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aficion
01-31-2014, 17:58
For those getting ready to set out on a thru hike, as well as those of us hoping to do so in the next few years, how long does the "I just walked over 2000 miles would you please just leave me alone" phase of re-entry last. Looking for both symptoms and treatments from those who have been there. Thanks.

Slo-go'en
01-31-2014, 18:23
For some it becomes a life long addiction, others will never want to set foot in the woods again. And I guess every thing in between. I think a lot of it depends on what you have waiting for you when you go home.

Mags
01-31-2014, 18:48
http://www.pmags.com/after-the-trail-%E2%80%93-post-trail-re-adjustment

and the sequel of sorts:

http://www.pmags.com/work-life-outdoors-balance

Dogwood
01-31-2014, 19:12
I don't go through that "I just walked over 2000 miles would you please just leave me alone" phase. What I did over there is now a part of me over here, not separate. I also don't look at my hikes as something that's just about me, during the hike and post hike, as that really doesn't absolutely occur anyway. Having this idea for me, I believe, leads me to have less need to isolate myself post hike. As primarily a solo long distance hiker, I am naturally open post hike to share some new perhaps more enlightening perspectives I've gained as well as integrate the new better me post hike into what ever I'm doing.

However, I do have to readjust every time, especially mentally, after a long hike to the much increased human generated stimuli - people yelling, sirens, automobiles, hecticness/frenzy of people, zombie like status quo behavior of the general masses, etc. I have less tolerance less need to be around those things. People I love. Their behavior not always as much. The question I would like answered for myself is, 'have I gotten better at readjusting after a long hike or I simply have come to the point where I feel less desire to adjust to that which often seems to me to be so destructive and leading to more zombie like status quo follow the rest of the lemmings over the edge of the cliff behavior?'

aficion
01-31-2014, 19:44
For some it becomes a life long addiction, others will never want to set foot in the woods again. And I guess every thing in between. I think a lot of it depends on what you have waiting for you when you go home.

The biggest thing everyone will face when they get home, is likely to be the same as on the trail,
which is they self. My question is meant to be more along the lines of how long does adjusting yourself to being "back" take, and what can we contemplate that might help us with the physical and mental adjustment.

Dogwood
01-31-2014, 19:48
That thru-hike "hangover" as you've worded it OFTEN IS NOT a hangover in the traditional sense after a night of heavy intoxication. IT IS VERY DIFFERENT! Different indeed! During a long hike you DETOX from much of the human generated distractions - that which keeps you pre-occupied from you knowing yourself, from you thinking more clearly, from you being aware, etc. A thru-hike is just the opposite of getting intoxicated. *In a real sense you SOBER UP on a thru-hike!

It's after the thru-hike, that you have to decide for yourself if you really want to, even can, go back to all the elements of the old pre hike lifestyle!

Read the journals of those who have completed a long hike, like a thru-hike of the AT, right after their hikes. You'll quickly grasp a community of people who are questioning things they've been conditioned to think of as the "right things" to do, the "right way" to live, the "right things" to have, the "right" things to prioritize, the "right" way to think, the "right" way to behave, the "right" things to believe that really matter, etc. THIS is why I say thru-hiking the AT is one of the most self actualizing, empowering, healthiest, enlightening, and DETOXIFYING things a person can do!.... for themselves and for the world.....NOT so much though for those who want to continue profiting from you by keeping you in the same state of zombie like status quo lack of awareness that you were in pre-hike.

Dogwood
01-31-2014, 20:06
The biggest thing everyone will face when they get home, is likely to be the same as on the trail,
which is they self.....

