getting over not finishing thru-hike

[NEFFA]

I have had to leave the trail (nobo thru-hike) this year due to getting extremely run down and I am having a hard time accepting that and getting over it and moving on to section hiking. I'm looking for advice from folks who have gone through this. Please help!
NEFFA

[Frosty]

I have had to leave the trail (nobo thru-hike) this year due to getting extremely run down and I am having a hard time accepting that and getting over it and moving on to section hiking. I'm looking for advice from folks who have gone through this. Please help!
NEFFA

I'm apparently too fragile for a thru-hike and too stubborn to give up trying. Tried twice in the last two years and didn't get far either time. Plan on trying again next year.

If I had any brains I'd section the rest of the trail. I have done most of it from mid-VA north. But I want to thru, and plan on going again.

But I'm retired as well as stubborn. I realize that not everyone can keep trying year after year.

I think you did well to do what you did, and congratulate you. Try again if you wish, pick up where you left of and finish, or complete it in sections. Or declare yourself finished (worked for that British writer guy Bill Bryson). What ever you eventually choose is okay.

[Time To Fly 97]

Congratulations for having the guts to follow a dream and adding some exciting chapters in the story of YOU. I would spend some time thinking/researching why you got run down. Is it physical, is it emotional, did you do what you set out to do (even though they didn't summit Katahdin)? You should find out because it sounds like you are feeling like you failed, and this might not be the case at all.

Just a guess - probably physical and something you can overcome on your next hike. As some examples:

Your body was making the change from athlete to super-athlete. This change completely sapped your energy and caused a chemical imbalance that left you feeling emotionally drained. This happens to all hikers. It goes away like getting to the next level of a video game.

You were lacking nutritional content such as vitamins, salt, water, electrolytes (gatorade mix in the summer is wise).

The trail got easier (middle sections) and your body didn't get the adreneline fix it had become addicted to (fact). This left you feeling uncomfortable and unfulfilled. The Northern sections bring the mountains back - and the daily adreneline you crave. This is contributing to your feeling down now - guaranteed. Go for a workout and you will feel better. All hikers get this after their hike ends - unless you took it easy and slack packed.


It could be many things. You won't start healing from these feelings unless you confront them, think about them and come to conclusions from them.

Good job! Start planning your next hike!

TTF

[eric_plano]

I really want to respond to this in depth, but I think it would come out as babbling.

I only hiked to Clingman's in '05. I can't say I have recovered from not continuing since a thru-hike had been a dream for several years.
I have questioned the ability of my body, my mind, my willpower...and I haven't come up with any answers. I just know that I have been back in this cubicle for 14 months since I left the AT and it has become even more of an obsession for me than it was before. I think the only resolution for me is to get back out there.

Hopefully someone will have a better answer for you!

[Time To Fly 97]

P.S.

http://www.dontgetlost.ca/ghocanadagho/ejss1.pdf

TTF

[StarLyte]

I have had to leave the trail (nobo thru-hike) this year due to getting extremely run down and I am having a hard time accepting that and getting over it and moving on to section hiking. I'm looking for advice from folks who have gone through this. Please help!
NEFFA

HA.

I've been dealing with this all my life. I finally had to surrender and tell myself that I am not a thru hiker.

I'll section hike with you someday and we can tell each other about it.

Now I'm dreaming of the PCT. What's wrong with me.

[Nightwalker]

Happens to lots of us. I can hike forever, but I get terribly homesick for my wife. I'll keep trying, however, like maybe SOBO in about two weeks. (Did I say that out loud?)

Buying the bus ticket today. Leave for Medway on the 15th of August. I'm 100% sure that it's gonna work this time.

[mweinstone]

good advice.hey frosty,.. dont forget sitting down and figuring out on paper that you cant go that year is an attempt. get it? so in point of fact we do all have the ability to tyr each year. and ail. and fail and fail. then succeed!

[Frosty]

hey frosty,.. dont forget sitting down and figuring out on paper that you cant go that year is an attempt.

