View Full Version : Effect of thru-hiking on your body/brain?
spvceman
05-23-2016, 14:21
Hey fellow thru-hikers, I'm writing an article about the changes your body goes through when you hike 2,000 miles (mainly on the AT, but I'd also love to hear from PCT, CDT, or any other thru-hikers). Would you mind sharing your experience with me? Do you remember how much weight you lost? When you got home, did the weight stay off, or did you gain it all back? Did your feet ache (as much as mine did)? Did you acquire any injuries? Any weird rashes? Any toenails fall off? Anything else I'm probably not even thinking of?...
And then what about the mental aspect? Do you feel like the Appalachian Trail had any effects (either lasting or temporarily) on your brain? Did you find you were calmer, or were less depressed, or had a longer attention span, etc.? And if so, did those changes last when you got back home?
thanks for your help!
Spaceman (NOBO '09)
On pct
Lost 15 pounds. I put it all back on pulls another 5.
Feet hurt like heck. Could run for about 6 weeks afterwards.
Toenails are never ending battle, they come and they go.
mentally, not much changed though I certainly have less tolerance for materialism.
I didn't lose any weight, but I did grow a little thinner. My hip-belt required extra padding en route. I had a few blisters and a rash or two as well (the worst of which was the ol' Monkey Butt!) The AT's humidity was new to this high altitude westerner, and my skin reacted accordingly. Feet ached way too much on the trail, despite a light load, and they continued to ache for a month or two afterward.
Mentally...I'm far less patient with society nowadays and have been since my first thru-hike way back when in the '90s. Really, in my case, thru-hiking has cursed me. I literally find myself going insane after a year or two without a long adventure in the woods, mountains or desert. Shorter rafting, cycling and climbing trips help to alleviate symptoms, but nothing soothes like a multi-month walk. Alas, not all mental changes are positive. As such, I rearrange my priorities, my life, to include more long hikes.
garlic08
05-23-2016, 15:11
I started at optimum weight (PCT, CDT and AT, in that order) and ended a few pounds lighter, easy to gain back and get up to strength for my job as a firefighter in a few weeks. I've never gone over optimum weight, which is a struggle to maintain in my active life. Feet were painful for a few weeks. No illnesses or injuries. I had a few days of chafing rash early on the PCT but never again after I learned to take care of myself better.
Mentally was the big one for me. I was an aggressive fire lieutenant when I left for my first hike. When I came back, within a few weeks my chief promoted me to captain. He said I was more thoughtful and careful on scene, and wanted me to be the guy standing in the driveway rather than making the attack--more strategic than tactical. I went through some introspection on that hike and I guess it showed.
Way too much positive happens to communicate it here adequately in a Post Quick Reply response.
The evidence is clear, science confirms what has long been understood, Nature has profound positive affects on the body and brain.
This is my favorite topic ever.
The deeper one researches this the more one has to question the health of being constantly immersed in modern western civilization as we commonly know it.
Google natures affect on the brain (https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=natures+affect+on+the+brain&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8).
Nature is not humanities enemy nor is it to be feared nor be perceived as apart from humanity. It is as Muir said going to the woods, the mountains,...Nature.... is going home.
I always lose weight, and I would suggest that for at least some people, thru-hiking can have a long-term detrimental effect on weight control. It's the easiest diet I've ever heard of in a way: if you're willing to do the miles, for most folks they eat everything they want and as much of it as they want and the weight just melts away. The problem is that you get accustomed to eating all you want of whatever you want, and it's hard to stop when you get home and burn a whole lot less calories per day. In 'normal life', exercise is an important part of weight control (for me anyway), but IMO it's controlling daily caloric intake that's key. And long distance hiking can set a person up to make that (even more) difficult.
As to injuries, "stuff happening", seems like most long distance hikes I'm due for one thing like that. On the PCT it was a foot pain/nerve issue that wouldn't go away so when I hit the OR/WA border I took a week off and saw my doctor. Ultimately turned out to be permanent nerve damage, I had foot surgery shortly before I hiked the AT. My *theory* is that it was the lug pattern on the bottom of my golite shoes that put a pressure point helping to cause Morton's Neuroma, but --- who knows for sure, the human body is complicated, and the feet are especially so.
On the AT I got a pretty bad case of giardia or some other stomach cootie, took a couple of weeks to get over it and regain strength before I could return to the trail. These sorts of things hit people differently; on the CDT I knew a guy who --- due to giardia --- was taken by ambulance to get fluids pumped into him, yet he was back on trail in maybe 3 days. Different age, physiology, or maybe just different pathogen --- I don't know.
On the CDT I think I tightened my shoes a little too much for a couple of road walking days so spent a few days at Ghost Ranch in NM to get over what I think was extensor tendenopathy. Was able to shake that off, though, after maybe 3 days and hike on.
