Im having Post hike psychosis...

[Lion King]

It gets harder every time, I think, when you do a long hike to get back to ‘normal’.

I am having a much tougher time even caring about it this time.

Ive been off the trail for 9 days and it sure doesn't feel like it. I havent even completed my journals...maybe I'm putting that off so the 'end' will last longer.

I have been in Hollywood staying at a friends trying to decompress and I am really uncomfortable on crowded buses and with helicopters flying around and sirens and all the hoopla of a big city.

All I want to do is watch movies, eat and make out. Luckily a girl I know, Dawn, has been nice to spend time with. I needed a woman around BADLY, even if it was only today and Monday at a party thrown for me.

I don't know what it is, but I feel like I am further from people, or at least much different and every time I hear a person fighting with some one, or horns honking in a rage, or people being rude to one another I just want to get my pack and head to the AT/PCT wooded stretches. Not the small towns, or the cities but the deepest and most remote regions of those trails.

Snow and all, I don't care.

I have been to a couple of parties and that was fine, its just the smothering effect of large crowds...its hard to explain but I know a few of you know exactly what I am talking about.

Maybe when I get on back to Colorado for a week or so before visiting Family for Christmas I’ll feel better about being back.

I hope so.

Could just be this big dirty loud LA.

Thoughts on your ‘post trail’ brain?

[Ziggy Trek]

Man! You went from wilderness to HOLLYWOOD? They are at opposite ends of the spectrum! ...and THEN you turned on the TV? What were you thinking? God help you.
(Just joshing around.)
It feels like society is in a pitiful aquarium that we view through glass. The transformation that we undergo during life-altering events has great and lasting rewards. Be thankful you have this perspective even if it is disturbing. Maybe set your focus on mentoring a youngster into nature and save him from the tank also. Have a good rest.

[Dogwood]

I feel U. I feel U. That's why it seems I've not stopped hiking since I completed my AT thru-hike in 06. Enjoy and deeply appreciate the experience of your previous hike(s). Think about and practice the lessons U learned while on the trail off the trail. U and others will benefit from it. I always tell newbie thru-hikers "if U complete a long hike U will never ever be the same again". Now U know what it feels like. What ever U do, keep yourself from becoming angry, cynical, a know-it-all, or egotistical just because U have been privledged to have had an "AWAKENING". And lastly, don't ignore that natural tendency to want to get back to the trail. Start planning your next hike. See U out there!

[Lone Wolf]

U think?

[Homer&Marje]

U don't say

[yappy]

hmmm, how interesting !

[woodsy]

Lion King: I don't know what it is, but I feel like I am further from people, or at least much different and every time I hear a person fighting with some one, or horns honking in a rage, or people being rude to one another I just want to get my pack and head to the AT/PCT wooded stretches. Not the small towns, or the cities but the deepest and most remote regions of those trails.

Snow and all, I don't care.

LOL, don't feel like the lone ranger, many here can probably relate.
Get out of town, theres a cabin in them thar hills somewhere for you.

[superman]

Lion King,
You didn't start long distance hiking as the poster child for mental health. Most long distance hikers are missing a couple cards from their deck. The many long distance hikes you've made helps make you normal on a trail but not so much in the real world (and you're thinking "which is the real world"). Don't worry, you'll mostly adjust and not be much different than you were. .... That will be twenty bucks for the evaluation.

[Lilred]

I say L.A. is the problem. Get out of the big city and head to Colorado. You'll feel much better there. Shortly after one of my sections, I was driving around in a city that was nothing but buildings and cement and started feeling a lot of anxiety until I could see trees again.

[karoberts]

LA has some of the best hiking and canyoneering in the country. Even though I hate LA, I just can't seem to leave these mountains. Take the 101 to the 134 to the 2 to Angeles Crest Hwy. Don't just scratch the surface. Really explore the San Gabriel Mountains, I am sure you will be surprised at what you find.

[Spirit Walker]

When we got off the CDT we visited friends and family in Phoenix, San Jose and Houston. The cities freaked us out, big time. When we returned east, we holed up for several months. In January we went to the Ruck and just being around 100-150 people had me feeling so claustrophobic I couldn't stand it. We holed up for several more months. After so many months of hiking with just two of us, through some very small towns and a lot of empty spaces, we weren't used to dealing with people at all. Going on the PCT that spring helped us resocialize. There were people, but in small numbers.

The travels we've done the past few years haven't helped in dealing with crowds or cities. We're in the DC area now and I absolutely hate it. It's a lot like LA - without the obvious smog, but with humungous hordes of people and traffic. We're holed up again and I can't wait for spring so we can get out to the mountains again. As soon as Jim heals from his surgery, we're out of here.

