Life after a thru hike...???

[jimmyjob]

yesterday someone asked about the hardest part mentally during the trail and there has been some great post in response to that question.

i would like to know if anyone has faced troubles after a thru hike, either readjusting to really life, had a case of off the trail blues or depression?

[The Hog]

Four months after summiting Katahdin, I was in bad shape. I permanently injured my back (playing tennis), I lost my job, my girlfriend left me, and my best friend/roommate got a job in another city and moved away.

Yeah, I was down, but daily flashbacks and memories of the Trail buoyed me up. Plus, I got a lot of emotional support from the many friends I had made while hiking. The Trail was, and is, a source of strength. With that, I was able to find a new job, get my back trouble under control, find a new job, renovate a farmhouse, get married, raise children, and take control of my own time and my own life.

[max patch]

I never had any "blues" or "depression" although it seems as though many do.

The only "problem" I had was that for the longest time I was tired and ready for bed at 9:00 instead of my ususal off trail time of midnight.

[MacGyver2005]

It was a great experience for me overall, and it is nice to have people ask me about it and reflect on the adventure, but I don't mope around wanting to get back out there. As for re-adjusting, it was not difficult for me. I was a bit sore (in the long-term sense), I had to watch my diet a little so as not to put on a lot of unecessary weight, drink lots of water, and my sleeping pattern was a little screwy. Other than that it wasn't a big deal.

Regards,
-MacGyver
GA-->ME

[Footslogger]

No serious problems adjusting to life off the trail but I do a lot more day dreaming since my thru. If I have a few minutes to kill my mind generally wanders and I time travel back to a place and time on the AT when life was simple and my priorities consisted of water, food and a place to sleep. That helps me keep perspective, live in the moment and focus on what's important.

'Slogger

[Blue Jay]

yesterday someone asked about the hardest part mentally during the trail and there has been some great post in response to that question.

i would like to know if anyone has faced troubles after a thru hike, either readjusting to really life, had a case of off the trail blues or depression?

Much depends upon what happened to you during the thru. If it was like going to an amusement park or changing your socks and then coming home, of course, there would be no reaction. If it completely changed the way you see the universe, there could be repercussions, both good and bad.

[chris]

Life pretty much sucked after finishing the PCT. I was ready to be done hiking, but I really didn't want to go home. I didn't have anything there except my job and my stuff, and leaving the sort of life I had led for 105 days hurt quite a bit. Having to deal with people in a civil society seemed so artificial, so constricted.

[mingo]

i have more trouble dealing with the typical kind of BS everyone runs into at work. when my boss starts yapping, i find myself wanting to just walk off to the next shelter. i long for the days when my hardest choices were whether to lay down and sleep or walk a little father and then lay down and sleep

[neighbor dave]

wondering whether or not i should pick up the piece of broken cookie i just dropped on the ground and eat it.
resistin' the temptation to take a leak or crap anywhere i want.
still havin' a hard time gettin' used to filterin' my water out of the toilet!
wonderin' if the landlord is gonna have a problem with me lightin' a fire on the livin' room floor every night.
tryin' to hang the fridge off a mouse can.
stackin' all the furniture in the apt verticaly on a daily basis.
when i get out to the street,i feel like i need to hitch a ride into town! but i'm already there!:jump :jump :jump :jump :jump :jump :jump :jump :jump :jump

[jackiebolen]

I think about the trail all the time even a year later now. I made it 1500 miles and dream about going back and finishing up the last 600. I am a grad student now and it is so, so hard to sit at my desk and write papers and study while I look out my window at the mountains on the North Shore of Vancouver.

I miss the solitude, the quietness so much that now music, TV, people talking all the time is starting to make me crazy.

I was definitely depressed for a month or two after getting off the trail but I was pretty sick at the time so maybe that had a lot to do with it too. Now it's a vague sense of wanting to be there, rather than here.

[Lone Wolf]

Then why are you a grad student? Go hiking.

