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muddy_boots
12-31-2010, 20:33
It was about this exact time 2 years ago that I first learned what the appalachian trail was. Read about it in a magazine and was fascinated. 3 months later I had all my gear bought and was on a long bus ride towards Springer. I was setting out for Maine, although I didnt really have any expectations of making it that far. Ive done tons of camping in my life but never any backpacking. I made it 1,510.7 miles, just over the boarder into Mass. In the past year and a half, everyone Ive told this story to is amazed. They cannot believe how someone could walk so far, live out in the wilderness so long, blah, blah, blah... they could not believe how I thought I ONLY walked 1,510.7 miles! Any of you who've gone any considerable distance know what Im talking about. As big of an accomplishment as it seems to many, its just a lil short of success to me. Broke my damn heart to have to quit. My normal weight is 150lbs at 5'9, Id lost about 12 of those lbs on the trail and was carrying an average packweight of 45lbs. From things Ive heard I shoulda cut my pack weight a bit and consumed more food. Still not sure how the whole "carry less, consume more" thing works. Anyway, long story short. I have a good paying job in the Petrochemical industry, which i cant stand. Its actually the exact same job just under a different company, that I quit to hike the trail back in '09. But Ive wound up back in the same job, same urge to run free. Ive got 12 grand in the bank, no wife or kids to give it too... quit my job and hike? or remain a gloried slave laborer and eventually have something to show for it? To hike or not to hike?

TheChop
12-31-2010, 20:41
Quit your job. Don't hike. Get a ****tier job.

johnnybgood
12-31-2010, 20:44
quit my job and hike? or remain a gloried slave laborer and eventually have something to show for it?
Sounds like you know the right answer already. Go hike !

Bags4266
12-31-2010, 20:45
What made you stop at MA? Because you lost 12 lbs?

kayak karl
12-31-2010, 20:49
Who cares? i don't. hike don't hike, won't change my life. How about your life :-? :)

hobbs
12-31-2010, 21:09
Muddy boots!!!! I know Corpus Christi only thing their is the beach and the naval base and your job. I use to Live In Austin. Got tired of that too. Same grind/ My only hessitation to say " what are you whating for" is the family. face it 12,000 is a drop in the bucket if you have kids morgage and no bene's. Thats logic. Now I am not married so I can just get and go. But if your wife has all the obove like a job and bene's and the cash you have. Then get your butt on the trail.

Luddite
12-31-2010, 21:18
that is the question. Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer.

Roland
12-31-2010, 22:58
I think it was Wingfoot who said:

"If thru-hiking isn't the most important thing in your life at the time you are doing it, then stop doing it and go do what is."

How important is thru-hiking to you right now? Is it the most important thing in your life? Or, is it a means to escape a job you're not enjoying?

Only you know the answer to that.

Good Luck!

Luddite
12-31-2010, 23:00
I think it was Wingfoot who said:

"If thru-hiking isn't the most important thing in your life at the time you are doing it, then stop doing it and go do what is."




That is a great quote. Very true.

HiKen2011
12-31-2010, 23:03
You can make a living anytime at you're age, however only you can decide. The older I get (51) the more I realize that my dream of making alot of money and having things...............not worth it for me. I lost my job 3 yrs ago and don't ever plan to get another. I'm going hiking iN 2011!!!!!!!!!!!!!:sun

HiKen2011

swjohnsey
12-31-2010, 23:19
Hike. You can probably get your job back. Cut your pack weight back . . . to say, under 30 lbs. Eat a little better. Never heard of anyone starving to death on the AT. I am in Kingsville, flying out of Brownsville March 28th.

Sierra Echo
12-31-2010, 23:27
Ive got 12 grand in the bank, no wife or kids to give it too...

If that money in the bank is bothering you , I will be glad to take it. Thats what friends are for! :D

sbhikes
12-31-2010, 23:51
Two years ago I had "only" completed 1500 miles of the PCT, too. I went to a Christmas party and I wasn't there 5 minutes when a lady walked through the door and made a beeline to me. Mind you, I hadn't spoken to her much in my life and certainly not recently. She said, "I came to this party specifically so I could tell you that you are not finished. You need to finish what you started." She was right. She could see it in my eyes. I wasn't here. I was still out on the trail.

Are you still out on the trail? Maybe you need to finish what you started, too.

Spirit Walker
01-01-2011, 01:39
You have no ties to prevent you from doing what you want to do. Question is, what do you want to do? There are other options for escaping a dull life, if thruhiking isn't your passion. If you are feeling like you've missed out by not completing the hike, then go for it. If you want a new and different life, then figure out how to get the life you want.

DapperD
01-01-2011, 12:38
Hiking over 1500 miles was a great accomplishment! Maybe if you can request some time off you could start in the summer up in Maine and head Southbound to Massachusets to complete your hike of the AT. Then if you decide you don't want to stop you can continue Southbound and maybe go on to complete a thru-hike. As far as quitting your job in this economy, only you know wether or not that is a good move.

DapperD
01-01-2011, 12:59
Hiking over 1500 miles was a great accomplishment! Maybe if you can request some time off you could start in the summer up in Maine and head Southbound to Massachusets to complete your hike of the AT. Then if you decide you don't want to stop you can continue Southbound and maybe go on to complete a thru-hike. As far as quitting your job in this economy, only you know wether or not that is a good move.And I may add that when it comes to good jobs these days (it sounds like that is what you have) it may not be wise to let it go right now regardless of wether or not you currently have a family or major responsibilities. Ditching your career to go hike may or may not be the right decision and really only yourself can and needs to make the right decision regarding your own major life choices:-?

mweinstone
01-01-2011, 15:26
i will never hike. i blew my wad.bad debt, credit, health, state of mind, old gear, owe rent, phone shuts off soon. i cant legaly work ever again. 3 garnishments, 4 leins and many more comming. lost my job after 11 years for speaking out about lead and aspestose. sold my health to the man and now i may move to a mens shelter and spend my life on the streets. my point? i donno. but i hate you for not being on springer last night as you should have been.

