View Full Version : How did you feel on the last couple days of your thru?
Although im still a couple years away from my thru, im wondering how did it feel knowing that such an amazing adventure was comming to an end?
Footslogger
09-24-2006, 21:09
I was ready to be done hiking but was not ready to be done with the hike.
'Slogger
Worn out, excited, surprised, happy to be done.
What I missed the most? The natural rythems and the people.
What I missed the least? Being chased by bugs.
hopefulhiker
09-25-2006, 07:56
I had a sense of sadness that it was over. Mixed with a sense of accomplishment and a feeling of exhaustion.. There was also wariness or aprehension on aclimating back into my normal life...
icemanat95
09-25-2006, 08:34
It was VERY bittersweet. I was excited to be nearing the end and looking forward to seeing friends and family, but I was also bummed out to be going back to the working world and leaving the Trail and my friends on the Trail.
Completely confusing.
Climbing Katahdin was dreamlike. No effort involved, no fatigue at all, but there was an undercurrent of sadness involved.
the goat
09-25-2006, 08:43
it's surreal, sad and overwhelming. left me wishing i had the money to yo-yo.
I was so done :clap that it took me a week to drive back to NY. I just didn't want to leave the hobo life!
I had flipped from Duncannon and finished there. The last three nights I spent in shelters alone. It was mid week and few folks were out hiking in mid October. I was so glad that I was finished. The last few days, all I wanted to do was hike the remainding miles to the end.
I felt very proud that I had had a sucessfull thru hike at age 66 years old.:D
RITBlake
09-25-2006, 10:24
I had a sense of sadness that it was over. Mixed with a sense of accomplishment and a feeling of exhaustion.. There was also wariness or aprehension on aclimating back into my normal life...
I felt the same way.
Lone Wolf
09-25-2006, 10:27
I felt ******* hungry!:D
StarLyte
09-25-2006, 11:03
Not thirsty??
ha ha you're ornery EZ!
Hey are you going to LaStradas Restaurant in Jersey to see the Big Man/Kid from Brooklyn-sure wish I lived closer. He posted the info on his site. I bet that would be a riot.
all right....back to the thread folks....sorry.....
Lone Wolf
09-25-2006, 11:04
Not thirsty??
That too. I camp at Abol bridge and beer up!
It ain't over until the the fat lady sings! :p
neighbor dave
09-25-2006, 18:31
:-? happy that we completed what we set out to do.
hungry for more to the point that i hiked back up katahdin the next day and stayed in the park for 3 more days hiking.:sun
DiamondDoug
09-26-2006, 10:24
It was VERY bittersweet. I was excited to be nearing the end and looking forward to seeing friends and family, but I was also bummed out to be going back to the working world and leaving the Trail and my friends on the Trail.
Completely confusing.
Climbing Katahdin was dreamlike. No effort involved, no fatigue at all, but there was an undercurrent of sadness involved.
Exactly. This is exactly how I felt. Once I passed the 2000 mile point, passed Avery peak and got into the wonderful wonderland part of the Maine hike I wished I could slow down. But I'd committed to finishing on a specific day so my father could meet me and so had to keep going.
That is my biggest "wish I had" of my hike, that somewhere in those last hundred miles or so that I had taken a zero day in the woods, sat there and contemplated a bit of what it all meant. Sure I did that while I was walking, but I wish I had stopped.
Finishing was overwhelming. The day before I summitted I remember coming up the little hill at Daicy Pond and seeing Katahdin for the first time that day (it was socked in at Abol Bridge). I was unable to move when the ranger came out of the cabin to greet me. The next morning I sat at the table there by the lake, savoring my coffee and the view of the mammoth peak rising above the misty lake in awe. I delayed my start hiking, not wanting it to end.
Dreamlike is exactly what the climb was like. No physical exertion at all. The last few steps walking like I was drunk, my legs rubbery not from exhaustion but from exhilaration.
Grabbing the sign, hugging it, holding on to it as my body was wracked with sobs. Tears poured down my cheeks. And then - bam - done. The emotion subsided, we took pictures, drank some single malt whiskey, sat around for a couple of hours and then it was time to go.
Riding in the car with Dad the next day was surreal. I felt like I was on another planet, in another existence. It was so weird. I remember wishing I was still hiking for weeks afterwards.
No, for years afterwards.
I was sad that it was going to be over, but ready for a break from hiking... until it was actually over, and then the only thing I could think about was getting back on the trail.