What was it like? [Archive]

Passionphish

01-09-2008, 20:18

bigboots

01-09-2008, 20:28

I haven't hiked yet but I have had a dream of me actually hiking on the trail. It sucked when I "left" the trail, because I "left" the trail to my alarm clock telling me I had to go to work. What a letdown.:rolleyes:

Bigboots

Marta

01-09-2008, 20:32

I went straight back to work. It was hard, but for me it beat the heck out of moping around the house. I spent every lunchtim for a couple of months looking at pictures on my TJ.

Then I started planning a JMT hike. That helped.

Plus Whiteblaze, of course.

Lyle

01-09-2008, 21:14

I haven't thru hiked, but I did do an eleven month backpacking hike. Saying goodbye to the folks on a rainy Sat. at Cape Henlopen State Park was, to this day, one of the most emotional days of my life.

When I returned to Michigan, I got a job at our local Boy Scout Camp for the Summer. Kept me busy and outdoors for another couple of months. Then I went back to school while working a nothing job for another six months. It wasn't until the ninth month or so after completeing the hike that I got a legitamate, permanent type job.

For the next few years, I was in pretty good demand for all the young-uns at work that wanted to start backpacking but thought that it took some type of rare, and unusual skill! I was the local "expert" so that kept me pleasantly busy on all my vacation time. Actually wasn't a miserable transition.

Blissful

01-09-2008, 21:20

It's been tough. Multi tasking really got to me as life on the trail was so simple. Hike, stop eat sleep, hike. Took me a few weeks to settle down. I still felt empty inside though. I was thinking, now what? Then we got to talking a few weeks back about my hubby and I thru hiking in the future, and I felt like I had another goal to look forward to. But since I've been back I've gotten two colds, chest colds, and a bad stomach flu over Christmas. System still isn't right. You are much healthier in the great outdoors, I'll tell you.

A-Train

01-09-2008, 21:27

If I could give any advice, I'd say have a plan for when you get back. Even if you don't follow through on it (the trail changes you a lot) it's good to know you will have something to do (work, projects, school,etc.)

When I finished the AT, I went back to college a month later. It was a VERY tough transition, and I didn't fit into the college kid mold anymore, but I was kept busy with work.

After the PCT has been much more difficult. I'm still in flux, applying for graduate school. The last several months have been mostly temporary work and too much stagnation. I didn't really have a plan for when I returned and it definately bummed me out and left me longing for trail life.

Many adults recommend having extra money built in for when you get back, so you don't have to rush back to work. Though I recommend having some transition time, I wouldn't let TOO much time elapse before your next adventure (even if it's work).

Just be prepared for a somewhat harsh transition after you're done. It rarely is easy for anyone. You've just finished something amazing that no one from your normal life will ever understand or share with you. Life will seem to be moving faster than you'd like and many things may seem petty and superficial. I often joke that thru-hiking sets you up for dissapointment, because nothing else will ever compare (in my opinion). It is true freedom, the life. It's not easy, but it's absolutely magicial.

I wouldn't change any part of it at all. I wish everyone had the opportunity to experience a trip like this.

Footslogger

01-09-2008, 21:58

This is for those who have finished a thru hike. How hard was it to move back into normal life? Was it hard at all? Was it easy? What did it take? Were there any weird moments? Any funny stories? How long did it take? Did you go straight back to work?

I have heard it can take time and be quite different when you come back. So I am curious.

-Passionphish
===========================================

Funny that you call it "Normal Life". I know what you mean but honestly ...I rather think of my life on the trail in 2003 as being "Normal".

I got home from my thru in October. By December I knew it was time to re-join society. Between October and December though I went through a lot of stuff. For starters ...I did NOT go right back to work. I was lucky in that I had enough in reserves to hold me over.

But yeah ...going to the store seemed like "re-supply" to me. Feeling the "urge" and sitting on the porcelain throne was an adjustment.

Best thing for me was that my wife (BadAss Turtle AT-2001) is also a hiker and knew what I was going through. It helped a lot having a built-in support system like that.

'Slogger

emerald

01-09-2008, 22:03

Some may spend little time in motorized vehicles in the course of a long hike although this is probably less common now than in years past. Travelling in a car at highway speed can seem a bit disconcerting at 1st after not done so for several months.

modiyooch

01-09-2008, 22:11

After a long distance hike, it wasn't easy converting back to proper eating quantities. My caloric intake remained high and my exercise level declined. I also would catch myself visualizing hiking over peaks whenever we passed mt ranges. actually, still do.

We went on vacation at christmas and instead of taking boat transportation to the remote beaches, we scrambled over the rocks. It was great. It was the hiking instinct in us and less expensive.

weary

01-09-2008, 22:24

I don't know. I haven't gotten back to normal life since I left Katahdin in 1993. The trail has affected everything I've done since. The trail taught me how precious and scarce these bits of wildness really are.