Appalachian Tater
01-01-2011, 17:08
It's not 100% clear what happened last time but if you got sick from not eating enough and losing weight then you shouldn't hike unless you can get your pack weight under 30 pounds MAX and figure out a better diet. No use repeating the same mistakes.

Otherwise, you have nothing to lose but a job you hate. You are going to be a year older January 1, 2012 no matter what you do for the next 365 days unless you die between now and then. So what do you want to do with that time?

If you do hike keep your job right up until you start your hike so you can put some money away for when you finish.

Btown
01-01-2011, 20:07
You can make a living anytime at you're age, however only you can decide. The older I get (51) the more I realize that my dream of making alot of money and having things...............not worth it for me. I lost my job 3 yrs ago and don't ever plan to get another. I'm going hiking iN 2011!!!!!!!!!!!!!:sun

HiKen2011

You and I talked a while back. At that time, I was looking at a short term contract job to take me through a couple months and to hit the trail in mid-March the same time you did. Now, I have an agreement to work through March 31, so I won't be able to start the trail until April. Like you, I'm going to be 51 soon and making money ain't the only thing in life. The trail beckons...

sbhikes
01-01-2011, 20:10
i will never hike. i blew my wad.bad debt, credit, health, state of mind, old gear, owe rent, phone shuts off soon. i cant legaly work ever again. 3 garnishments, 4 leins and many more comming. lost my job after 11 years for speaking out about lead and aspestose. sold my health to the man and now i may move to a mens shelter and spend my life on the streets. my point? i donno. but i hate you for not being on springer last night as you should have been.
Why spend your life on the streets when you can spend it in the forest? Pop out to the streets to make a little money under the table then pop back into the forest Chris McCandless-style with a big bag o' rice.

LoneRidgeRunner
01-01-2011, 20:23
It was about this exact time 2 years ago that I first learned what the appalachian trail was. Read about it in a magazine and was fascinated. 3 months later I had all my gear bought and was on a long bus ride towards Springer. I was setting out for Maine, although I didnt really have any expectations of making it that far. Ive done tons of camping in my life but never any backpacking. I made it 1,510.7 miles, just over the boarder into Mass. In the past year and a half, everyone Ive told this story to is amazed. They cannot believe how someone could walk so far, live out in the wilderness so long, blah, blah, blah... they could not believe how I thought I ONLY walked 1,510.7 miles! Any of you who've gone any considerable distance know what Im talking about. As big of an accomplishment as it seems to many, its just a lil short of success to me. Broke my damn heart to have to quit. My normal weight is 150lbs at 5'9, Id lost about 12 of those lbs on the trail and was carrying an average packweight of 45lbs. From things Ive heard I shoulda cut my pack weight a bit and consumed more food. Still not sure how the whole "carry less, consume more" thing works. Anyway, long story short. I have a good paying job in the Petrochemical industry, which i cant stand. Its actually the exact same job just under a different company, that I quit to hike the trail back in '09. But Ive wound up back in the same job, same urge to run free. Ive got 12 grand in the bank, no wife or kids to give it too... quit my job and hike? or remain a gloried slave laborer and eventually have something to show for it? To hike or not to hike?

If you have 12K in the bank and no dependents what are you waiting for? I have no dependents and a couple hundred in the bank...lol...let me have 12k in the bank and see me on the next bus to Springer Mountain and then on to Katahdin.(hmm did I spell that right?) With 12k you could do a thru hike taking all the available town stops on the way, staying at Hotels when you do to replenish nutrition and rest, take 8 or 9 months or a year if you needed to and have several k left when you finish your hike. Just do it Dude! I'd do it with way less than 12k.

topshelf
01-01-2011, 20:25
hike, hike, hike. Save up and you can be in the class of 2012!!!

Slo-go'en
01-01-2011, 21:07
No, NO, no. Keep working.

soulslosher
01-01-2011, 21:27
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do"...

Plus, go finish what you started!

Now, go hike! :)

LoneRidgeRunner
01-01-2011, 22:38
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do"...

Plus, go finish what you started!

Now, go hike! :)

Well said soulslosher....

Sarcasm the elf
01-02-2011, 02:19
I think it was Wingfoot who said:

"If thru-hiking isn't the most important thing in your life at the time you are doing it, then stop doing it and go do what is."

How important is thru-hiking to you right now? Is it the most important thing in your life? Or, is it a means to escape a job you're not enjoying?

Only you know the answer to that.

Good Luck!

Wow, that quote just blew my mind...

Sadly it also explains why I won't be trying a thru this year.

To the OP, I think the quote above is your litmus test. What's most important for you right now?

Walk Man John
01-02-2011, 15:30
When you're sittin' in the nursing home 50 years from now, you won't remember how much money you made or did not make...but you'll never forget your hike on the AT...! Do it now & enjoy it for the rest of your life.:)

Roland
01-14-2011, 06:48
Muddy Boots,

Have you reached a decision?

DapperD
01-15-2011, 20:54
Muddy Boots,

Have you reached a decision?It's funny, because before I saw your post, I was going to ask this exact question:D

Roland
01-15-2011, 20:55
Great minds think alike :sun