Maybe for you. I'll stick to the attempts where I actually hike.

I'm doing better. Made it into Georgia in 2005, into North Carolina in 2006. Shooting for Tennessee next year

[StarLyte]

Happens to lots of us. I can hike forever, but I get terribly homesick for my wife. I'll keep trying, however, like maybe SOBO in about two weeks. (Did I say that out loud?)

Buying the bus ticket today. Leave for Medway on the 15th of August. I'm 100% sure that it's gonna work this time.

Frank what are you talking about? Are you saying you bought a ticket for Medway ME? When were you going to say something? Okay, so you've said it here and now.

Congratulations.

And are you speaking of hiking the entire Trail, or you just going SOBO as far as your two little feet can take you.

Are you keeping a journal or are you posting here?

Let's see how many questions I can ask in 2 weeks.

[bfitz]

Dude, just rest up and have as much fun as you can. It's about enjoyment in the end. In a week or three mabye you can get back out...who knows, mabye for a section or something...mabye you're just run down because you been pushing yourself too hard? Get rid of deadlines/big miles and hike at a comfortable easy to manage pace/schedule. Eat well. Go to town every few days and take zero and nearo days at least once a week...mabye...?

[wacocelt]

If you got out there and started but didn't finish then you didn't fail, you just didn't finish...

I have started the AT 4 times and the PCT once with the intention of hiking the 'entire thing', but kidney stones and other maladies have always ended my hikes early. It's hard as hell to come to terms with ending a hike, just try and see the silver lining and go out and find other activities that give you the same joy as hiking. I've begun delving into primitive wilderness skills and permaculture, as well as advocacy for the homeless, all of which offer benefits and distractions from LD hiking. Hope this blather helped a bit. Be well!

Puck-Fu

[Tinker]

Life is full of obstacles. Some we go over, some we go under, some we go around, and some just can't be overcome............now.

If you're not advanced in age, you could attempt a thru again, you could finish the Trail in section hikes, or you could finish the Trail in sections, then attempt a thru...........your options are endless.

Using the knowledge that you've gained in the sections of Trail that you have covered, you could help others by passing that knowledge on to others. I just finished a weekend hike on the Long Trail in Vermont with a young man I met last year who had the desire to do a Long Trail thru. I completed the LT in 1999 after doing it in weekend and week long sections. I was able to relive my experiences and enjoy them in my heart and mind again as I helped him to choose campsites and warned him about difficult sections, shared my joys of a sunset or animal sighting, good places to eat etc. If you do the same, I believe you'll get over not having completed your planned thru, and help someone else to achieve their dream at the same time. There's nothing to live up to, no standard of success, except what you accept in your mind.
You have not failed - you've just experienced a setback.

to life.

[Blue Jay]

You're just taking a lot of Zero Days, so what.

[One Leg]

Neffa:

I've thought an awful lot about your post since I first read it.. I wanted to reply straightaway, but decided to sit & think on it awhile first.

In '04, I was soooo close to finishing that I could almost spit on it. I'd come so far, and to have to come off at that point, I was more mad than anything else.. I even considered missing the funeral in leiu of finishing the trail. After all, my brother was dead, he wouldn't know if I was at his funeral or not.

I was mad at him for killing himself, for the pain he'd caused the family, and for ruining my hike. I'm being as honest here as I know how to be... We weren't close, I'd not physically seen him in over 5 years, and had only spoken to him by phone once in a year. I was closer to some of the folks I met on the trail than I was to him.

In the end, family loyalty won out. I packed up, hiked out, caught a bus, and went home feeling like a failure. I'd come within a cathair of reaching the goal, only to have it end like that.

11 months after walking off the trail, and 3 funerals later, I returned and finished the remaining miles.. It felt good to be finished, but the sadness I'd experienced over the last 11 months overshadowed all of that. But I did it... I went back & finished...