I feel it is more than that. Yes, you have to face the new you post hike but the new you will also change the way you previously looked at society, your pre hike lifestyle, social/cultural norms, etc. If you're asking about readjusting after thru-hiking you should be aware of this. It's also not so cut and dried that all people will act the same after a thru-hike, which is why I said: 'It's after the thru-hike, that you have to decide for yourself if you really want to, even can, go back to all the elements of the old pre hike lifestyle!' Not everyone does go back to the same life after a thru-hike Aficion.

aficion
01-31-2014, 20:28
I feel it is more than that. Yes, you have to face the new you post hike but the new you will also change the way you previously looked at society, your pre hike lifestyle, social/cultural norms, etc. If you're asking about readjusting after thru-hiking you should be aware of this. It's also not so cut and dried that all people will act the same after a thru-hike, which is why I said: 'It's after the thru-hike, that you have to decide for yourself if you really want to, even can, go back to all the elements of the old pre hike lifestyle!' Not everyone does go back to the same life after a thru-hike Aficion.

I would surmise fairly confidently that no one goes back to the same life after a thru. It may not be possible given the changes each hiker goes through. So, you come back a changed person, and your feet hurt, and you have an adjustment to make. It may be that enough people on here have been through this that their thoughts could be helpful to those of us still looking forward to it. Mags first link really made me think Wow...Just wow!

I have a question. If a thru hike is not about the hiker first and foremost, what is it about? To my way of perceiving reality, a thru hike would top the list of things that are by definition, mostly about me.

Slo-go'en
01-31-2014, 21:34
I find after a long hike I have a hard time sitting still. I keep wanting to get up and walk around. And eat a lot, can't forget the eat a lot part :)

I would think most people who complete a thru hike have come to enjoy the life style or they would have gone home a lot sooner. Although there are trials and tribulations along the trail, life on the whole is pretty simple - eat, sleep and walk. Once you get used that life style and come to enjoy it, it is hard to give it up. As one recent thru-hiker I know put it, "I miss the trail, I miss my [trail] friends and everything about it". After completing a thru, many people simplify thier lives - at least for a while.

I would also think a thru hike would have a greater life style impact on a middle aged person then a youngster in or just out of collage or a retiree.

For a youngster, a thru hike is just another adventure, a transission from being a kid to an adult about to enter the professional world. It's easy to put the hike behind you. For a retiree, it is just something to do, your life is pretty much set in stone and isn't going to change much as a result. But for a middle aged person, who has to go back to the job, or find a job and/or go back to the family and kids, readjusting has to be a lot harder.

HikerMom58
01-31-2014, 21:41
I believe that a hike in the woods, doesn't have to be a thru hike, can change a person. I've witnessed it up close and personally. If this type of change occurs, it's mainly because of the reason you started hiking in the first place.

Re-entry or the "hangover" from the hike, only gets better and better as time goes along. In this case, it actually freed up the person to stop thinking about themselves and caused them to reach out to others.

The hike was all about them to start with, but in the end it was about getting the focus off themselves.

aficion... I still can't PM you. :(

aficion
01-31-2014, 22:03
I believe that a hike in the woods, doesn't have to be a thru hike, can change a person. I've witnessed it up close and personally. If this type of change occurs, it's mainly because of the reason you started hiking in the first place.

Re-entry or the "hangover" from the hike, only gets better and better as time goes along. In this case, it actually freed up the person to stop thinking about themselves and caused them to reach out to others.

The hike was all about them to start with, but in the end it was about getting the focus off themselves.

aficion... I still can't PM you. :(

My avatar thingy has disappeared, my PM don't work no more. It is a wonder I can still post. I will get in touch with the authorities that be to see what must I do. In the meantime, I love you HM, and with respect submit that our attempts to get "The focus off of ourselves", is really just another exercise in trying to make our selves feel better about our selves.

HikerMom58
01-31-2014, 22:11
My avatar thingy has disappeared, my PM don't work no more. It is a wonder I can still post. I will get in touch with the authorities that be to see what must I do. In the meantime, I love you HM, and with respect submit that our attempts to get "The focus off of ourselves", is really just another exercise in trying to make our selves feel better about our selves.

true dat - when we feel better about ourselves, we can focus on others. And when we focus on others, we feel better about ourselves or somethin like that. ;)

I love you too aficion! PM me when the authorities get the kinks worked out... LOL!

