"addicted" to hiking

[buff_jeff]

I was watching a new Food Network show, "The Chef Jeff Project". Chef Jeff was in prison for drugs, learned to cook, became a very successful pro chef and now takes kids who had similar backgrounds and are interested in cooking for a living and shows them what it's like. I was thinking how rewarding that would be - to get kids who have never been out in the woods but are willing to try it (I'm not interested in dragging hoodlums into the woods against their will) and teach them how to backpack - the confidence it can instill, self-sufficiency, being out of "the city" for awhile.

I totally agree. I think there's something out there for all of us. It's just a matter of finding it. I don't know what my calling is yet, but hiking is going to be a huge part of it.

[Mrs Baggins]

So.....if I want to do this, does anyone in the metro DC area know who'd I'd have to contact to find the kids who'd be interested? Especially young, truly interested women but guys who are sincerely interested would be heartily and warmly welcomed. I have two kids that I've taken on the trail and had very positive responses from. They're 27 and 22 now and they hike when the have the chance and get their friends out there as well. My son once told me that I was a huge influence on a girl friend of his to get out there and give it a try. He said I inspired her. I was very humbled by that.

[buff_jeff]

So.....if I want to do this, does anyone in the metro DC area know who'd I'd have to contact to find the kids who'd be interested? Especially young, truly interested women but guys who are sincerely interested would be heartily and warmly welcomed. I have two kids that I've taken on the trail and had very positive responses from. They're 27 and 22 now and they hike when the have the chance and get their friends out there as well. My son once told me that I was a huge influence on a girl friend of his to get out there and give it a try. He said I inspired her. I was very humbled by that.

Maybe you could liaison with a school district that doesn't have an outdoors club and get one started?

[Lyle]

And remember, a career is a job that has lasted too long.

Da*@!!! Guess I've got a career now. Been avoiding that most of my life. Few more years and I'll have to do something about it. Can't wait!!!!

[buff_jeff]

Da*@!!! Guess I've got a career now. Been avoiding that most of my life. Few more years and I'll have to do something about it. Can't wait!!!!

Do you have any plans in the works for future long-distance hikes?

[Lyle]

Nothing definite. Continue sectioning the AT for now. Eventually will be hiking the Colorado Trail and PCT, but that will probably be waiting a few years - 'til after retirement. Might be able to work out the Colorado sooner, will have to start working on that.

When are you going back to the AT? I had planned on picking up the Smokies to Erwin starting this coming Sat, but that plan kinda fell apart. Will try to get down to do some this winter.

[buff_jeff]

Nothing definite. Continue sectioning the AT for now. Eventually will be hiking the Colorado Trail and PCT, but that will probably be waiting a few years - 'til after retirement. Might be able to work out the Colorado sooner, will have to start working on that.

When are you going back to the AT? I had planned on picking up the Smokies to Erwin starting this coming Sat, but that plan kinda fell apart. Will try to get down to do some this winter.

Awesome. I'm hoping I have enough time off between commissioning and reporting to my first post, to thru the PCT. I hope you get to do them soon enough!

I'm going to finish the AT this summer. I just have to work it around a month of training out at Fort Lewis, so it's going to get kind of goofy.

Something made me remember that "58" hiker this weekend during training. Gave me a few chuckles. Good times haha.

[Tipi Walter]

I absolutely will. Both of my parents are teachers and I've love to get into the profession. Summers off are only part of the allure. I owe the Army 4 years after college so I do have a secure job immediately following graduation. It's really just a question of what to do after that.

Which is it, hiking or teaching? Can't let a career get in the way of living out. But the biggest impediment? Marriage and kids.

[buff_jeff]

Which is it, hiking or teaching? Can't let a career get in the way of living out. But the biggest impediment? Marriage and kids.

I have absolutely no intention of getting married and having kids right now, and settling down for a potential career in teaching wouldn't be for many years, hopefully after finishing the AT and thru-hikes of the PCT and CDT. Besides, 2 weeks off for winter break, and up to 2 months of for summer break is pretty enticing, especially when I'd have sufficient funds to go where I want to.

[Lyle]

Something Made Me Remember That "58" Hiker This Weekend During Training. Gave Me A Few Chuckles. Good Times Haha.

Quite the Character.

[Tinker]

How do you guys handle this "problem"? I have no desire to do anything but hike right now. I feel like my hike this summer has "ruined" me, and I know the same thing will happen after my next hike. It's just a totally insatiable desire. I've fallen off on school work. I don't care about pursuing a long-term career. I've just been totally indifferent to everything. What helps you guys get through the day when hiking isn't an option at the moment?

What helps me get through the day?

BILLS!

Maybe if I'd stayed in college and pursued a career, I'd have more money and more time to go hiking now.
Take a year off, do a thruhike and be done with it.
Then, get back to school.
Or be a broke old fool like me.

