View Full Version : Does time slow down?
I remember when I was young, summers used to seem to last forever. Does the time seem to slow down when on a hike for an extended period of time?
My longest time out was just less than three weeks.
:sun :sun :sun I remember that...summer use to last longer. I guess the older I get the faster it seems to pass.
RITBlake
02-28-2006, 04:31
time for us seemd to be slower for the 1st half of our trip. We would work our butts off for a week and only gain 100-150 miles. It was frustrating. But after we passed the halfway point time seemed to be going by faster. The weeks started to melt away as we got farther and farther south. Before we knew we knew it we were on top of Springer mtn. A sad/happy day which I won't soon forget
Blue Jay
02-28-2006, 08:17
I remember when I was young, summers used to seem to last forever. Does the time seem to slow down when on a hike for an extended period of time?
Yes that's why its important to leave your watch at home. You'll know very well when it's time to eat and when to sleep. A thru can seem like a lifetime and in fact it is.
It definitely slows down the last two miles or so before each shelter, especially on hot afternoons. I think the combined effects of heat softening time and the warping caused by the concentration of metal in the tin roofs and mouse-hanger cans explains it.
:-?
Aus, yes, at least for me, time does seem to slow down on a long distance hike. After about 3 weeks on the trail, a lot of the mental clutter of modern society falls away, if you're lucky. Then one can get into a state I call "deep within the Trail." Time seems to slow down. Or maybe it's just that each day is so rich, so full of seeing new territory, meeting new people, getting rained on, actively looking forward to meals and snacking, that the sheer volume of meaningful stuff that you will remember long after, makes it feel like time is in slow motion. Blissful slow motion...
I've had weeks, no scratch that, MONTHS, at work where nothing truly memorable happened. Time flies then, whether you want it to or not.
My Papaw once told me when I was 14 or 15, "The older you get, the quicker it goes" I really do miss that man.
RockyTrail
02-28-2006, 10:49
I remember when I was young, summers used to seem to last forever. Does the time seem to slow down when on a hike for an extended period of time?
My longest time out was just less than three weeks.
Wow, I never thought of that, but according to Einstein's theory of relativity, it actually does slow down (when compared to stationary objects). But then you have to hike at about Mach 15 to begin to notice the difference! Only Squeaky would know... :)
Nerd discussion aside, I know what you mean. I start to notice a difference after about a week, but like you, i have never done a thru-hike time span.
Time goes slow when it is raining and you have a full day's hike ahead or you are alone and reliving all of your mistakes.
Time goes fast when you are witness to a particularly good view or are in particulary good company.
With age, every day is proportionally shorter lived than the proceeding days.
With time, you are further away from your last hike and closer to your next one.
Time goes really slow when you are flamed or ignored on White Blaze. :p
JoeHiker
02-28-2006, 13:29
When you are young, 3 months is a huge percentage of your life. As you get older, it becomes a smaller and smaller percentage. No wonder it seems shorter.
micromega
02-28-2006, 19:28
Some of the posts here remind me of a mathematics professor I had in college who, on a slow day, entertained the class by working out an admittedly tongue-in-cheek mathematical proof on why/how the generation gap narrows as one grows older. He used some really arcane math with which I won't bore anyone (to be honest I can't even recall it :-? ). The gist of it had to do with value of time. At one year of age, a year is 100% of your life and to reach two you need to double your lifespan. At ten years, a year is only 1/10 of your lifespan, and as you age the value of a year continues to drop with reference to your lifespan. And thus as you age, each year seems to pass faster because it has less value against the number of years you've lived. With acceptance of a few basic assumptions to start with, he proved this to be true, even though the time used by a year is constant.
When I left the class that afternoon, there was a lively impromptu discussion going on about the relativity of time, not strictly Einsteinian relativity but more of how time passes either quickly or slowly relative to ones perceptions, and whether or not that could be mathematically proven. And throughout the whole school, the nerd alarm was blaring... :eek:
In real life experience, I find it takes me a few days to a week to get 'deep within the trail' (as quoted by The Hog, and an awesome description!). For me it has to do with dropping the emotional, mental, and sometimes physical baggage of life. Once I get past all that stuff that Colin Fletcher calls 'jangle', I am able to stop trying to impose my own perception of time upon the world and instead simply let time flow between sunrise and sunset. I am not sure if time slows down or if it simply becomes irrelevant. Whichever it is, I love it when it happens.
In real life experience, I find it takes me a few days to a week to get 'deep within the trail' (as quoted by The Hog, and an awesome description!).
Gotta agree here. On the flip side, nothing goes faster than a weekend backpacking trip. Especially in relation to staying at home catching up on the chores.
saimyoji
02-28-2006, 20:57
I guess I'm lucky...once I step on the trail, the sights and sounds of civilization hidden from me, I'm lost. Time stops. I could spend 15 minutes watching a woodpecker, or 15 minutes just sitting watching the multiplanar waves on a stream.
Of course I've never had the pressure of having to make serious miles in a day.