On the Florida Trail just this January I was kind of up-to-speed (hiked off the extra weight, gotten stronger), and suddenly I had big blisters on my lower legs that popped in tall grass the moment I noticed them. Leaving raw wounds. In a super El Nino year when I was walking in water a lot which drained from endless cattle ranches all around. I concluded that I was too likely to get these new wounds infected. Doing the FT in parts anyway, so I decided to finish another year. First time I've bailed on a long trip! But yes --- "stuff" happens, I think no matter how experienced or 'tough' or whatever. Successful thru-hikers generally just roll with whatever and find a way to get back on trail as soon as they can.
Mental: I think this varies a lot by the person. I'm nearly 60, have a stable life situation, I don't tend to get major revelations. But it has nevertheless changed me some. Similar but not the same as what Garlic mentioned. In my base personality I'm the planning type, used to things kind of working out according to plan. Thru-hiking taught me to relax and learn to adjust, don't sweat it when things get out of my complete control and plan or in general out of my usual comfort zone. These lessons don't entirely stick, but I think it's made me a better person overall. Of course it does what various tough adventures can do --- a person can in future say "well, if I did that, I can do this new thing now". I think this might be a bigger impact on younger folks who haven't yet has some other "rite of passage" experience in life.
MuddyWaters
05-24-2016, 13:56
Effect of thru-hiking on your body/brain?
Hey fellow thru-hikers, I'm writing an article about the changes your body goes through when you hike 2,000 miles (mainly on the AT, but I'd also love to hear from PCT, CDT, or any other thru-hikers). Would you mind sharing your experience with me? Do you remember how much weight you lost? When you got home, did the weight stay off, or did you gain it all back? Did your feet ache (as much as mine did)? Did you acquire any injuries? Any weird rashes? Any toenails fall off? Anything else I'm probably not even thinking of?...
And then what about the mental aspect? Do you feel like the Appalachian Trail had any effects (either lasting or temporarily) on your brain? Did you find you were calmer, or were less depressed, or had a longer attention span, etc.? And if so, did those changes last when you got back home?
thanks for your help!
Spaceman (NOBO '09)
This pretty much summarizes it:
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-11buIm1Nn7s/UsMh-XkhPeI/AAAAAAAAAPY/-rQWHrKdh4c/s400/Year+end+image+1.jpg
Jeronimo!
05-24-2016, 19:17
My biggest changes after thru hiking last year are that I simply do not enjoy being inside anymore. I get very stir crazy if I'm indoors too long and I have to sneak out for a break. The outdoor air is just way more appealing. I work outside (tree climber) and when I get home its quick shower and back out again to relax. I prefer sleeping with all the doors and windows open and lately I've reverted back to my thermarest because for some reason I sleep better on a hard surface compared to a mattress.
My lifestyle is still very active (although not nearly thru hike level) but I've found that my body has become way more efficient at processing calories. If I burn calories , I am hungry. If I am not working and just sitting around , I lm not hungry at all. It's weird but the hike somehow conditioned my metabolism so that I naturally eat exactly as much as I need to each day as long as I listen to my hunger . If I eat too little during the week I'll totally binge on the weekend(think town stop ) and vice versa if I over eat during during the week I'll only be hungry enough for little snacks here and there.
That's enough rambling the trail changed me alot it's hard to narrow it down I'm also way more organized and I barely sweat anymore because I have good control over my breathing , etc I could go on and on.
Exercise and being outdoors certainly does nice things for the body. I've lost a good deal of weight on my longest LASHs.
Not to rain on the parade -- it's not all wonderful. You can get sick or injured in all kinds of ways, there are mosquitoes and ticks, and in general what we consider normal hygiene is a bit tricky to maintain in the woods. Feet and knees often suffer. Some folks have trouble sleeping in the woods or in a shelter.
The weight loss business is nice at first, but I have seen some really emaciated, ragged, unhappy thru hikers in New England.
rocketsocks
05-24-2016, 21:05
I submit an instability prior, and possible resolution by hikes end, cause for many you never hear from them again.
Hangfire
05-25-2016, 01:09
It took me almost 10 months to fully recover from my thru hike aches and pains.
handlebar
05-25-2016, 10:16
This may suffer from the "post hoc-propter hoc" logical fallacy, but my cardiac arteries are substantially clearer after 5000+/- miles of thru hiking than they were before as evidenced by cardiac catheterizations (conducted, as it turns out, due to reaction to thallium used in nuclear stress test) when I was 49 and again when I was 66. Other potential causes were lack of stress since I retired at age 60 from a fast paced job in information technology management.
Profound positive consequences of LD hiking are intimately communicated in AT Trail Journals. You'll receive this publication when financially supporting the AT through ATC membership.