That Feeling You Get When No One Else Gets That Feeling

[TwoSpirits]

So I was recently down in the Atlanta area for a graduation, and then stopped to visit friends in northern Georgia on our drive home. On that drive I saw signs for Amicalola State Park, the Chattahoochie National Forest, the Benton MacKaye Trail, and others. All along I felt like a child -- getting all excited, saying "Ooh! Ooh! There's that, and there's that!", and thinking "Where's Tipi??" It was thrilling to know that I was a few short miles from places I've heard so much about and places I'm excited to hike sometime...but my traveling companions would just look at me blankly, surely wondering how I could get so excited about some odd, random place out in the woods.

Now, my friends retirement & vacation homes are wonderful and beautiful places to be sure, and bring my friends peace and joy that they have earned and deserve -- but it was*excruciating to be so near and to feel so excited about something no one else could understand.

Dontchya just hate that?*

[Berserker]

I learned long ago that unless you are hanging out with other hikers nobody really gets it and/or cares. When I first started section hiking I was stoked to share my experiences with family and friends, so I wrote up my journal, pasted in pictures, made it all pretty and generated a pdf file after each trip. I would then send it to everyone giddy with excitement only to maybe get back a "nice trip" report comment or two. I quickly started realizing that hiking was my thing and not theirs, and that if one hasn't hiked they don't really understand the whole experience.

So now when I daydream about hikes it's my own personal thing that I keep to myself and only share with those that truly get it.

[rocketsocks]

I hear ya! On two separate occasions I Astro projected myself up the trail as we drove by the trail heads at 50 mph of the CDT and PCT.

[Runner2017]

So I was recently down in the Atlanta area for a graduation, and then stopped to visit friends in northern Georgia on our drive home. On that drive I saw signs for Amicalola State Park, the Chattahoochie National Forest, the Benton MacKaye Trail, and others. All along I felt like a child -- getting all excited, saying "Ooh! Ooh! There's that, and there's that!", and thinking "Where's Tipi??" It was thrilling to know that I was a few short miles from places I've heard so much about and places I'm excited to hike sometime...but my traveling companions would just look at me blankly, surely wondering how I could get so excited about some odd, random place out in the woods.

Now, my friends retirement & vacation homes are wonderful and beautiful places to be sure, and bring my friends peace and joy that they have earned and deserve -- but it was*excruciating to be so near and to feel so excited about something no one else could understand.

Dontchya just hate that?*Sadly, most people don't know exactly what they want in their life time. What they need to want is what is spoon fed to them 7 days a week nonstop since birth. They are told to pursue happiness, which means they need to make money, the more, the merrier, so they can buy more stuff. Of course this can work well for factory owners, shop keepers, and so forth. They tell you the more stuff you buy, the more human you become. People just don't realize what they can buy is just comfort but not happiness. Because happiness comes from nonstop struggles with oneself. Long distance thru-hike gives thru-hikers tons of sense of happiness, because thru-hike offers nonstop struggles with oneself.

[TwoSpirits]

Probably what's worse is how acutely aware I am of how much I reference hiking in my everyday conversation, whether I'm recalling an experience or using the experience as a metaphor.... It's actually amazing anyone talks to me at all!

[LittleRock]

Yep. I rarely talk to my wife, family, friends, co-workers, etc about hiking. I could tell they didn't really care, and if they listened they were just being nice. That's why I come to WhiteBlaze :-)

On the other hand, my kids are still very young, so there's hope...

[egilbe]

I know that feeling. First time I walked by the HMG factory and they had an open house. My GF and I had a nice tour of the facility, talked to a few people, checked out some of their new gear, I felt like a kid in a candy store, I was so giddy with excitement. I felt the same way running into Judy Gross in the Mahoosucs and Miss Janet in Grafton Notch.

[Crushed Grapes]

I'm lucky to be married to a wonderful girl who is also into backpacking (not as much as me), but she does love it and we talk gear/trails/etc all the time. We have a few friends that we are close with that share the same interest, and that rules.

Our other friends/family think it is somewhat interesting, but we would never nerd out around them. As a photographer I frequently post photos from our trips and they are fairly well received, but on the whole, most folks don't get it.

[cmoulder]

In our culture, very few people's idea of a vacation involves walking long distances with a pack, sleeping/cooking/pooping/peeing/washing outdoors in the woods, in rain/heat/humidity/bugs/sleet/snow/wind, for many days on end.

So people who actually enjoy such things are more than a bit strange to them.

[Dogwood]

You're not alone. Youre sharing analagous emotions with others that have experiences and live outside the norms - nomads, world travelers, off grid homesteaders, new immigrants, adventurers, innovators, "rebels", etc.

[moldy]

Our brain chemistry evolved over millions of years and 99 percent of that time we were on the move. In recent times, like in the last 25,000 years we were forced to adapt to the ice. In small hunter gatherer clans we went where the food was. We could no longer sit on a limb and pick that low hanging fruit. Our brains became more important for survival. We had to solve the problems encountered on the trail. Our brain chemistry is still working out ancient solutions. Those feelings you get are endorphins in your brain encouraging you to follow the herds and discover what's around the corner. Whenever I have one of those moments freezing in a miserable wet sleeping bag on some windswept rock I can't help thinking that those of us who don't get "the feeling" probably have more evolved brains.