[Reid]

I have a skin disease that doesnt allow my too hike for more than a week. You don't want to know what it's like having this addiction and too be me.

[Chaco Taco]

You pick up your life and move closer to the trail so you can go out on a moments notice.

[Mrs Baggins]

You pick up your life and move closer to the trail so you can go out on a moments notice.

You got that right! Virginia, here we come!!!!!!!!

[Frau]

Summers off, two weeks off at Christmas, almost a week at T'giving, a week spring break, off early enough in the afternoon to get in 4-5 miles---I got it made. If I am not hiking I am whining about not hiking.

A-train, you have given this careful thought. I was just contemplating Nessmuk's dilemma, when I read your comment about 'what happens if I break a bone'? Nessmuk worked in a wilderness program for incarcerated youth. He is a life long inveterate hiker, camper, paddler, caver, climber. What a dream job---getting paid to teach kids about what he loves! Then, after 2 years he is horsing around with the kids indoors, jumps over a couch and breaks his ankle in 3 places. Then the ankle surgery lead to hip replacement. Gone were the 20 mile hikes. He is fortunate to be able to hike 8 miles a day, and has to load up on ibuprofen.

He dove into primitive skills---fire making, foraging, cordage, hand-made tools, debris shelters, flint-knapping. He considers these hiking-related survival skills, and it does assuage the itch somewhat, altho not completely.

Good luck with the itch Jeff, and I hope you are as happy teaching, as I am.

Frau

[Roots]

You pick up your life and move closer to the trail so you can go out on a moments notice.

Hence my living in Brevard. Of which I am fixing to go hit a trail in about...ooo... 30 minutes. Am I addicted to hiking? You better believe it. The best part is I live in an outdoor mecca. Hitting a trail is an everyday reality, if I can. AHHH...the life.

[Gumbi]

How do you guys handle this "problem"? I have no desire to do anything but hike right now. I feel like my hike this summer has "ruined" me, and I know the same thing will happen after my next hike. It's just a totally insatiable desire. I've fallen off on school work. I don't care about pursuing a long-term career. I've just been totally indifferent to everything. What helps you guys get through the day when hiking isn't an option at the moment?

MYOG projects! One of the best time-passing things you can do between hikes! I have made several alcohol stoves and am currently working on a backpack and crampons. I plan to make a hammock and tarp really soon as well.

[Lion King]

Even before hiking I never worked a job I liked more then a year, most way less then that because I find really uptight people to be a nuisance overall.

I enjoy life experience and meeting new people seeing things in a new way, travel and pushing myself through a variety of challenges that sitting behind a desk or asking “Any appetizers?” Just can’t do. Military won’t do it either since I’m too much of an independent thinker and don’t like being yelled at.

Being raised by a Southern Methodist/armed forces Sergeant for a Dad was plenty of all that.

So after a few very emotional tragedies I decided to hike the AT. It healed me in a way that I can’t describe, and in all honesty none of my hikes after that have had the same level of effect.

The stimulus and growth and understanding and rejuvenation of mind body and spirit I received from being out there the first go round were immeasurable and I think part of my ‘hiking addiction’ is that I want to have that exact feeling every time.

And to a point I do.

My muscles miss the fitness when I get fat and lazy. I’m relatively hyper as it is, or manic or whatever and I go nuts if I sit around too long doing the same things over and over and over, so to me, part of the draw is the change of scenery of a daily basis, the new faces, the new places the interactions and the emotional high of seeing someone you connect with on a primal level after not seeing them for a few weeks.

I like the struggles, I like being forced into solitude and having to deal with problems I forgot existed until I can exercise (or exorcise) them out of my body and soul.

It’s different for anyone but for me, its something bigger then this long winded entry can say.

But I do love it.

and for the answer...hiking is the only thing that gets me through it.

or really good lovin'.

[Many Walks]

It's no problem...just be thankful to have found hiking. Work hard when you have to, hike when you can and continue to plan your trips and gear improvements between hikes. After our thru we moved to Northern CA and have hiked in Yosemite, Muir Woods, PCT sections, summited Lassen, upcoming Sutter Buttes summit, and planning a PCT thru in 2010. We're out hiking somewhere most weekends and it's all good. Don't dwell on missing hiking, just get out there when you can and think about it the rest of the time. Thousands of trails are just waiting to be hiked. Best wishes and have fun!

[The Solemates]

What helps me get through the day?

BILLS!

Maybe if I'd stayed in college and pursued a career, I'd have more money and more time to go hiking now.
Take a year off, do a thruhike and be done with it.
Then, get back to school.
Or be a broke old fool like me.

this is the best advice i've seen on here.

i understand and realize the obsession, because I have it.

but a good education and doing something I enjoy allows me the resources to tame my hiking obsession quite often, rather than hopping from one dead-end job I hate to the other. granted, longer hikes more than a week are not really feasible, but I have learned that a weekend to 4 day hike appeases my appetite for several weeks until the next hike.