[smokymtnsteve]

ya only go around once in life..this is the real thing not a rehersal

[Downunda]

After finishing the AT I couldn't face work anymore... while I was on the trail the realisation came to me that I wouldn't be going back to rat race and work full time again. After working for 42 years (the last 30 in the IT industry) I couldn't face the commuting, the constant BS, downsizing, reorganising etc. etc. It all seemed so pointless. Perhaps had I been younger when I hiked the AT I may have felt differently (I was 58).

Fortunately I was in the position where I could afford to retire. I did some contract work for a time then bailed out completely. Maybee it was just burn out but even today the only thing I miss about work is the contact with so many people.

After hiking a few months I came to realise that I didn't need a lot of stuff to be happy and that life without the constant pressure of meeting budgets and deadlines is a wonderful thing.

It took me a long time after coming home to adjust to the frantic life of living in the burbs and all that goes with it. Three years on I can still switch off and remember those great days on the AT.

[Icicle]

wondering whether or not i should pick up the piece of broken cookie i just dropped on the ground and eat it.
resistin' the temptation to take a leak or crap anywhere i want.
still havin' a hard time gettin' used to filterin' my water out of the toilet!
wonderin' if the landlord is gonna have a problem with me lightin' a fire on the livin' room floor every night.
tryin' to hang the fridge off a mouse can.
stackin' all the furniture in the apt verticaly on a daily basis.
when i get out to the street,i feel like i need to hitch a ride into town! but i'm already there!:jump :jump :jump :jump :jump :jump :jump :jump :jump :jump
What about shoving leaves down the toilet? ;)

[Red Hat]

LOL, Dave and Icicle! I found I put on weight, since I still thought I could eat like when I was hiking. Not Good! Hope to get back to the trail soon and work some of those pounds off. Red Hat

[Icicle]

It's funny...I thought I would gain weight too, but I have lost additional weight for a total of 26 pounds!! I think a lot of that is the stress of my husband being away. Only a few more day until I leave for Maine though...YAY! Can't wait! Of course from some of the pictures he has sent home - he's lost loads too!!

I can't wait to pamper him and fatten him up some... ;)

Nice to *see* you again RedHat! :sun

[Mouse]

I had no big problems aside from not getting a job in my profession due to lack of hiring. But I DID find myself joining the volunteer crew of a square-rigged tall ship. It is odd, I am about the fourth thruhiker on the crew. Maybe it is something about the hard work, high places, crowded coed sleeping quarters with no privacy, dampness etc. that draws thruhikers? :)

[skeeterfeeder]

(Neighbor Dave and Icecycle,thanks for the reminders. It is so easy to forget how I was living only one month ago.)
I find that I can't seem to take anything in the 'real' world too seriously. The things that stressed me out before seem so trivial. I wonder how long that will last.

[Kozmic Zian]

Yea, after the Thruy, there was good and bad. Good that I could walk anywhere like a feather floating in air, I mean it was so easy that I wanted to walk everywhere....Instead of driving to the PO in town, I'd walk 5 miles, etc....
The bad was missing the 'wildness' that I craved, the Trees, The Rocks, The Water, The People I met....

One thing I found was that nobody gave a shlit that I had done this thing. It's kinda' strange when you try to explain it to folks who just don't give a shlit....I found it best kept to myself, no one understands anyway, 'cept other Thruys. Guess that's why the 'gatherings' are so well attended....Comraderie.

[fiddlehead]

Yeah, i've had a problem, it's called WORK! Something that must be done every year so that i can get back out there again. At least there's a beautiful light at the end of THAT tunnel!

[Slaughter]

In reply to jackiebolen -

I was in about the same place you are a year ago - I finished half the AT in 2003 and had to get off to start grad school. At the time it was very hard, and it took me about a year before I could look at my photos and talk about the trail without being sad and wishing I had dropped everything and gone back. But that passed with time, and now I'm starting my third year and love what I'm doing. I've gotten to travel to some very cool places, I feel like I'm moving in the right direction and I know that the trail will still be there when I'm ready to finish the hike - or do it over again. Not that I don't still miss it sometimes.

