Adjusting to life after the hike

[prain4u]

Have you ever experienced any problems adjusting to life "back in the real world" after a thru hike (or after a long section hike)?

If the answer is "YES"--What types of problems did you experience (and what steps did you take to help you deal with the problems)?

If the answer is "NO"--Do you think that there is anything special that you did that helped you to have a smooth transition back into life "in the real world"?

[joshuasdad]

I have trouble after just weekend hikes. I plan the next one, then I can get back to real life.

[greenmtnboy]

There is something about the backpacking experience that brings you out of whatever life you are stuck in. A good hike can give you a full and enlightened experience giving new experience of your mundane and otherwise boring existence. What meaningful activity do most people engage in from Friday to late Sunday if they have regular jobs? Not a lot in most cases. A good challenging hike will bring meaningful experience into their lives. Problem is getting back into the grind on Monday morning.

[Tucky]

There is only one problem, wanting to get back out and hike some more. However, you can't have your cake and eat it too, as they say.

Seriously though, adjusting isn't that hard. After you've spent 100+ days out in the woods it's nice to sleep in a bed and eat good food. Then there is always the next trip to plan/ look forward too, or the variety of other things to do in this life that do not involve long distance hiking but are also fun and rewarding.

[Dogwood]

You'll NEVER be the same person after a long distance hike that you were before the hike! It changes you for life. Just read a few trail journals from those that have done a long distance hike and it's obvious. Having a hard tiime re-adjusting may partly be a result of a different value system that is adopted after a long distance hike. Some of the things that were SO IMPORTANT before the hike are no longer that important after the hike. Things that may have never been considered before a long distance hike like: simplicity, frugality, self-reliance, consumption, consumerism, materialism, personal responsibility, independence, tolerance, mainly walking to get where you need to go, having a consistent connection to the outside unspoiled natural environment, clarity of mind, health, minimizing the physical and mental input, etc, may now have greater importance or consideration. Thinking changes after a long distance hike! You gotta realize the way you are probably now thinking and what you just acheived is LARGELY counter-culture! AND you are now emmersed in all that so called culture and civilization! Another thing you might be realizing is what Steve Howe, the Editor of Backpacking magazine said after his Sierra High Route thru-hike, "ever notice how unhealthy civilization can be?" In a nutshell, don't think for a moment, re-adjusting means going back to the exact person you were before your long distance hike. That person is gone!

Non-hikers or even some non-long distance hikers may not get it when I honestly tell them I DO NOT thru-hike to run away from "stuff", "entanglements", "commitments", "responsibilities", "the corruption of modern civilization", etc but with the primary intent to move towards something that I think positively influences my life. It's a vehicle for being all that I wish to be and for making a positive impact on the world. I maintain that "on trail" connection with my career which includes being a Landscape Architect/Horticulturalist which allows me to spend time alone, or in a very small group of associated professionals, in some truely spectacular gardens and offers a great deal of independent problem solving thinking, planning for my next long distance hike, getting outdoors into nature as often as possible(maintaining that deep connection with nature), which includes doing trail work(giving back) and walking on the deserted golf course in the rain as I did last night at 1 a.m(freedom), introducing others(especially children) to the outdoors through volunteer work(lets me share the flexibility/adaptability, patience, tolerance, and knowledge that always increases after completing a long-distance hike), and conversing with all the rest of the hiking weirdos, like here on WB. My choice of careers and the way my job is set up plus my non-hiking lifestyle choices make it easier for me to re-adjust OR that's my perspective. For example, before I started long distance hiking I already possessed these attributes: I lived within my means, I was frugal, I did't expect entitlements from anyone, I was independent, I was a free thinker(I like to think so), I lived simply, I wasn't materialistic or prone to consumerism, I tried not to over extend my credit consequently I wasn't indebted to anyone or for anything, I got long periods off work, I had a high level of personal responsibility, etc which meshes nicely with alot of attributes that can define a long distance hiker.

I also think it can be emmensly helpful in re-adjusting when you understand and apply what positive skills you learned in your long distance hiking experiences to your non-hiking life! I think it's easier to re-adjust once we understand how we often change after doing a long distance hike and what characteristics can define a successful long distance hiker. SpiritEagle offers some insightful long-distance hiker characteristics here: http://www.spiriteaglehome.com/cdt_what_is.html This is a good read in regards to this thread topic that might help some re-adjust.

[Pedaling Fool]

I wouldn't call them problems, but they are a result of being in the woods for exteded periods of time. One of them I just mentioned in another thread. When I got back to civilization I did not want to piss in a bathroom, even in the middle of town I'd rather piss behind a tree, and I've done and still do it today when I can get away with it.

I also have an addiction to plain m&m's; I can only go so long before I breakdown and go buy a bag. And I use to hate them.:confused:

I also scrub clean all my pots and pans with dried leaves in the mulched areas of my lawn and garden area. I must look like a hippy, because at least once a day I take my pot and pans outside and scrub them with leaves and ususally I'm barefoot:)

At least I don't have to worry about 1 oz of saturated fat getting in my drainage system. :D

[Hosaphone]

In a nutshell, don't think for a moment, re-adjusting means going back to the exact person you were before your long distance hike. That person is gone!

