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ncmtns
02-28-2005, 14:24
Know how after hiking a few hours, we set a pace, our minds wander, and we get into a type of unalert day dreaming way of thinking? We begin to lose notice of alot of the details of the trail that make it more enjoyable. Is it possible to stay diligent to our surroundings all day and enjoy the hike more intimately without getting into 'the haze'?

orangebug
02-28-2005, 16:06
Somehow, that is the part of hiking that I find most enjoyable. It seems like a state of Zen. Rather than a haze, it feels like the most unfiltered experience of the world around me.

Why wouldn't you enjoy it?

bulldog49
02-28-2005, 16:18
I agree with orangebug. That "trance" helps me regain my sanity and has never caused me to miss seeing the things worth seeing on the trail. I'd be worried if I hiked for a day and did not experience it.

U-BOLT
02-28-2005, 16:35
Is that the same thing as an ass trance?

jlb2012
02-28-2005, 17:23
Know how after hiking a few hours, we set a pace, our minds wander, and we get into a type of unalert day dreaming way of thinking? We begin to lose notice of alot of the details of the trail that make it more enjoyable. Is it possible to stay diligent to our surroundings all day and enjoy the hike more intimately without getting into 'the haze'?

About the only way I can think of to avoid going into the zone is to hike slow and take a lot of breaks. Myself I enjoy hiking in the zone and the miles just roll on by. IMO its a brain chemical thing - endorphins kick you into the zone.

chris
02-28-2005, 18:02
The mind-somewhere-else thing happens to me alot while out on longer treks. I find that I notice things in that state that I would never notice in a normal state of mind. It is very difficult for me to achieve it if anyone else is around. Even if we are hiking in silence and I can't see them, I find that the presence of another mind nearby prevents me from entering into that deep state of thought.

Orangebug has put it nicely. It really is more of an unfiltering, than a haze.

Blue Jay
02-28-2005, 18:11
Somehow, that is the part of hiking that I find most enjoyable. It seems like a state of Zen. Rather than a haze, it feels like the most unfiltered experience of the world around me.

Why wouldn't you enjoy it?

Bingo, great post.

ed bell
02-28-2005, 18:11
I wonder if the Hiker Trance is related to that wierd optical sensation you get when you stop after walking for a good bit. Anyone experience this? Looks like the field of vision is retreating away from you. I wonder what causes it? I love it all. SIGH, Oh to be away from this dang keyboard and back out in the field.
:sun

hipo
02-28-2005, 18:21
Well to be perfectly honest I think thats what attracts most hikers to the hike,that out of body trance that makes you feel like part of the trail it self,like a movie!trails of our lives :dance Hipo

The Old Fhart
02-28-2005, 18:31
ed bell-"Anyone experience this? Looks like the field of vision is retreating away from you." Thank goodness! It does happen to other hikers. I thought it was just me. :D

Skyline
02-28-2005, 18:46
Must be the same thing I've heard referred to as "Hike-O-Matic" mode.

bigcat2
02-28-2005, 18:52
I have to agree w/ what has been stated. I enjoy "the zone" for the most part because it does help crank out the miles. I do tend to miss a few things along the sides of the trail, but it's nice to snap out of it at an awesome vista or to see an animal because it breaks the zone. I suppose it all boils down to what you want to see. There is no wrong way or right way to hike as long as you HYOH. :)

Dances with Mice
02-28-2005, 21:04
...somewhere in the middle of the Duncan Ridge Trail which is in the middle of nowhere. I was hydrated and had enough water to get to the next spring so I wasn't worried. I was fed and had enough food to get to my next cache so I wasn't worried. My feet were fine, the weather was great, my pack was even feeling fine, I've heard the term "packvana", rhymes with 'Nirvana', and means when all the adjustments of your pack are just right and you forget you're even wearing one. All I had to do was trade time for miles. I was trucking along "in the zone" when I heard something in front of me. I looked up.

Exactly then the giant whitetail buck trotting down the trail towards me looked up. We weren't more than 15 feet apart. We both put on our brakes. I gasped, he snorted. We both feinted west, then he made a giant jump east and crashed through the brush down the ridge. I stood there waiting for my heart rate to settle and wondering "Where in Hell did he come from?!"

The buck was probably thinking the exact same thing.

Happypappy
02-28-2005, 22:13
I must admit that I too, look forward to "the zone". really helps to clear the mind and soul of everyday cares and worries.

Lilred
02-28-2005, 22:19
...somewhere in the middle of the Duncan Ridge Trail which is in the middle of nowhere. I was hydrated and had enough water to get to the next spring so I wasn't worried. I was fed and had enough food to get to my next cache so I wasn't worried. My feet were fine, the weather was great, my pack was even feeling fine, I've heard the term "packvana", rhymes with 'Nirvana', and means when all the adjustments of your pack are just right and you forget you're even wearing one. All I had to do was trade time for miles. I was trucking along "in the zone" when I heard something in front of me. I looked up.

Exactly then the giant whitetail buck trotting down the trail towards me looked up. We weren't more than 15 feet apart. We both put on our brakes. I gasped, he snorted. We both feinted west, then he made a giant jump east and crashed through the brush down the ridge. I stood there waiting for my heart rate to settle and wondering "Where in Hell did he come from?!"