Astro
01-31-2014, 22:56
My avatar thingy has disappeared, my PM don't work no more. It is a wonder I can still post. I will get in touch with the authorities that be to see what must I do. In the meantime, I love you HM, and with respect submit that our attempts to get "The focus off of ourselves", is really just another exercise in trying to make our selves feel better about our selves.

Aficion,
If you were a donating member and that expired, your personalized avatar disappears and your mailbox size shrinks.

hikerboy57
01-31-2014, 23:02
My avatar thingy has disappeared, my PM don't work no more. It is a wonder I can still post. I will get in touch with the authorities that be to see what must I do. In the meantime, I love you HM, and with respect submit that our attempts to get "The focus off of ourselves", is really just another exercise in trying to make our selves feel better about our selves.
feeding one's ego rather than losing it.

i got the sad news last night that one of the kids i hiked with this past spring took his own life earlier this month.warm,friendly fun guy. i dont have any details and out of respect i wont mention his name.he summited in september.its an act i'll never be able to wrap my head around.

sometimes its not always a happy ending.

Dogwood
02-01-2014, 00:47
I would surmise fairly confidently that no one goes back to the same life after a thru. It may not be possible given the changes each hiker goes through. So, you come back a changed person, and your feet hurt, and you have an adjustment to make. It may be that enough people on here have been through this that their thoughts could be helpful to those of us still looking forward to it. Mags first link really made me think Wow...Just wow!

I have a question. If a thru hike is not about the hiker first and foremost, what is it about? To my way of perceiving reality, a thru hike would top the list of things that are by definition, mostly about me.

I'm glad you're getting something from Mags links. That's the idea here.

Instead of thinking about thru-hikes as me, my, mine, I doing something in my own bubble and the rest of the world over there doing something else in a separate isolated bubble I choose not to hike nor live life that way. We're more connected in ways we don't yet understand or are willing to admit. We, as in individuals are not separate in the sense that what we each do occurs in a bubble in a vacuum. I believe that what I do - the actions I take - my behavior - influences others and other events when hiking and in all other aspects of life. I am not separate from everything else. I am not disconnected from nature either. MY ACTIONS and BEHAVIOR HAVE CONSEQUENCES ON OTHERS and that are potentially far reaching than I even now may be aware! Therefore, I am responsible not only for myself but in some way being responsible and conscientious of others when I live like this. The most utterly egotistical and selfish thing to me would be to approach hikes, AND LIFE, as if I can do whatever I want and it have no consequences on others. In that sense my hikes are not just "my hikes." I approach hikes as opportunities to not only better myself but better others, to positively influence perhaps 1000's while hiking and who really knows post hike. I approach hikes mindful of this. Mahatma Gandhi — ‘Be the change that you wish to see in the world. That means, if I want to change the world for the better I begin by changing myself. But that's NOT where it ends, not IF I have the end goal in mind - connectivity to all. That's why, even though I may have difficulty adjusting post hike, I don't isolate myself from people.


... "The focus off of ourselves", is really just another exercise in trying to make our selves feel better about our selves....

I can't see why feeling better about ourselves while also being conscientious of others is a bad thing.

Lucy Lulu
02-01-2014, 11:38
I can only tell you how I respond after thru-hikes, and only how they have changed me. Although there are probably similarities, I think every hiker responds differently.

I will just state that I am addicted to thru-hiking, but the "wander lust" has been with me since I was a small child. Not a day goes by that I don't think about the next trail. I always find my thoughts wandering as I move through the motions of non-hiking life.

I don't need an adjustment period. I slide back into my off trail life as easily as I do trail life. I try to move forward and find new challenges until I can get back to the trails. I don't miss what I don't have any longer, I focus on the future.

The hikes have made me a more successful person off trail. I have gained confidence I don't think I would have gained nearly as quickly otherwise. I am a more independent thinker, and make decisions quickly b/c I know my limitations and understand my needs. I have a limited amount of patience, but find myself much more patient with those around me. I am able to take a step back and consider the perspectives of others without reacting so quickly or emotionally, and this seems to improve after every hike. There are many other "effects," but these have probably influenced me the most.