That's an interesting take on it. Makes sense.


When I got back to civilization I did not want to piss in a bathroom, even in the middle of town I'd rather piss behind a tree, and I've done and still do it today when I can get away with it.

Why stink up a perfectly good bathroom that somebody has to clean?

[bamboo bob]

This is very interesting. If you are older, rather than a twenty something, like me you might have a different perspective on whether the AT or PCT or CDT or whatever is a life changing experience or not. If it's the only thing you have ever done of course it's a big deal. Some of us however have had careers, children, wive(s), gone to war (not me) and all sorts of way bigger challenges then the pleasure of hiking for five months at a whack. Back packing has certainly changed my life for the better but not as much as many other events as well.

As far as adjusting when I get home? I laugh when people say "they had to sleep on the floor" etc. What about the weekly motel, hostel, and friendly homes you stayed in? Likely slept in a bed once or twice a week. As well as town food, showers, pubs, sports on TV, etc.. And then people say they get home and can't adjust. Far fetched is what I say.

[BrianLe]

I'm more along the line of what bamboo bob said, it helps to be going home to an established situation. For so many thru-hikers, they're hiking because they're in a transition phase, and have other stuff to deal with when they get back home. I haven't had that, so it's generally all too easy to slip back into the old ruts. Yes, my surroundings seem a bit surreal for a short while, sort of like spending some time in a third world country and then coming home and walking into a grocery store (and as an aside, it takes months before I can go into a grocery store without going into automatic "thru-hiker resupply mode").

It took me longer to get sort of re-socialized after I came back from the CDT because I hiked a bit over half of that really alone --- alone in a way that you don't get on the AT or PCT. But while it certainly is real, I think that sometimes the whole "hard to adjust" factor gets a bit over-dramatized.

[Dogwood]

I wouldn't call them problems... When I got back to civilization I did not want to piss in a bathroom, even in the middle of town I'd rather piss behind a tree, and I've done and still do it today when I can get away with it.

LOL! It can be a problem if a child sees you and tells their mommy and daddy what they have witnessed. OFFICER OFFICER I just saw a homeless vagrant pedophile exposing himself to my child. At which point you can tell the officer that you've been in the woods hiking for a long time and it's out of habit that you are out "watering the trees." LOL Be prepared for a ride in the back seat of a cruiser.

I also have an addiction to plain m&m's; I can only go so long before I breakdown and go buy a bag. And I use to hate them.:confused:

So, that's why the grocery store was out of them when I wanted to buy some for my nieces and nephews.

I also scrub clean all my pots and pans with dried leaves in the mulched areas of my lawn and garden area. I must look like a hippy, because at least once a day I take my pot and pans outside and scrub them with leaves and ususally I'm barefoot:)

That's a good one. You'll fit right in with the hippie organic farms in CA and HI. Need a WWOOFER job? I don't even go to that extent. Humm! Taking green living to the next level, hey John?

At least I don't have to worry about 1 oz of saturated fat getting in my drainage system. :D

[max patch]

Other than wanting to go to sleep at 9:00 at nite for a few weeks when I finished, I had no "adjustments" to make.

[prain4u]

You folks are giving me many of the answers that I expected. Thanks--and keep them coming. I started this thread, because (from time to time) you see people post on WhiteBlaze about having challenges adjusting to life after their hike---and you also have other posters become very critical of the very notion that people would have trouble adjusting. Having spent time as a military chaplain, I have seen numerous people have trouble adjusting to life after military deployments (even non-combat deployments). So, I could (theoretically) see people having trouble adjusting to life in the "real world" after a long hike.

While all of the answers (thus far) have been good. I do think Bamboo Bob and BrianLe are on to something. In retrospect, many (but not all) of the people that I recall posting about having challenges adjusting to life after their hike were people who were: 1) Under age 40--and often significantly under age 40 and/or 2) People who were going through a time of significant change in their life without much that was familiar and solid to come home to (i.e. no job, divorce, death in the family, college has ended etc.) and/or they were 3) People who were living VERY alone--without many outside connections.

That is not to say that a 50 year old married person, who is in a happy marriage and who has a stable job and home life WON'T have adjustment issues. It can happen--and it does happen (based upon some reports that I read on WhiteBlaze). However, it would seem that relative youth, significant life changes and post hike isolation seem to be factors which trigger--or contribute to---adjustment difficulties after a long hike.

[max patch]

Prain4u, if I understand correctly, you are saying that (one category) some people had adjustments to make in their life anyway prehike. The hike merely postponed dealing with whatever issues they had, and when the hike ended so did the postponement of dealing with the issues. Hope I haven't misquoted you. I think that makes a lot of sense.

[prain4u]

max patch: You are pretty much correct in your rephrasing what I am saying. For many in that one category, their problems existed pre-hike (to one degree or another). However, for some, the problems may have actually developed DURING the hike or even BECAUSE of the hike (lost job, significant other back home cheated and.or ended the relationship, a friend or relative died during the time of the hike, the hiker spent too much money duringthe hike and is now too poor to go back to school like they had planned, they became injured during the hike and cannot hike or work like the anticipated because of the injury, etc.)