Mostly, since then, I've worked to protect the wildness of the trail and to create new bits of wildness -- both along the trail and in my town. Our town land trust, which had never been able to raise more than $1,800 in a year, the year after I left the trail raised $200,000 to protect 253 acres in the center of town.

Next to the trail, that is the most incredible thing I've ever done. I walk those acres weekly, sometimes daily. Over the years we've created 12 miles of trails on those 253 acres -- which gradually are achieving that sense of wildness that comes quickly to lands left alone, left to the vagaries of nature, not the demands of civilization.

The incredible thing is how easy it was, once you have achieved credibility. Our town land trust now owns or has easements on 800 acres including a thousand feet of wild sand beach, the most sought after land by developers.

Our Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust is still struggling to achieve that level of credibility. The trail is too vast. The competition for the surrounding wildland is too great.

We created the trail land trust because 2 million acres had been protected in Maine in recent years, but none of the protectors had given any thought to the trail. We've managed to protect 4,000 acres including one of the 12 highest mountains in Maine and some critical slopes of Saddleback.

But a half million near trail acres remain unprotected. In five years we have come close to becoming a land protection agency that would bring in the millions of dallars we need.

But the struggle continues. If you are inclined to help, open www.matlt.org

Bob (Weary) Cummings, president of the Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust.

Jim Adams

01-09-2008, 22:47

lots of sleeping outside on the porch, avoiding crowds, missing the freedom, amazed at what the public thinks is essential to life, missing new friends.

it all takes alittle transition. going back to work or school immediately doesn't help but neither does sitting around wondering.

call trail friends as closure and take 2 weeks planning what, when and where your next adventure will be. going back to work to initiate income towards that next adventure makes the transition easier.

or you can simply adopt Mr. Parkays plan and just continue to hike for 3 years!

geek

the_iceman

01-12-2008, 19:25

Bob (Weary) Cummings I read your post and it was an inspiration to me. I need to get my ass in gear and do more.

the_iceman

01-12-2008, 19:28

I have changed but the world around me remains the same. I think recovering from the trail is easier for someone just starting out or retired rather than in the middle of their life.

To make the adjustment harder I had sold my business and moved just before my hike. With 2 kids in college I need to get back to work but it is hard. I am having difficulty getting a new business up and running or even landing a job with another company. (It seems I am “over qualified”) and people are scared to hire someone who has been the boss for over 18 years.

Concentration is a big issue for me. I just keep thinking about the trail and how simple life was. By the time you get half way up the trail the crowds have shaken out and you are surrounded by people you know and trust. There is a kinship and hikers protect and help one another. Even people I was meeting in the last few weeks either had heard of me or I of them so there was a bond. You learn to survive on the absolute basics.

Then you come home to a society that is less than civil to one another and seems driven by the material world. Then Christmas comes along and confirms all that.

Now I look at the election process and only the morons seem to be rising to the top and I have wonder how did the greatest country in the world get to a place where people hate one another so much over politics? Reagan was not good for the environment but he was able to make Americans proud to be American and love this country the way they should. The country seemed to divide into an angry mess when the Clintons arrived on the scene and it just keeps getting worse. Obama has a message of hope but no practical plans or experience. A viable 3rd party candidate could result in another Clinton election as it did for Bill.

Americans seem to hate America and that is sad. Maybe we need to institute 2 years of mandatory service to America in some role like some of the other countries around the world. Maybe 2 years of working on the trail like the CCC work be good for people.

Sorry, this was meant as anti-political rather than political. I was trying to illustrate our choice is either a really bad Democrat or a really bad Republican.

Bearpaw

01-12-2008, 19:53

I went through a state of depression, I think maybe physical even more than mental. My metabolism was way off as it slowed down. I was worried about starting a new career after the Marine Corps. I took about 3 months and after a year and a half of good money as a factory supervisor I felt the real NEED to get back out.

So I quit and started working for NOLS. This meant I needed some "other" job for the 9 months of the year when was NO work in the mountains. I job work with a private school, one thing let to another, and I'm now certified with a great job teaching and summers to hike!

So in the long term, the AT changed my life MUCH for the better. It's the short-term jonesin' in the weeks and months just after that can be brutal.

SlowLightTrek

01-12-2008, 20:53

I really didn't want to leave the trail. I wanted to head back south after I climbed Katahdin. I ended up in Portland Maine. Why I dunno. My reception back into society had its ups and downs and honestly the four walls here are caging to me. To me there isn't much beauty greater than the beauty of nature itself. I really found a new appreciation for showers and toilets with water. I've thought about going to college for nature sciences and getting some field work. Basically getting paid to hike. I would like to give back to the trail doing some trail maintainence this summer.

Kirby

01-12-2008, 22:12