The buck was probably thinking the exact same thing.


Great Story!!

Smile
03-01-2005, 00:49
I really liked that one, nicely told.

The Hog
03-01-2005, 08:50
Nothing like the beating wings of a grouse to snap you out of it...

North of Catawba, I was deep in the zone, not paying any attention to the green tunnel passing by when I came upon a mother bear and two cubs. I froze and backed up slowly next to a tree, drinking in the scene and knowing that I could soon be toast. Mama bear didn't notice me at first, but as her cubs scampered across a fallen log, she turned my way and set a menacing glare on me. The cubs kept on going across the trail and started over the ridge and she felt obliged to follow them rather than charge me. It was a couple of days before I allowed myself back in the zone again...

jeepcj258
03-01-2005, 09:39
That is one of the reason I love to hike, my body is running wide open and my mind is in neutral. Very Very Relaxing in my opinion.

God Bless
Seth

Footslogger
03-01-2005, 10:08
I often found myself zoning in the Shennies during my thru. The trail was relatively clear and flat at times and I could hike without fear that one of those pesky tree roots would jump up and trip me, like they do everywhere else. Anyway ...early one morning I was hiking alone, feet on the ground beneath me but my mind definitely in another zip code. All of a sudden I heard loud thrashing above me. I was shocked out my trance but before I could look up and get a clear view of what might be making all that noise, a rather large black bear came shimmying down a tree in front of me, hitting the ground with a huge thud. Convinced I was "Toast" ...I just stood there as still as possible as that bear looked over its shoulder at me and then ran off into the woods.

Bear in mind (no play on words intended ...yeah, right !!) that whole incident mostly like took less than a minute or so to transpire ...but it was a few days later before I allowed my mind to wander again while I was hiking.

Thanks Hog ...for reminding me of that hair raising event.

'Slogger
AT 2003

hipo
03-01-2005, 10:26
I was hiking with 2nd degree one fine day she was wearing headphones and I believe was in a trance when Lo!and behold there was a rattler streched across the trail:bse I proceeded to gently grab her arm,with an array of uneasiness,she stopped and I pulled her back gently,the trance had overcome her:dance in Maryland,H:) po

Bad Ass Turtle
03-01-2005, 10:31
I guess that hiker trance is what kept causing me to miss trail turnings in
PA. I just didn't notice those white blazes . . .

B A Turtle

hipo
03-01-2005, 10:35
Well dont fill alone I often miss blazes and in PA I walked several 30's in a day because of the trance!Hipo

Tha Wookie
03-01-2005, 10:51
This is my favorite subject. The "trance" is much more than a trance. It is tapping into something that you always are, but has been trained to hide your whole life. It is the reason why I hike. Like Orangebug said, its when you let go of those filters that have been built around you.

The results defy physics. Like what Dances with Mice said: He was invisible to the deer. That's right. Invisible. Sound far fetched?

What is being called the "hiker trance" is the same thing indian scouts went into to melt into the forest while they tracked and scouted. Only they learned it their whole life, and they had far less filters let go. They were born ahead of the game. This society thinks its going forwards, when it's really more primitive than most historical native cultures (people born from the land).

Such experiences have been studied in experiential psychology, and has been termed "Flow Theory", but even they are so limited in what they can measure and report. How can you report in science something that defies science?

But the research is good because is helps develop a technique to purposefully go into flow -on the trail, in the office, having sex, whenever and where ever.

Another good book on this that I HIGHLY recommend is "If you want to Write", by Brenda Ueland, circa 1938.

Lion King
03-01-2005, 12:51
Know how after hiking a few hours, we set a pace, our minds wander, and we get into a type of unalert day dreaming way of thinking? We begin to lose notice of alot of the details of the trail that make it more enjoyable. Is it possible to stay diligent to our surroundings all day and enjoy the hike more intimately without getting into 'the haze'?
I find that part the most enjoyable. Its one of my addictions. You think I enjoy climbing up and down mountains all day with fifty pounds on my back? HA!

Its the high man, its always been the high. That moment when you feel that first real bead of sweat drawing above your forehead, when you dont feel yourself huffing and puffing anymore, that initial feeling, and now I know right about when it is coming...and I unconciously get a big old smile across my face, cuz I dig it man.

Its like a dream state, its like being out of body, because you dont feel the miles anymore, you dont feel the climbs, you dont feel much of anything but the inner peace.

I think just the oppisite of what you were saying about staying diligent to your surroundings. My senses sharpen. I may be in a trance, but if for any reason I am going the wrong way at a unnoticable intersection, my foot and the rest of my body take a right or left at the right time without me being aware, because at that particular moment, you are amazingly aware.

Its when you hear sharper, see sharper, and smell sharper...that one tlittle thing that doesnt move, that you dont even know is therre...SUDDENLY...you are aware of it, aas your head will tuyrn on its own to see it.

The only thing that stops this is if I am moving fast in that trance and my foot hits a hidden root or rock and go into my Hiers Tourettes....ya know, lost in space..then all of a sudden..rock h...F@#@ !!!!!!!!! S^%$& t!!!!!!!!!!! D*&^ !!!!!!!!!! then you are ok again.

:D