Malto
02-01-2014, 12:40
My post hike transition was a bit different than most. Unlike most of the hikers that I met I was coming from a very stable situation, hiking and then returning right back again. I was married, had a great career, lived in suburbia and thru hiking was not the sort of thing that folks like me did.

Mags post captures many of the same feelings. I can vividly remember walking to the PCT terminus, with a combine sense of excitement, sense of accomplishment but also with the realization that the adventure was over. We left the trail, hitched to Seattle and waited a couple of days for my flight back to Atlanta. If you have seen the movie "Into the Wild" there is a sense where he is looking into the window of a restaurant. that scene captured exactly my feeling as I walked the streets of Seattle. I felt invisible.

i flew back to Atlanta arriving home about midnight. I was back to work the following day at 8am. The re entry was immediate and brutal. Folks later told me that I acted as if I was in another world, I was. The speed of the world, the "in your face" consumerism and status symbols really bothered me. I found that few could really understand what a thru hike experience is like. When I met up other other thrus I finally found folks that understood the part of a thru hike that can't be captured in a journal.

i really started to question my life, priorities etc. while I didn't blow up my life there were major changes. I made a major job change along with a move to Pa. We downsize our life and somewhat "returned to normal." But there isn't a day that goes by that I am not transported backmtomthe trail. Often its in the morning as I'm walking to work. I will momentarily be transported back to the "expedition." I know I will be back on the trail at some point. I am planning that to be when I retire so that has absolutely been my focus, saving enough so I can retire early enough that my body still has some miles.

i can offer one piece of advice. plan your next adventure. For me it was a Grand Canyon Rim to Rim to Rim trail run. It gave me a goal to train against and a mission. I have followed that up with other similiar events each year and use the AT for training allow me to connect a bit with the long trail culture. Others plan the next thru, if I was in a different place in life I would have been on the CDT in 2012. I can see where for some it becomes a lifestyle for a number of years.

finally, don't let anticipation of reentry shadow your adventure. Good luck.

Teacher & Snacktime
02-01-2014, 12:51
feeding one's ego rather than losing it.

i got the sad news last night that one of the kids i hiked with this past spring took his own life earlier this month.warm,friendly fun guy. i dont have any details and out of respect i wont mention his name.he summited in september.its an act i'll never be able to wrap my head around.

sometimes its not always a happy ending.

Enjoy the memories and try not to dwell on the "why"....it will taint the memory and bruise your soul.

Deer Hunter
02-01-2014, 12:55
feeding one's ego rather than losing it.

i got the sad news last night that one of the kids i hiked with this past spring took his own life earlier this month.warm,friendly fun guy. i dont have any details and out of respect i wont mention his name.he summited in september.its an act i'll never be able to wrap my head around.

sometimes its not always a happy ending.

Sorry to hear that, HB. Truly sad news.

aficion
02-01-2014, 13:26
feeding one's ego rather than losing it.

i got the sad news last night that one of the kids i hiked with this past spring took his own life earlier this month.warm,friendly fun guy. i dont have any details and out of respect i wont mention his name.he summited in september.its an act i'll never be able to wrap my head around.



sometimes its not always a happy ending.

Very sorry to hear about your friend's demise. "Farther along we'll understand why." Don't mean to be trite, I truly believe those words, and hope those who struggle with re-entry will remember, "This too shall Pass." Peace.

aficion
02-01-2014, 13:28
[QUOTE=aficion;1842549]

Very sorry to hear about your friend's demise. "Farther along we'll understand why." Don't mean to be trite, I truly believe those words, and hope those who struggle with re-entry will remember, "This too shall pass." Peace.

Pony
02-01-2014, 16:40
I finished the trail in september 2010 and haven't been the same since. Not to say I haven't adjusted, I still do all the things "normal" people do. Work, pay bills etc. I just feel that most everything in "Normal" society is trivial. The trail really put things in perspective for me. The issue seems to be that the majority of the world has a different perspective.