I met a lot of folks who started out with intentions of thru-hiking, only to have to come off the trail for whatever reason. At the time I met them, they were coming back to the spot they'd gotten off however long before, and resumed right where they left off.

I also met others who started at Springer all over again and thru-hiked all the way to Maine, which seemed to me to be a lot like leaving your house for a long-distance drive, and making a wrong turn somewhere along the way... Instead of backtracking to the point where you made the wrong turn, you go all the way back home and make the whole trip all over again... (That was my perspective.) One thing I did observe: The ones who left the trail for legitimate reasons (deaths in the family, family emergencies, etc.) tended to have more success in the second attempt as opposed to the ones who left the trail because of losing their money in trail towns.

At any rate, don't beat yourself up because you didn't make it to the ultimate goal.. Pat yourself on the back and congratulate yourself for making it as far as you did. If you want to go back and do everything all over again, go for it. Or, if you just want to go to the area where you got off and resume from there, go for it. Either way, there's always hope for a better tomorrow.

Here's something that I share with my kids pertaining to mistakes: I'm assuming that you brush your teeth. (Most everyone does.) Have you ever spilled toothpaste onto the sink? Did you put the toothpaste back into the tube?? If no, then why not? The obvious answer is that once toothpaste is out of the tube, it's next to impossible to get it back in. You don't sit around and mourn the lost toothpaste.. You just clean it up & move on. Don't cash today's worries on tomorrow's problems.

Hope to meet you out on the trail one day.

-Scott

[Ridge]

It's better to have somone think you're a complete idiot than for you to open your mouth and remove all doubt..

[Krewzer]

A thru hike is a series of section hikes over a defined period of time. Personally, I don't see a problem here?

Recoup, regroup, recall and return.

[plydem]

It's better to have somone think you're a complete idiot than for you to open your mouth and remove all doubt..

What is that supposed to mean? Are you aying the guy is an idiot for telling us he didn't finish or that he's an idiot for not finishing? When a question like this comes up and you don't have anything good or constructive to say, don't say anything at all. At least that way people won't think you're an idiot.

[Nightwalker]

And are you speaking of hiking the entire Trail, or you just going SOBO as far as your two little feet can take you.

Are you keeping a journal or are you posting here?

Let's see how many questions I can ask in 2 weeks.

If the weather doesn't kill me, I'm talking an entire SOBO. God willing, creeks rising, family illness/death/etc. not withstanding.

You should come walk just in front of me to goad me on.

[Programbo]

Congratulations for having the guts to follow a dream and adding some exciting chapters in the story of YOU. I would spend some time thinking/researching why you got run down. Is it physical, is it emotional, did you do what you set out to do (even though they didn't summit Katahdin)? You should find out because it sounds like you are feeling like you failed, and this might not be the case at all........The trail got easier (middle sections) and your body didn't get the adreneline fix it had become addicted to (fact). This left you feeling uncomfortable and unfulfilled......It could be many things. You won't start healing from these feelings unless you confront them, think about them and come to conclusions from them......Good job! Start planning your next hike!

I`ll agree with this and add that the reason WHY you were hiking the trail in the first place also comes into play..I`ve known a lot of people who set out on thru-hikes and failed who really weren`t long distance backpackers to start with..They figured the entire 4 months or whatever would carry that same excitement and energy of their weekend trips...They weren`t ready for the fact that in a way it becomes a job and you have to get up and hike and accomplish x amount of miles if you intend to ever finish...I`d go over why you started and what you had expected and then figure out what wasn`t as you expected or what may have stopped you mentally or physically..If it was physical then you did the best you could and should be proud of even trying...To borrow some famous words of advice..."It`s all about the prayers..The vitamins and the hanging and banging brother!"..Just get ready for the next time..If it wasn`t just physical then you`ll have to figure out what emotional or mental things weren`t as you expected and next time prepare for that.....Best of luck to you and you`ll find in time you`ll accept it as a learning experience and accomplish bigger and better things yet to come