain Man
12-08-2013, 12:03
I was born and raised (many years ago) in rural South Carolina. Around my home were vast woods, fields, and many creeks and "branches," with few houses. If I was not inside eating or reading (or gluing plastic model airplanes together), I was outside soaking up the natural world that God made.
I'm still a kid?
Rain:sunMan
P.S. Besides, I need the exercise.
P.P.S. Not to mention my wife occasionally says "take a hike, Bozo!", though I'm not sure we have the same thing when she says that. LOL JK.
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Places that require getting cold, wet, hungry, blistered feet, etc. are usually hard to get to and thus better for hiding the bodies.
Because it is a "controlled miserable long vacation" like non other.
capehiker
12-08-2013, 12:16
I love to hike. Ask them if there's anything they love to do. It's like that.
And we have a winner. Sometimes it's as simple as that.
I have not been able to explain the attraction of long backpacking trips to people who don't enjoy outdoor activities. The questions I get always have to do with either perceived unpleasant aspects of the trip (rain, sleeping on the ground, insects) or vastly overrated dangers such as bears, mountain lions and rattlesnakes. Most people who know me well assume that I like this type of activity because it is cheaper than other types of long vacations. Although I like the possibility of low costs that isn't why I like backpacking. I get more utility from a backpacking trip than spending a week sitting on some beach at a high end resort and that would be true even if both activities were the same cost.
HikerMom58
12-08-2013, 12:26
Why would anyone NOT want to go on vacation?
Ahhh.... if you're referring to hiking as a vacation?.... Just remember that is your (and many others) idea of a vacation. I could introduce you to a whole lot of people that would NOT want to go on this type of vacation... Isn't that the whole point of this thread? What do you say to people that wonder why you hike and put yourself through all the things Drybones listed?
Plenty of my friends & family members have made it perfectly clear to me, it's not their idea of a vacation.
They ask, "why would you want spend your vacation time- hiking?".... doesn't sound like a whole lot of fun to me. They are completely serious!! That's cool.:cool:
I have no answer for them...except- I like it. It's my thang... do what you wanna do!
This is what I enjoy about hiking- I like to section hike. I like to pick and choose the times I hike. (when it's not pouring rain, freezing cold, oppressive heat etc..) I'm not "hard core". I like to "get lucky" and hike when it's close to perfect weather etc..
That's exactly what happened to me the first 12 days I was out on the trail. No rain, perfect weather, fun people to hike with, etc.... I could vacation like that, forever!!
My feet hurt, I got some blisters, I couldn't shower after sweating buckets all day etc.. but I LOVED it!
It's not for everyone!! :D That's what makes a site, like this one, so :cool:. We LOVE it!!
I suspect that after Wild comes out on the big screens next year, lots of people will assume that those going on a long backpacking trip are hiding from something or have lots of emotional issues, and perhaps drug problems. I can hardly wait for the concerned looks and probing questions in addition to questions on rain, sleeping on the ground, insects, bears, mountain lions, and rattlesnakes!
4eyedbuzzard
12-08-2013, 13:17
Today the answer to the Mt Everest question would be "Because even though I have little experience, I have $75,000 to spare and can pay someone to take me there, then I can brag about it to everyone I know, especially the parts about stepping over dieing people that were equally inexperienced, as I make my way up or down from the summit."
While there have indeed been some who fit your description, most who climb Everest have significant experience and training. Generally you will need several lesser peaks summitted, such as Aconcagua, Denali, Cho Oyu, etc. in order to be considered as a client. Even though it is a very popular undertaking requiring substantial funds, it is still an incredibly difficult and dangerous climb even though not as technically difficult add some of the other 8000 meter peaks. Money plus a whim alone won't get you on the mountain - you need some documented mountaineering skills to get accepted as a client by any reputable guide/expedition service.
The voice in my head is telling me I should.
because I love camping and hiking and sleeping alone in the woods
To know I'm alive. BEST drug there is.
To know we're doing the exact thing in the exact time that we're meant to brings contentment and a glimpse of LIFE that is meant for all of us all the time. Yet, we're too often sidetracked into accepting cheap counterfeits as a replacement for being truly alive. WAKE UP! Go for a hike.