[Dogwood]

It's just the opposite Moldy. Low endorphin levels are associated with many issues physical, emotional, and psychological. They include such as self harm, depression, mental illnesses, natural - body chemistry endorphin manufactured pain management, realization of negative or debilitating genetic predisositions, and both illicit and legal drugs/medication usage.

[rocketsocks]

I liken it too a “day dream” nothing more.

[Shrewd]

I used to get that hard after my thru.

“Hey did you know Rhys didnthe AT?”

Random person looks at me and says some variant of “whoa cool what was it like?”

And I go through a whole flashback of feelings and such before I give them a quick sound bite and then the conversation goes on and I’m sitting there like, dammit, it’s bigger than “oh neat!”

Sigh, guess I have to do it again

[stephanD]

If you don't do it, you don't get it.

[TwoSpirits]

It can get lonely sometimes.

[Last Call]

You can always show them your completion badge, that usually ups the "wow" factor....

[Riocielo]

My sister had always called me a "non-conformist" and after 60 years, I guess it's still true.

Some of my friends love to hear my stories of our hikes, but mainly I think, because they can never imagine doing it themselves.
You're not alone. Youre sharing analagous emotions with others that have experiences and live outside the norms - nomads, world travelers, off grid homesteaders, new immigrants, adventurers, innovators, "rebels", etc.

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[Night Train]

I hold the experience close, and that is all that matters.

[hikermiker]

Join ALDHA & go to the Gathering in October. Everyone there gets it.

[GaryM]

It is the same all over. Do you get excited when your gearhead friend mentions the turbocharger he just installed? How about the fisherman who just caught his first tarpon? We get excited about things we can identify with. Apparently your friends aren't into the same things you are. Nothing wrong with that, just explains why they feel the way they do.

[slbirdnerd]

Ahh, but to be THAT close to the trail, I'd have found a day, a half day--a couple hours even--to get into the woods, get on the trail, and be at home... :)

[TwoSpirits]

Ahh, but to be THAT close to the trail, I'd have found a day, a half day--a couple hours even--to get into the woods, get on the trail, and be at home... :)I hear ya. It was excruciating!

[shelb]

I get that! Few of my peers are interested. A few are excited and want to know about my experiences and plans; however, the majority do so with polite interest. Do not let this slow you down. Puruse your dream! Do it NOW - before age-related things slow you down (which is happening to me at this time...ugh!).

[Pony]

After my thru I couldn't wait to tell all my friends about the trail. It didn't take long for me to realize that nobody cared. I did have one friend that picked my brain, and a few yrs later I noticed his facebook profile pick was him standing on Katahdin. Go figure

[Tipi Walter]

In our culture, very few people's idea of a vacation involves walking long distances with a pack, sleeping/cooking/pooping/peeing/washing outdoors in the woods, in rain/heat/humidity/bugs/sleet/snow/wind, for many days on end.

So people who actually enjoy such things are more than a bit strange to them.

The bold pretty much hits it on the head. Who wants to be miserable in the summer furnace heat or freeze to death on a high mountain windswept bald or hump a load up a nut grinding hill climb? Only those who love being outside and out with the Woman of Green and Creeks and Rocks and Cold and High Winds, Miss Nature.

I suppose it's a calling but for 200,000 years the modern human species lived outdoors---now there's the great desire to live indoors---two radically different concepts and desires. How this came to be mystifies me. But in the process humans have declared War on Nature.


If you don't do it, you don't get it.

I'm surrounded in East TN by thousands of people who buy RVs for camping or join dayhiking clubs or take scores of dogs out to bear hunt or who pollute the woods with ATVs or race loud motorcycles across the mountains on so-called scenic nature motor loops BUT FEW TO NONE who actually strap on gear and go out backpacking. I call it the "Locals Don't Backpack" phenomenon.

[Fredt4]

The bold pretty much hits it on the head. Who wants to be miserable in the summer furnace heat or freeze to death on a high mountain windswept bald or hump a load up a nut grinding hill climb? Only those who love being outside and out with the Woman of Green and Creeks and Rocks and Cold and High Winds, Miss Nature.

I suppose it's a calling but for 200,000 years the modern human species lived outdoors---now there's the great desire to live indoors---two radically different concepts and desires. How this came to be mystifies me. But in the process humans have declared War on Nature.



I'm surrounded in East TN by thousands of people who buy RVs for camping or join dayhiking clubs or take scores of dogs out to bear hunt or who pollute the woods with ATVs or race loud motorcycles across the mountains on so-called scenic nature motor loops BUT FEW TO NONE who actually strap on gear and go out backpacking. I call it the "Locals Don't Backpack" phenomenon.
My dad always said a hotel room was all he needed. He would go deer hunting but wouldn't go hiking. I've been hiking on the AT, PCT and many other trails and I understand his position. Perhaps backpacking is just something that I've learned to appreciate but he never took it up. So to you and the few souls in Tennessee that get it id say it's cool, but don't expect hardy souls to follow. I'm just glad the State supports our choice, perhaps we can get it to increase funding for the trails in the next rounds of funding, but I don't expect it to do so.