View Full Version : Culture Shock?
littlejon
03-20-2008, 09:47
I've found that when I head off into the woods it takes me a couple of days to "get in the groove" and really get my mind right and start enjoying myself.
Conversly, when I come back to "civilization" it takes a looong time for me to get my head wrapped around things like cars, and loud music, and people. Everything we take for granted normally just seems so surreal and threatening.....
Anybody else experience this dislocation after a hike?
If so, what was the worst case?
(me-Hitching into Gatlinburg and accidentally getting a room in a hotel/bordello "Gee, she's cute. What's she doing with that fat guy, and that one, and that one....")
Waterfall
03-20-2008, 10:33
Yep. Fire/police sirens were a particular affront to my trail-sharpened sensibilities.
Also, I am always amazed at the number of dollar signs that assault the eyes via advertisements when one is in town. And the movie-star pictures on the covers of magazines in the line at the grocery store ... my first thought is, "she would never survive a cold night in the trail in that thing!"
Waterfall
03-20-2008, 10:34
Oops, I meant "on the trail," not "in the trail." :)
max patch
03-20-2008, 10:42
Anybody else experience this dislocation after a hike?
Nope. Not at all.
dessertrat
03-20-2008, 10:52
I never have trouble getting used to being out there, but sometimes do notice how loud and hurried everything is upon coming back.
Lone Wolf
03-20-2008, 10:54
I've found that when I head off into the woods it takes me a couple of days to "get in the groove" and really get my mind right and start enjoying myself.
Conversly, when I come back to "civilization" it takes a looong time for me to get my head wrapped around things like cars, and loud music, and people. Everything we take for granted normally just seems so surreal and threatening.....
Anybody else experience this dislocation after a hike?
If so, what was the worst case?
(me-Hitching into Gatlinburg and accidentally getting a room in a hotel/bordello "Gee, she's cute. What's she doing with that fat guy, and that one, and that one....")
no, cuz you're never really far away from "civilization". the AT is the I 95 of trails
Dholmblad
03-20-2008, 11:34
When I came back I didnt watch tv or use a computer for atleast a month, just didnt see the point. I still dont watch tv for more then an hour a week.
Time To Fly 97
03-20-2008, 12:59
I took a two week trip in PA on the AT to see the Pinnacle, etc again. I had been out about 5 days and had seen one person the whole time - which was nice. That soon chaged when I decided to divert to Hawk Mountain to do some bird watching. That trail takes you up the back of Hawk Mountain. Imagine my surprise when I reached the top, looked over and 50 binoculars swung over to see what just climbed up the hill.
It was REALLY strange feeling. lol
Happy hiking!
TTF
I moved 2000 miles away one year after finishing the AT.
Of course, I had some interesting family issues that happened the day I returned from the AT. That may have some something do with it, too. :-?
hammock engineer
03-20-2008, 14:20
I finished up 2 months ago today and still haven't gotten back into the groove of city life. Things were so much better in the woods. Unfortunatly it is going the wrong way. On my last overnight I noticed the comfortable feeling I get in the woods fading away.
I think the "dislocation" I felt as a young hiker was due to reading about it in old books about thruhiking. Now I can go out for a week and return without missing a beat. I still hate to come home, though.
Tipi Walter
03-20-2008, 22:46
It's all relative. You could spend 2 weeks in a wilderness and hear jet airplanes every day and feel that's a bitter intrusion. Or the loud whine of the noise-polluting motorcycle. And meeting other people on the trail will quickly take me out of the "groove." Mere humans, etc.
The only time I get close to feeling "remote" and in the groove is during a blizzard, the Blizzard of '93 comes to mind. I was camping out during that March snowstorm and yes, it was often QUIET, when the wind wasn't wailing, and dear old Syphilization was shut down and finished for several days. I wouldn't have been too surprised to have seen a woolly mammoth walk by.
The fire-ant humans were all deeply underground, there wasn't a plane in the sky and no traffic anywhere, and the forest reclaimed its past glory and dignity for a few short days. Afterwards, the fire ants swarmed, but I still remember today what it must've felt like 10,000 years ago in the North Carolina mountains.
Blissful
03-20-2008, 23:23
I noticed that down south, you are in the more mountainous regions where there is no noise of planes landing, people, neighborhoods, truck traffic. You were really lost in the wilderness. But once you hit mid VA on up I heard the planes landing, dogs barking, traffic, roosters. It was then I realized how much I enjoyed the more remote parts of the trail.
NorthCountryWoods
03-21-2008, 10:30
no, cuz you're never really far away from "civilization". the AT is the I 95 of trails
x2.
Don't know about the "social" sensory issues, but the physical ones (sleeping on the ground, sore legs...) take longer to get used to older I get.
NorthCountryWoods
03-21-2008, 10:32
I have actually felt what the OP is speaking of, but never on the AT.
The Old Fhart
03-22-2008, 08:59
One of the things I notice after being out there for a while is how strong a clean and perfumed human smells just walking by. This happens all the time in the "real" world but you never notice it because you've grown accustomed to it.
Tipi Walter
03-22-2008, 09:10
One of the things I notice after being out there for a while is how strong a clean and perfumed human smells just walking by. This happens all the time in the "real" world but you never notice it because you've grown accustomed to it.
Where I backpack(in the TN and NC mountains), I'm never far from the stink of polluted air. The GSMP is the most polluted park for a reason, and on my trips I get the usual gulping doses that blight the TN valley. Bladder cancer, anyone? Some trips are worse than others, winter ones in particular seem worse. I guess those pristine days of backpacking in the 1970s, when every campsite seemed to smell natural and clean, are over.
Jason of the Woods
03-22-2008, 12:47
I would just rather be in the woods! Does that count? I have to agree with LW though. The AT really isn't the woods. Pretty views though!
the one big thing I noticed after returning from the woods is that getting wet didn't matter anymore. It's like, if I get wet I could go put my clothes in the dryer and take a hot shower and be warm and dry in no time! :D Compared to hiking where if it rains for a few days, I guess I'll just be wet for a few days.
There might be a few things unnatural and just plain wrong with the AT. I don't know.
I do know that there are many things unnatural and just plain wrong with the 'real' world.
Technically you don't re-adjust to the real world. It's more of a relapse, as in cancer.
There might be a few things unnatural and just plain wrong with the AT. I don't know.
I do know that there are many things unnatural and just plain wrong with the 'real' world.
Technically you don't re-adjust to the real world. It's more of a relapse, as in cancer.
Isn't the "real" world almost by definition unnatural? It is the world which man has created, and isn't nature everything without man. Therefore if man created it it is unnatural. Which is not to say that the trail is not unnatural, there is plenty of man's influence on the trail as well.
As for "just plain wrong" that seems like a matter of perspective. Everyone has a different view on what is right and wrong. I would tend to agree that there is much that is wrong with the "real" world but I can certainly see it argued both ways.