Lessons learned

[The Hog]

For those of you with considerable trail experience, I am curious to hear if there are lessons learned on the trail which have been useful to you at home.

[Blue Jay]

For those of you with considerable trail experience, I am curious to hear if there are lessons learned on the trail which have been useful to you at home.

I used to take things such as clean clothes, refrigerators, chairs, light switches for granted. Now they are wonderful things. The old saying is true, you never know what you've got, till it's gone.

[rickb]

* If you don't want to loose something, always store it away in the exactly same place. Works for checkbooks in the same way it works for a pot lifters.

That's about it.

[Footslogger]

I'd rather be too warm than too cold. Take the extra layer !!

'Slogger
AT 2003

[SGT Rock]

Too many lessons to write down. The number one is to remember you are doing it to have fun.

[lobster]

Throw out the schedule for the hike! Don't worry about how many miles you make each day, just put in miles almost every day.

[foodbag]

After living out my pack for two months the first thing I learned was that I didn't need all of the "stuff " I had been accumulating. I must have sold/donated/junked about 1,500 lbs. of personal possessions including half of a set of plates (8 plates for 1 person?), half of the glasses, half of the silverware, four garbage bags full of clothes, hulking big stereo speakers (hello Bose Wave Radio), etc. etc.

Now my possessions serve me, rather than the other way around. When I think of all of the time, effort and money I wasted on buying "things"....

:sun

[Stoker53]

Fret not about the part of the trail that you cannot see. Focus your energy and thoughts on what you can see.

Works well off trail too...at least for me.

[The Hog]

I had a lot of time for introspection on the Trail. One thing I realized was that, in conversation, a lot of the garbage coming out of my mouth was name dropping, bragging, stuff designed to puff up my image. Further, I realized that all that drivel was not having the intended effect, quite the opposite, in fact. So I deleted much of that behavior while I was on the Trail. By the time I got home, I was a lot less self-aggrandizing.

Even so, back in civilization, I would often turn conversation towards the A.T., and inevitably, towards the fact that I had thru-hiked. In some ways, I hadn't really changed at all. At least until a friend pointedly took me aside and said, "Do you realize that every time I see you, you bring up the A.T.?"

[Footslogger]

Even so, back in civilization, I would often turn conversation towards the A.T., and inevitably, towards the fact that I had thru-hiked. In some ways, I hadn't really changed at all. At least until a friend pointedly took me aside and said, "Do you realize that every time I see you, you bring up the A.T.?"========================================
I'm not sure talking about the AT is all that bad. Now, if you were doing it in such a way that attempted to elevate your importance with respect to your friends ...I could see the rub. But hey, having hiked the AT is a very cool thing and obviously something you (and I) are proud of and excited about. So few people I meet have a true "passion" for something in life.

I talk about the trail a lot ...maybe not ALL THE TIME, but very frequently. I find that people are genuinely interested in hearing about it, especially those who have never hiked a mile in their lives. I recently went on a week long live-aboard dive trip with my wife. Conversation among divers generally dealves into personal experiences so the topic of hiking the AT came up several times. Both my wife and I have hiked the AT and told many stories of our experiences. After the dive trip I received an e-mail from one of the other passengers telling me that he hoped some day to do something "cool" like that. Now here's a guy who has dove all over the world and had tons of great experiences himself.

Anyhew ...just reacting to your post a bit.

'Slogger

[bulldog49]

I've learned that simple is better.

[icemanat95]

* If you don't want to loose something, always store it away in the exactly same place. Works for checkbooks in the same way it works for a pot lifters.

That's about it.

Absolutely.

Strive for consistency in how you pack and how you perform many camp tasks. Practice makes perfect so to speak. If you always put up your tent in exactly the same way, when you are trying to do it in the dark, with the wind blowing and rain coming down, that ritualized process will go much easier than trying to work through the best way to do the job under the conditions. If you always pack your pack up the same way, should you need something fast, you will be able to put your hands on it much more quickly, or direct someone else as to where to find it should you be incapacitated.

If hiking with regular companions, always inform your companions of where your first aid stuff, contact information, fuel, etc is always located in your pack so that should an emergency occur and they need to access these things, they can do so quickly. My most regular hiking buddy and I pack our gear largely the same way and carry most of the same stuff, almost to the point where it doesn't matter which pack we pick up in the morning. We are completely familiar with one another's gear and can function with it without problems or fumbling.

Always keep snackfoods, maps and water close at hand. You don't want to have to take off your pack to find a quick snack or grab a drink.Also, your light should be readily accessible as well for emergencies.

[Ridge]

lessons my husband learned at home but forgotten when he got off the trail.

1. He use to take a shower before his friends couldn't ID him.

2. He use to wash his socks at least once before they wore out.

One, among several, repulsive habbits he learned is to add water to an empty tomato juice bottle,etc...shake to get the sediment off the bottom and drink. Gross me out! hikerwife

[fiddlehead]

Long Distance hiking has taught me many things, I think the one i use most in life is the way i now look thru problems as they arise. I approach these problems as if it were a blowdown on the trail. Before, i use to get a little irritated whenever i saw a blowdown or a problem presented itself. The more experienced i got at thru-hiking, the less blowdowns bothered me. Now, when i come around a turn and see one, i immedietly start to look for the way around it. Not much else enters my mind, i don't get mad, i don't blame anyone, i don't let it frustrate me. (and i definitely don't go in and touch it and then find the way around it only to repeat the move on the other side just to be a purist!)
Sometimes when it's a really big problem (let's say the police get involved, just an example now) I even tell myself out loud: "just another blowdown, we'll get around it" It works, on the trail and off. fh

[Rendezvous01]

Two 'lessons' from the Trail stick out:
1) the blue blazes of the Trail and life lead to the most interesting places.
Example: never intended to leave the Trail after 1100 miles, but felt that it was right, somehow, to be home. Wasn't injured, wasn't bored, tired, or unhappy. Soon after returning home, a job opportunity arose in a former profession which I had vowed to never to return to. I chose to explore this blue blaze, and, as the poem goes, 'that has made all the difference.'
2) there is no such thing as a 'coincidence', for example 'Trail Magic' (and I'm not talking about just the convenient cold beer found in a stream). Things happen, even the most random events, for a reason.
Example: our family was exploring new places to live. Six hundred miles from our old home, at a Subway sandwich shop, I met a former student of mine whom I hadn't seen in about five years. We had intended on eating at Taco Bell, but changed our minds at the last minute. He said he always took his lunch to work, left it on the kitchen counter that morning. Coincidence? I think not.
Lessons from the Trail and how they affect you are quite dependant on your willingness to learn.