View Full Version : Help... I've got White Blaze Fever
jeff_fro1981
06-08-2011, 08:38
Hello everyone. I'm usually very hesitant to post on internet forums but this time I can't help myself. Last week I did a section hike of Maryland from PenMar to Harpers Ferry. It was everything I thought it would be and more..... Brutallly hot and miserable for a couple of days and sunny and cool for a couple more. Lots of hard walking, beautiful scenery, and met a number of like-minded people on the trail. By the time I reached Gathland SP I was getting the hang of pacing myself and really really enjoyed every minute of my time on the AT. When I got to Harpers Ferry, my mood started sliding, ever so slowly, because I missed the trail already.
A day trip to Gettysburg battlefield the next day just made it worse, with herds of tourists snapping pictures, asking dumb questions, and crowding the gift shop for trinkets. Then a trip to DC to visit a friend, traffic a nightmare. Coming home to a job and unfulfilling commitments is the icing on the cake. Back to the grind, just wishing away the days until I can be on the trail again.
I am reading AWOL on the Appalachian Trail right now and can really relate to his reasons for wanting to leave his job in the corporate world and hit the AT. Life is so much simpler there. I liken it to Forrest Gump when he's in his running phase... When I got hungry, I ate, when I got tired, I slept, and when I had to go, I went. That's it. No watches, no schedules, no Facebook, no 24-hour news cycle.
I want to be back on the trail, where life is simple and makes sense. At a minimum, to be near the mountains. It's getting to the point where I need to do something about it.
-Jeff (Levom)
Buffalo Skipper
06-08-2011, 09:17
Welcome to the madness! :banana
Good luck finding the balance in you life. The zen of backpacking. Glad to hear the trail portion of your trip was so fufilling.
Blissful
06-08-2011, 09:19
The trail is great. But sooner or later once must leave it and take the lessons and experiences learned to help others in "civilization". Or I believe it can become merely a selfish pursuit only.
As for Gettysburg, I'm glad people are out learning about our nation's history (and is any question a dumb question? really?). Better than sitting at home. It is also the 150th anniversary the next few years of this horrific but important time in history.
JaxHiker
06-08-2011, 09:34
Wait till you start telling your friends and family about the people you met on the internet. :)
No watches, no schedules, no Facebook, no 24-hour news cycle.
I want to be back on the trail, where life is simple and makes sense. At a minimum, to be near the mountains. It's getting to the point where I need to do something about it.
-Jeff (Levom)[/QUOTE]
It sounds like you have the proper attitude for absorbing the solitude and all that the trail has to offer. I hope that your reference to limited social and media interaction and every day items will also mean no cell phone. Being out of touch and unreachable will enhance your trail experience and will boost your self-reliance. If you feel the need to touch base, there is always the library for free net and email when you get to trail towns for resupply and a dose of social madness on your zeros. No need to be on an electronic leash that everyone can reel you in with. Too much media and GPS toys on the trail today. Besides, they all add weight and have to be charged.
No watches, no schedules, no Facebook, no 24-hour news cycle.
I'll let you in on a little secret. I don't wear a watch, I have a minimal schedule, never set foot on the Facebook servers and get my news from (gasp) the newspaper once or twice a week. I also do not own a smart phone, a GPS or any of the other gadgets they keep coming out with. And I work in high tech. I just never adopted any of that stuff because I'm paranoid and skeptical and can't see how any of it will improve my life. The secret is, you don't have to participate in any of the modern madness if you don't want.
So keep on hiking. Real life is out on the trail. Artificial life wants you to believe it's all-important but it's not. It's all just marketing.
jeff_fro1981
06-08-2011, 12:52
Thanks for your responses. I did bring my cell phone for emergencies but it got turned on in my pack and the battery was dead by the second morning. I felt really free after that! Of course I was really bad at telling time without a watch, but the beautiful thing is that it didn't matter.
Since being back I've cut out Facebook, CNN, FoxNews, etc., and have been stowing the smartphone in the desk at work to avoid the distraction.
Ahh, the Zen of the trail. If only I could harness it and apply it to everyday life. It's a journey....
Oh, and the "stupid question" was in regards to the split rail fences along the edges of the fields. One of the people on the tour bus asked if the soldiers carried all the wood to build the fences before the battle or if they cut the trees down when they got there. The tourguide was stunned and just said "Uh, the farmers who lived here built them." I felt sorry for that guy, by the end you could tell he was pretty frustrated. The other people on the bus were more interested in the other cool looking buses and the segway tours than the actual history of the battle/battlefield.
It is very hard to apply the Zen of the trail to every day life. That's why you have to keep going back. Nature deficit disorder is what my friend calls it. He's got to go out every couple weeks and get his nature fix, even if all that means is a 2 mile hike in the late afternoon, stay over night and return home by 10am the next day. I like to take walks at lunch time around campus where I work and out on the bluffs over the ocean or along the beach (egads am I luck or what!) and just pay attention to the interesting trees, the mocking birds going nuts right now, the smell of the ocean.
Life is what you make it.
Hiking isn't more noble than anything else.
My guess is that there are people with every electronic device known to man happier than some hikers.
Life is what you make it.
Hiking isn't more noble than anything else.
My guess is that there are people with every electronic device known to man happier than some hikers.
Probably because they've never gone hiking!:p
Probably because they've never gone hiking!:p
:)
My point is that my suspicion is that as a group "hikers" (whatever that means) are no more happy than anyone else.
Country Roads
06-11-2011, 19:24
You are a so screwed! There is no cure for what you have; it can only be kept under control by at least one section hike per year, two would be better and a thruhike can put you in short remission. Consider this site a support group :D.