Point being, it's all well and good to say "do what you love" and "live life to the fullest" and all that, but particularly for people just starting out on a path like grad school sometimes the time just isn't right, and missing the trail doesn't mean it's the only thing you'll be able to love about your life or the only thing that will make your life "full." Being on the trail will continue to be something I love, but my career will be something I can enjoy on a more permanent, and more practical, basis.

:sun

[chris]

....

I am a grad student now and it is so, so hard to sit at my desk and write papers and study while I look out my window at the mountains on the North Shore of Vancouver.

....

I was definitely depressed for a month or two after getting off the trail but I was pretty sick at the time so maybe that had a lot to do with it too. Now it's a vague sense of wanting to be there, rather than here.

Trails will always be there. Whether or not you have the drive and desire and resources to hike them is a different story. However, assuming that you are in grad school in order to teach, know that there is light at the end of the tunnel. I was in your position a few years ago. I couldn't take the time off from grad school to do some of the things that I wanted to do. However, I finished and now in a pretty good position: Four months vacation time a year, solid job security, and the ability to move to places where I'd like to live. I bailed out on research (i.e, working at a university) because I couldn't satisfy this last point.

If you're in a masters program, you can be done in a year and a half. Then, get a job at a community or technical college. Vancouver would be a hard place to be in grad school and I'm glad I did my six years on the plains of Illinois instead.

[jackiebolen]

Thanks for the encouragement everyone. I know grad school is where I should be (and I'll be done next summer so it would be crazy to quit now!) but the trail is where I want to be.

They will always be there but the chance to go to grad school will not.

Of course, it wouldn't be so tempting if the Northern Terminus of the PCT wasn't a 2-hour drive from here and where I just went backpacking a few weekends ago :)

[Newb]

A lot of these comments seem similar to my experience after returning from Iraq. My tolerance for BS in my workplace has gone way down. My priorities vis a vis family, home, and how I spend my free time have completely changed. My desire for material goods, to buy new stuff, etc, is gone.
It's funny, but after I got back from Iraq is when I started hiking. I never had a desire to do so before, but when I got back I had this wierd "itch", this odd "yearning". Hiking the AT seems to scratch it.
Who can explain these things?

[Red Hat]

Are you the Newb that I know? Do you miss the trail as much a I do? I'll probably go back for long sections (200-300 miles or so) so I don't miss my husband so much, and vice versa. How is life treating you? Red Hat

[Newb]

Are you the Newb that I know? Do you miss the trail as much a I do? I'll probably go back for long sections (200-300 miles or so) so I don't miss my husband so much, and vice versa. How is life treating you? Red Hat
I don't think I'm the Newb that you know. I only created this name for this website. I :cool: don't have a trailname.

[thomassv]

For me, there was some grumpiness involved, figuring out where I'd work and where I'd live. I also missed the lifestyle and the friends I had made. I also had a girlfriend while hiking, and she was really great about me leaving to hike. I remember missing her a lot during the hike. We called, would meet up at different points, write, etc. We stayed together after as well. In a couple of months after I got back, got a new job and got a new place. Several more months, maybe a year later, I realized that my hiking lifestyle wasn't fair to my girlfriend or myself. We connected on so many levels, but she wasn't a hiker and could care less about hiking and that was important to me. Although she supported me, I realized I needed a partner who could be a "partner" in that respect too. So we broke up. It was probably the toughest thing to do at the time. But by doing that I eventually met my future wife at a local hiking club. To have a partner who is also a hiker is amazing. We can support each other, we understand each others need for being alone, but also our need for comfort. We moved around, got different jobs, quit different jobs, and continue to hike separately but also together. The grumpiness never returns after a hike as well anymore.

[thomassv]

...life after a thru hike is never as good as the thru hike, so keep hiking. :banana