Look into the faces, notice the contentment, feel the energy, and notice the sobering balance and awareness of someone who hikes a lot who often "gets away." With all that we can be sold on NOTHING is better than LIFE.
I was born and raised (many years ago) in rural South Carolina. Around my home were vast woods, fields, and many creeks and "branches," with few houses. If I was not inside eating or reading (or gluing plastic model airplanes together), I was outside soaking up the natural world that God made.
I'm still a kid?
Rain:sunMan
P.S. Besides, I need the exercise.
P.P.S. Not to mention my wife occasionally says "take a hike, Bozo!", though I'm not sure we have the same thing when she says that. LOL JK.
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You nailed it right there for me. I grew up in rural Augusta County, VA (just a few miles from Waynesboro) and if I wasn't reading a book, I was out in the woods discovering mossy beds beneath the pine trees and listening to the water run across the stones of the nearby creeks and listening to the breeze travel overhead in the trees. We would vacation at Shenandoah National Park, travel the Blue Ridge Parkway, picnic at Hungry Mother State Park, and hike the many battlefields of the Civil War. Now, 36 years later, I want to revisit, reconnect, and rediscover the magic in the Appalachian Mountains. My partner calls hiking, "walking for the hell of it" and refuses to see any sense to doing it. But I love walking for the hell of it.
Siarl, what got you to stay in Terlingua? Do you work at Big Bend, in Lajitas, Study Butte, or travel to Mexico often? Border Patrol? I was there last at the Chili Cook Off.
Starchild
12-09-2013, 08:53
I did it to change my life. To start living for who I am and to help define who I am. I did it to experience life for who I am.
nitewalker
12-09-2013, 08:58
i backpack because it is what i do and i have not found another activity that brings me the satisfaction of a slog up and over mtn or thru forested tundra. i have yet to find an air conditioner or heater that compare to a nice mtn breeze or a bright sunny day on a summitt of natural creation. when out backpacking i can carry on a conversation with fellow hikers as opposed to a basketball game where all we do is talk smack to each other[still lots of fun]. backpacking is one of the most rewarding and challenging activity one can endure. for those reasons and many others that is why i do it....peace. solitude, wildlife,mtn terrain, glacial melt ponds, streams and brooks, caves, cairns, maps, trails and much much more....
rocketsocks
12-09-2013, 09:04
Why slog, sweat, and struggle at times...
to exercise the human spirit, mentally and physically...it's innate.
and it's just plain fun :)
Because a good, well planned. outdoor adventure/hike for me is better than any prescribed medication on the market today. for me my body has always needed/craved a physical challenge to maintain my always fragile mental well being. from youth sports, individual sports in my 20-30' such as marathons, triathlons, outward bound to now simply walking and hiking, ahh the satisfaction of the accomplishment.......
Drybones
12-09-2013, 09:33
My answer to this would be ; to escape the rigors of the world.
Some people drink to relieve stress, I prefer to spend time hiking in the woods .
I sometimes do both.
Drybones
12-09-2013, 09:51
This is what I enjoy about hiking- I like to section hike. I like to pick and choose the times I hike. (when it's not pouring rain, freezing cold, oppressive heat etc..) I'm not "hard core". I like to "get lucky" and hike when it's close to perfect weather etc..
It doesn't make much sense but I like to be out in bad weather...with the right gear. Every time it comes a downpour the neighbors will see me out walking, when I lived in upstate NY and MN I'd go out every time we had a blizzard, I sleep like a baby with a severe thunderstorm when everyone else is up worrying what will happen.
rocketsocks
12-09-2013, 10:02
It doesn't make much sense but I like to be out in bad weather...with the right gear. Every time it comes a downpour the neighbors will see me out walking, when I lived in upstate NY and MN I'd go out every time we had a blizzard, I sleep like a baby with a severe thunderstorm when everyone else is up worrying what will happen.
This is exactly me Drybones, love a good thunderstorm, and blowing snow calls to me.
Sandy of PA
12-09-2013, 10:47
I hike to get in touch with my Earth Mother and my Spirit Father. It balances me.
HikerMom58
12-09-2013, 10:48
It doesn't make much sense but I like to be out in bad weather...with the right gear. Every time it comes a downpour the neighbors will see me out walking, when I lived in upstate NY and MN I'd go out every time we had a blizzard, I sleep like a baby with a severe thunderstorm when everyone else is up worrying what will happen.