So, yes, I can really relate to how you're feeling. It's total culture shock, after two years on the road, to be dealing with the mess that is city life. When you go back to Colorado, find someplace where you can be around smaller groups of people. The Colorado Ruck will be coming and you can be with folks who understand, at least a little bit, what you've done. Good luck with it.

[adventurousmtnlvr]

I'm not a long distance hiker, yet. But I do know for a fact what you are feeling is very NORMAL. Doesn't matter if you are a hiker, coming back from war, an astronaut after a mission, deserted on some island or just memory loss, living with natives on the Discovery channel, some addict sort of person; all of those sort of things will take "time" to acclimate back to what was 'normal' but you will still NEVER be the same ever because of the long term experience you had. I agree with those who say ending in a large, loud, always something happening city is 'part' of the problem. Anyone going from solitude will experience that and be overwhelmed with the feeling of claustrophobia etc. So be glad it's "NORMAL" lol. I think a smaller city would have been easier where the town is 'laid' back and quieter and no hustle and bustle. Then move up to the larger ones down the road.

[aaroniguana]

My advice to you is...

well, you know...

[yappy]

I have been very fortunate that I go back to Alaska. I don't do well in cities, so my natural instincts is to head to the woods. We just got back from a few days in Seallt... GREAT coffee... but YIKES !.. i don't know how any you guys do it that are living in that kinda situation. I am in rural washington now... where I walk out my front door to hike. There is NO job , for me right now, that would take me to the city.... besides my dogs would freak !

[peanuts]

lion king, get out of l.a. now.........before it's too late
its toxic!

[elray]

Don't ever lose that feeling! It's what defines us. When I came home from the Nam after living outdoors for a year the only peace I could find for a long while was the solitude of the woods. Sounds corny but it's true. But the many years after that of making a living and raising a family have numbed and institutionalized me, it's only recently that I've begun to return to the old philosophy of "better living through Nature" that my sanity has begun to return. I've had the pleasure of meeting you and know you're a solid Dude, you'll be fine.

[Lion King]

Thanks ya'll.


LOL...great answers.

I know its normal, its just so different after nearly 17 months of living the vida nomad.

[weary]

It gets harder every time, I think, when you do a long hike to get back to ‘normal’.

I am having a much tougher time even caring about it this time.

Ive been off the trail for 9 days and it sure doesn't feel like it. I havent even completed my journals...maybe I'm putting that off so the 'end' will last longer.

I have been in Hollywood staying at a friends trying to decompress and I am really uncomfortable on crowded buses and with helicopters flying around and sirens and all the hoopla of a big city.

All I want to do is watch movies, eat and make out. Luckily a girl I know, Dawn, has been nice to spend time with. I needed a woman around BADLY, even if it was only today and Monday at a party thrown for me.

I don't know what it is, but I feel like I am further from people, or at least much different and every time I hear a person fighting with some one, or horns honking in a rage, or people being rude to one another I just want to get my pack and head to the AT/PCT wooded stretches. Not the small towns, or the cities but the deepest and most remote regions of those trails.

Snow and all, I don't care.

I have been to a couple of parties and that was fine, its just the smothering effect of large crowds...its hard to explain but I know a few of you know exactly what I am talking about.

Maybe when I get on back to Colorado for a week or so before visiting Family for Christmas I’ll feel better about being back.

I hope so.

Could just be this big dirty loud LA.

Thoughts on your ‘post trail’ brain?

15 years later, I haven't fully recovered. I think of my long walk almost daily. But I have compensated a bit by working to protect some wild places. I find it's a great feeling to walk a mountain or just a woodland that you have helped protect -- even a woodland trail that loops around a pond, a few hundred yards from a main road. Our town land trust bought the 253 acres a year after my Georgia to Maine walk.

When I feel a bit down I make another trail. So far the preserve has 10 miles of trail -- and counting!

Weary

[Mags]

On my site:
http://www.pmags.com/joomla/index.ph...ost-trail.html

As I wake up in my little box, and drive my little box to work in yet another little box, the feet are getting even itchier.

And yes, come to the Ruck. MArch 6th - 8th
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rockies_ruck/message/197


It is smaller (20-25 people) than the other hiker gatherings, but a very intimate feel. The Leadville Hostel is one of the best hostels on any trail, and it will bring back good memories as an ADT hiker!

[No Belay]

For hiker trash there's only one thing that's normal. HIKING. Treat all the rest as a necessary distraction for resupply and substainability. Existence void of nature isn't normal, regardless of what we're taught to beleive.

Savor Happy! HIKE