Are you able to forget life at home?

[lucky luke]

when i am out hiking for a longer period of time my reality melts down to 3 trains of thought:

what will i eat today? includes frequent changes in the planned menu, about one change every 20 mins.

how will the weather be during the day? includes bad fantasies about getting rained on 20 minutes before i get to the shelter.

how far will i get and where will i sleep? includes frustrating correction of false assumptions about todays speed and the many miles hiked, after passing signs with mileage data on them.

all the rest melts into a mass of undefinable grey somewhere in the very back of my brain.

i did read somewhere in a journal that thruhikers think about sex all day long. don´t know if that is true. but that might also help to foget life at home....

[Old Hiker]

All those of you who've done long hikes, do you forget life back at home? I mean work, mortgage, evan family. Do you want to forget about all that when hiking?

Yes, I DID want to forget all of it so I could concentrate on getting up the Trail and finishing. However, because of technology and worry, I called or texted home almost every day. I also texted friends and family members to show where I was so they could follow along on the maps and data books I gave them. I was VERY happy when I would get texts back with encouragement, etc. for the "problems" I had on the Trail.


I've got a few things going on right now that are getting me seriously down and I'd like to forget about it all. I don't mean literally run away from something, as in debt or something, just general unhappiness.

I was/am in the same boat with "general unhappiness". I know what is causing it - I have no control over it. It was REALLY bringing me down, as I'm the type of person who HATES not being able to control my life. Unfortunately and probably, the "general unhappiness" may STILL be there when you get back. However, the experiences on the Trail MAY - only MAY - help in coping with problems. I learned to let stuff go. I learned to push back instead of rolling over and taking crap. I'm still unhappy, but I realize I'm blessed and I'm trying to see all my blessings.


Or does time alone force you to think more about stuff than when you're "busy."

Heh. Gotta smile. After 500 miles or so, the ONLY thing I could think about was how idiotic the placement of the Trail seemed to be. Oh, my.

Looking back after 2 years, I can see a LOT of things that were awesome and intense. I look at my Trail Journal online and remember THAT day and the days around it.

I am glad I got the second chance to complete the hike and I'm glad I completed it. Take the chance. What is the WORST that can happen with the situation at home?

[nate.2346]

It's like scuba diving, go under to see all the wonder during the hike then come back to the surface for air revitalized.

[Grampie]

Quite a few thru-hikers end up leaving the trail because of problems back home. More so today with the large use of cell phones.
When I thru-hiked my wife assured me that she would take care of the home front and I could leave the hiking to me..
I would talk to my wife every 5-6 Days. I would assure that I was O.K. And she never told me about problems back home. Her attitude really helped me to have a successful thru.

[Dogwood]

Quite a few thru-hikers end up leaving the trail because of problems back home. More so today with the large use of cell phones.
When I thru-hiked my wife assured me that she would take care of the home front and I could leave the hiking to me..
I would talk to my wife every 5-6 Days. I would assure that I was O.K. And she never told me about problems back home. Her attitude really helped me to have a successful thru.

Good pt. Emoted info overload about home lives can derail a hike. That's great Grampie you acknowledge and appreciate how your wife contributed to the success of the hike.

[Longboysfan]

I'm tuned into the trail most times.
In camp busy getting set up or broken down and eating.

Not a lot of spare brain cycles for outside world unless texting short messages.

I can never seen to see how people have time to write journals.

[fastfoxengineering]

I'm tuned into the trail most times.
In camp busy getting set up or broken down and eating.

Not a lot of spare brain cycles for outside world unless texting short messages.

I can never seen to see how people have time to write journals.

Agreed. I'm thru hiking now. I kept a journal on the LT. People always ask me what I'm planning/thinking about while hiking. Well... On the AT. I spend half of my day thinking about where my left foot is going and the other half the right foot.

The younger crowd is obsessed with their youtube, Instagram, and Snapchat accounts. Hell,
even the 30 year olds are too.

And I'm at the Doyle drinking cheap beer wondering how much further I'm gonna hike today.