I hear ya DB!
I loved waking up every morning on the trail not having to deal with wet stuff or being cold. It was like heaven waking up on top of a mountain, like that. I'm a huge fan of nice weather while hiking.... it makes me HAPPY. :D
I do remember, it rained heavily on us one afternoon but like you said, we had the right gear so it wasn't that bad. We were at Uncle Johnney's cabin that night so it worked out perfectly for drying out our wet shoes etc.. we rode bikes and explored the area, the next day... some much fun!
HikerMom58
12-09-2013, 10:54
I hike to get in touch with my Earth Mother and my Spirit Father. It balances me.
Yup! It's hard not to think about spiritual things while hiking surrounded by nature.... it's bigger than US. :>)
illabelle
12-09-2013, 11:20
From my "Feeling Good" thread on November 3:
So next time somebody wants to know why we haul our gear miles through the woods and over the hills in the cold and the rain, here's the answer:
Feeling good feels good!
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?99468-Feeling-Good!&highlight=
Odd Man Out
12-09-2013, 16:21
Life simplification (at least for a while). If it isn't in your pack, you don't need it or want it.
Drybones
12-09-2013, 19:09
Yup! It's hard not to think about spiritual things while hiking surrounded by nature.... it's bigger than US. :>)
I hear this a lot....what are folks considering spiritual?
.........well because the wife won't follow me there!
Deer Hunter
12-09-2013, 19:21
My answer to this would be ; to escape the rigors of the world.
Some people drink to relieve stress, I prefer to spend time hiking in the woods .
+1.............
Gravesbrock
12-09-2013, 19:27
Piece of mind, to gain a new perspective
Drybones
12-09-2013, 19:30
.........well because the wife won't follow me there!
I can't believe no one has said "to get away from the wife".
jimmyjam
12-09-2013, 19:49
I do it to see what I can see, to go places I have never been and to unplug and recharge my mind and soul.
Siarl, what got you to stay in Terlingua? Do you work at Big Bend, in Lajitas, Study Butte, or travel to Mexico often? Border Patrol? I was there last at the Chili Cook Off.
I have always enjoyed nature. I know the terrain is a 360 degree contrast to that of my native Appalachians but when I came to visit some friends who moved back to Terlingua, the wide open space and the simple way of living here I found attractive...the fairly inexpensive property prices was also a plus. So I purchased twenty acres and moved to Terlingua from California, two years later. Been here over five years and have no regrets. I would also like to purchase some land in the Appalachians but the property prices are a bit more than I can afford.
If I did own some land in the Appalachians, I could spend the winters in Terlingua and the Summers in the Appalachians. My hometown of Galax, Va also hosts one of the largest and oldest Fiddler's Conventions in the world every second week in August. I was going to try to arrange my thru-hike to coincide with the Fiddler's Convention but in August I need to be in Maine finishing up the thru-hike.
Yes, the Chili Cook-Off is quite the gathering. I've never been to it. Not really my scene and I'm usually working since that is our busy time.
divemedic72
12-15-2013, 07:45
If you have to ask the question, you wouldn't understand the answer.
Double Wide
12-15-2013, 08:21
My second trail journal entry sums it up:
Why? Why walk 2000+ miles in the rain, wind, snow, heat, humidity, bugs, over huge mountains, spending six months eschewing personal hygiene, comfort, and the real world?
Well, like somebody once said, "Because it's there!". Actually, the reasons are much more complicated than that. When I was a young lad in Boy Scouts, I did some hiking, but never really liked it. I was the fat kid, and any fat kid will tell you, walking sucks. Oh, I loved camping, canoeing, swimming, building fires, sleeping in tents, all that cool stuff, but hiking seemed pointless to me. And it was hard. Why walk five or ten or even more miles when you didn't have to? So yeah, the Hiking and Backpacking merit badges? Forget it--never earned 'em. Guess that's why I was never an Eagle Scout.
But that fat kid went off to college, on the Tommy Boy plan, and eventually started working behind a desk. Fast forward twenty years later, and I weighed over 500 lbs, had to buy my clothes from the loan sharks of the textile world, the Big & Tall, and couldn't really do much of anything as far as physical activities were concerned. After the brokerage jobs dried up in the first recession of the past decade, I spent another five-plus years sitting on my ass at a poker table in Las Vegas, either dealing it or playing it. While it was an enjoyable lifestyle, it wasn't healthy at at all.