My next trail is going to be a more remote trail to disconnect from the AT lol.



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[Another Kevin]

I can never seen to see how people have time to write journals.

For some of us, writing the journals, or taking the photographs, or making the videos, is a big part of the enjoyment. We're even willing to sacrifice mileage to do it. And some of my non-hiker friends like reading the journals and seeing the photos. (I don't do video.)

Then again, I do most of my logging in a paper notebook. I don't try to get anything organized on line until I'm in town. I have a little folding Bluetooth keyboard that I've been planning to try for journals - so that I don't have to decipher smudged pencil writing later. But I might just be too much of a dinosaur [1] to take to it.

I find that the really interesting journal posts - the ones that I like to go back and reread myself, sometimes - are ones where I also had to do research in town to connect what I saw on the trail to the broader world of natural and human history. But I suppose that doing the photography for Hiker sweat, alkali metals, and butterfly sex - or even jotting down the field notes on the behaviour - isn't what you guys had in mind by 'obsessed with YouTube, Instagram and SnapChat'.

[1] Bad metaphor. The dinosaurs never died out. They learnt to fly. But I suppose that I could be too much of a bird-brain to take to it.

[Night Train]

Yes, zero cares given.

[Dogwood]

I'm tuned into the trail most times.
In camp busy getting set up or broken down and eating.

Not a lot of spare brain cycles for outside world unless texting short messages.

I can never seen to see how people have time to write journals.

For some of us, writing the journals, or taking the photographs, or making the videos, is a big part of the enjoyment. We're even willing to sacrifice mileage to do it. And some of my non-hiker friends like reading the journals and seeing the photos. (I don't do video.)...

I agree with Kev.


Even though I do like to write on trail in a WP paper Journal with a WP ink Space Pen it's easy enough to download a voice recognition app onto your device that edits to the written word to journal OR voice record your ideas, feelings, experiences. I like hearing my voice and voices because it let's me remember better and connect with the emotion I was feeling or that was shared by others. Writing and recalling recent experiences on trail relaxes me and lets me better appreciate what I'm doing, what I was feeling, and how I dealt with everything. Most times journaling is most timed for once in camp as I recall the day's experiences and what I've learned so it isn't that time consuming. During the day it's sound largely recording on video. Doesnt take the time assumed. Truly, hiking is not just about hiking. It's about living. And, if life is worth living in pursuit and achievement of making dreams(goals) a reality I choose to remember it - the good, bad, horrendous, and miraculous.

[BuckeyeBill]

I agree with Kev.Even though I do like to write on trail in a WP paper Journal with a WP ink Space Pen it's easy enough to download a voice recognition app onto your device that edits to the written word to journal OR voice record your ideas, feelings, experiences. I like hearing my voice and voices because it let's me remember better and connect with the emotion I was feeling or that was shared by others. Writing and recalling recent experiences on trail relaxes me and lets me better appreciate what I'm doing, what I was feeling, and how I dealt with everything. Most times journaling is most timed for once in camp as I recall the day's experiences and what I've learned so it isn't that time consuming. During the day it's sound largely recording on video. Doesnt take the time assumed. Truly, hiking is not just about hiking. It's about living. And, if life is worth living in pursuit and achievement of making dreams(goals) a reality I choose to remember it - the good, bad, horrendous, and miraculous.

I am a page turner who enjoys the written word. Years from now when the technology used to create the electronic journal is obsolete the written journal will still be with us.

[naturegirl90]

I find being away from home to be great for adding perspective to "problems" at home that I am working on. It usually takes me about 30 days before I find that certain less important aspects of home start fading...

[Dogwood]

You live in Santa Barbara. Go out the door and look west to the Channel Islands or east to the Los Pedros NF, San Rafael, Santa Ynez, or Sierra Madre Mt ranges or the Dick Smith or San Rafael Wildernesses. Breathe. Look around. Walk down to the pier. Hike up to the SB Botanical garden. Get an early walk around the SB Mission on the way. Problems don't seem as big in SB.