When the second recession hit, and the money in Vegas started to dry up, I decided to head back to Tennessee and be near my family. I hadn't had a holiday or weekend off in over five years, and was missing the comedy that comes from being around my large and goofy family, most of whom were located in and around Nashville.
I wasn't home two weeks when my world, as I knew it, came crashing down around me.
I suddenly had no strength. I couldn't breath. After two days it got so bad that my sister and brother-in-law rushed me to Williamson Medical Center in Franklin. The folks in the ER thought I was having a heart attack, and went to work on me. When it became obvious that it wasn't a heart attack, they spent they day doing a battery of tests on me. I thought it was pneumonia at first, but then a cat-scan came back and I got the bad news--it was much worse, and they couldn't help me there. I was immediately evacuated to Vanderbilt Medical Center, and the prognosis was not good.
I had a huge 'saddle' embolism. A blood clot, the size of a fist, went through my heart and lodged in the aorta, right at the junction where it splits off and goes to each of my lungs. I had a huge blockage, and the doctors and nurses said it was a miracle that I'd made it that far--most people just immediately drop dead.
The only option was an extremely high-risk surgery, which I was told was highly unlikely that I'd survive. And it had to be done NOW. The doctor even told me to call my family in to say goodbye.
It was an awkward thing, lying there in the Intensive Care Unit,with a team of a dozen nurses and specialists working on me at 3:00 in the morning, prepping me for surgery, with my family gathered around me to say a final goodbye. As bad as I felt physically, a profound despair settled over me as I thought how unfair it was that after all the effort I'd made to get back home after so many years away, I only got to spend a week with everyone.
Dying sucks. Especially when you know it's happening within the next hour or so and all you can do is think about it.
All I remember was being so cold in the operating room, staring at the bright lights on the ceiling and thinking, 'Well, this is where they bring people to die. I guess it's my turn'.
They had me count backward from a hundred, and I think I got to 97.
The surgery lasted almost three-and-a-half hours, and by some miracle, I woke up about four hours after they sewed me back up. I was a wreck. I had more tubes and bags attached to me than you could possibly imagine, the worst being the breathing tube that they had to leave in for a couple more hours. It was the most painful and humbling thing one could endure, and luckily the staff at Vanderbilt was top notch--it was impossible to rest, and although I was miserable, at least I was alive.
The next day, I got out of bed and stood up. Two days later, I walked thirty feet. Eight days later, I walked out of the ICU, still an invalid, but a one-in-a-million survivor, which everyone wanted to remind me of. I was on about a dozen prescriptions and completely restricted, and I had to come back twice a week for the foreseeable future. I couldn't lift anything, I couldn't carry anything, I couldn't drive, I couldn't shave, and I could barely eat.
But I could walk.
That was my only task each day, besides taking medicine and sleeping--I had to get up and walk. I started by going to the end of the driveway, and then made it around the back yard. After a week, I could make it around the cul-de-sac, and after a month, I could walk almost a quarter of a mile.
For the next few months, my life was an endless parade of doctor and hospital visits, needles and drugs, specialists and more tests. The only thing that gave me an escape was getting outside and walking for a few minutes before the overwhelming fatigue would set in and I'd collapse in bed, unable to move for hours at a time.
Eventually, I was able to walk a mile without supervision and without stopping. I hadn't done that in YEARS. (It's tough to motor around when you weigh 500+ lbs). As a gift to myself, I bought the '60 Hikes Within 60 Miles of Nashville' book, and decided that I'd work my way through them.
A real breakthrough came a few months later, once I was able to drive again, I slipped away and walked the 1-mile Old Mill Loop at Henry Horton State Park. It took me almost an hour, but I did it.
That's when I knew I'd be ok.
About the same time my brother, decided that he wanted to get into backpacking. So he started buying up gear and planning hikes. There was no way I could do that, but at least we had something in common to talk about. I was all-in on hiking--I was basically disabled and not working, and so it was all I could really afford to do, and he was all-in on backpacking.
Eventually, I'd healed well enough that I got clearance from my doctor to go back to work. As much as I hate the job I got, I'm thankful for it because it was well-paying enough, but it had excellent health insurance. And while I was losing a little bit of weight with my regular walks and a commitment to getting healthy, I was still morbidly obese, and backpacking was not in the cards for me, intrigued as I was about my brother's new hobby.
One day, while at another one of my endless doctor's appointments, I picked up a card for the medical weight-loss clinic. One thing led to another, and about a year later, I had gastric sleeve surgery, and thanks to my awesome health insurance at my not-so-awesome job, my total out-of-pocket cost was right around a thousand bucks.
It's the best thing I've ever done. A year has passed, and I'm healthier than I've ever been. I no longer have to shop at the Big & Tall, and walking five miles is a piece of cake.
During that process, I decided that having gone through what I did, and survived, I should make a commitment to do something amazing and ridiculous, and that's where the idea of hiking the Appalachian Trail came from.
Anyhow, I'm still a long ways from being healthy enough to really do this--I've still got some weight to lose, but the difference is amazing. I have so much energy now, and I love stepping on the scales now. My old leather 64-inch belt goes around me one-and-a-half times now, and I'm amazed at the changes, as are those who see me every day.
Two years ago, I would've been the absolute LAST person you'd ever see attempting a thru-hike of the AT. A dude fatter than Santa Claus huffing and puffing his way though the woods? No way. I would've died of a heart attack somewhere on Sassafras Mountain, not even twenty miles up the trail.
But life has given me a second chance, and I'm going to make the most of it.
That's why I'm hiking the Appalachian Trail.
This is a page from the book "Beyond The Wall" by Edward Abbey,
But why, the questioner insists, why do people like to pretend to love uninhabited country so much? Why this cult of wilderness? Why this surly hatred of progress and development, the churlish resistance to all popular improvements?
Very well, a fair question, but it has been asked and answered a thousand times already; enough books to drive a man stark naked mad have dealt in detail with the question.
There are many answers, all good, each sufficient.
Peace is often mentioned; beauty; spiritual refreshment, whatever that means; re-creation for the soul, whatever that is; escape; novelty, the delight of something different; truth and understanding and wisdom-commendable virtues in any man, anytime; ecology and all that, meaning the salvation of variety, diversity, possibility and potentiality, the preservation of the genetic reservoir, the answers to questions that we have not yet even learned to ask, a connection to the origin of things, an opening into the future, a source of sanity for the present-all true, all wonderful, all more than enough to answer such a dumb dead and degrading question as "Why wilderness?"
To which, nevertheless, I shall append one further answer anyway:
because we like the taste of freedom; because we like the smell of danger.
Edward Abbey
4eyedbuzzard
12-15-2013, 12:24
. . .
But life has given me a second chance, and I'm going to make the most of it.
That's why I'm hiking the Appalachian Trail.
WOW! JUST WOW!
As someone who has suffered back injuries and temporary paralysis wondering if they would walk again, I can sympathize, though my health conditions were not as life threatening as yours.
Good fortune on your second chance and hike(s).
DWB(Blueberry), BEST story I've heard all say! LIFE is GOOD!
Abbey said something similar in Desert Solitaire.
Traffic Jam
12-15-2013, 16:32
DW, what an inspiring story!
DW, what an inspiring story!
DW/Blueberry,
I agree, thanks for sharing, and best wishes for your hike! :clap
Traffic Jam
12-15-2013, 17:06
Double Wide, you're gonna need a new trail name!
Ahhhh, just looked at your profile. I like Blueberry much better!
In January issue of backpacker magazine there is a picture of a guys tattoo that sums it up. "The journey is the destination."
I agree with that one. That's why I like the idea of section hiking vs. thru-hiking. I'm sure thru-hiking is its own beast, but it seems like with all the preparation some people do, they might miss some stuff. Its all pounding out miles and getting to the next town to make the mail drop, and then there's the "deadline" to hit katahdin before closing for the winter. Of course, section hiking can get that way, I'm sure… "I have to make x miles a day or I can't get back to work on time". So I guess there's deadline everywhere. I need to take a few hikes alone, every one of mine involving a group, until my last trip, has involved some sort of "gotta get to" thing, where there just wasn't a whole lot of time to stop and look around.
faxanadu
12-15-2013, 23:28
Personal growth. The only true battles we fight are on the inside.