what are you giving up to hike the trail?

[sarahgirl]

I'm not middle age, but I will be giving up my niece's high school graduation, my dad's college graduation and possibly my sister's wedding if I don't make it back in time.

Not to mention the obvious little stuff like family, friends, and my dog who would love to go with me!

[coheterojo]

I'm giving up a good paying job I've had for 12 years. Besides that I can't think of much I'll be giving up. Seems to me I'll be gaining a whole lot more than I'll be losing. I feel about 8,000,000% more alive on the trail than when I'm not.

I don't own much of anything besides some books, clothes and a bunch of backpacking stuff. I'll throw everything into one of those little storage units, pay 'em 6 months up front and call it a day.

I don't know what I'm gonna do after the hike. Hopefully have enough sense to move somewhere closer to the mountains!

[bobbyw]

I'm not 45+, but when I started my thru hike this year I had a car, a job at Dell, a 3 bedroom rental to myself, and a house full of items. Today I own enough things to fit inside a single tupperware storage bin, and a guitar... I haven't been home in almost nine months.

[drifters quest]

Well, I don't have much to start with, but I am selling a horse and any possesion I can find worth something that I can give up.. Although you could say i'm quitting my job here, I know they would always welcome me back at the ranch. I am holding off school for a year, although one of my classes involved a week long raft trip on the green river, I figure you can always take a week off,but it will be hard to find 5-6 months later in life.

[oldhoss]

I have two sons who are both expecting a baby 2 to 3 weeks after I leave. I will not see either of these grandsons until they are 6 months old.

[GeneralLee10]

Time with the Wife and my Beautiful daughter.

[llano]

I will miss celebrating my 28th wedding anniversary with my husband, as well as miss my younger son's 18th birthday and my older son's 22nd birthday.

[ShelterLeopard]

I'm not giving up much. I'm between high school and college (this is my second year off), and when I come home, I'll be applying, and maybe traveling a bit.

Giving up mental stress for, well, physical stress. And I know that thru hiking takes a great amount of mental strength, and can be mentally, the hardest thing to do. But that is a different mental stress. Simpler.

[Jeff]

I have two sons who are both expecting a baby 2 to 3 weeks after I leave. I will not see either of these grandsons until they are 6 months old.

Leaving a month later is a great tradeoff!!! And, the trail is alot more fun when you are not shivering.

[ShelterLeopard]

I actually have an extaordinarily good time to go. I go before college, and when I finish, I am going to my family's summer place in Michigan, so I can transition to non hiking before transitioning to home. I can still be active and be outside tons in Michigan, I'll have no committments until I return home, to Jersey. (Where I can, of course, also be outside) I think it would be more difficult to come straight home, somehow.

[Omega Man]

The one thing besides my wife and pets, that I will miss the most while thru-hiking the AT is Baseball season... San Francisco Giants baseball to be exact.

[Kashmir]

Not a whole lot,, I'm taking a semester off from College and then I'll be back to graduate in the Fall. I see this as just a kind of break in the experience.. Some people I know have studied abroad a semester.. I see this as something similar (minus the credits_)

[Pages]

i remember reading "into the wild" maybe 10 years ago or so, and thinking that chris maccandless was an adventurous, optimistic, calculating young man. I thought that he actually had the courage to do something that though i always wanted to, i was always afriad to confront and do.

Now, several years later, after recently seeing the film, i found myself wondering if he was just an ignorant, immature youngster who suffered miserably from his inexperience and mistakes.

the GIST of this post was to compare my sanity, or insanity as the case may be to others of a SIMILAR ilk; ie still a few years away from retirement and older age security, but cutting the strings early anyway because of the dream and call of the trail.

for those who responded from similar perspectives, thank you.

[Mrs Baggins]

Words of warning from two people who did all of that - - sold the house, the furniture, most of the household goods, one of two cars, took 7 months leave of absence (hubby tried to resign but his company granted the LOA instead - thank God in the end). Your hike will end - whether it's in a matter of days , weeks, months or at Katahdin. You are going to need another home ($$$), furniture ($$$), maybe another vehicle ($$$) and you better have a job prospect to pay for it. It's all well and good to be idealistic and think you can just throw all of that away for a thru-hike and "come what may" at the end of it. Sure thing, if you're 20. Not at 40+. It all sounds so good, doesn't it? "I sold my house!" "I sold off everything!" Right. See what it's going to cost you to get it all back. You think you'll be happy with a bare minimum life of some kind if you can just get to Katahdin. Not at your age. That's for the 20 somethings, maybe some of the less ambitious 30 somethings that think-they-can-feed-the-wife-and-kids-granola-in-a-log-cabin-forever crowd. Go for it. Get over the idealism. You should have rented the house out, stored your stuff, and then gone. You'll still scoff and say "No, really, I won't need it! I can get by! I'm Mr Natural and don't need "the man" after I've hiked 2000 miles!" Uh huh. We've been there, done that, and we now know what we should have done.

[jombo22]

i would be leaving ... car (payment 552 a month)

Man, you ought to lose that expensive car anyways

Words of warning from two people who did all of that - - sold the house, the furniture, most of the household goods, one of two cars, took 7 months leave of absence (hubby tried to resign but his company granted the LOA instead - thank God in the end). Your hike will end - whether it's in a matter of days , weeks, months or at Katahdin. You are going to need another home ($$$), furniture ($$$), maybe another vehicle ($$$) and you better have a job prospect to pay for it. It's all well and good to be idealistic and think you can just throw all of that away for a thru-hike and "come what may" at the end of it. Sure thing, if you're 20. Not at 40+. It all sounds so good, doesn't it? "I sold my house!" "I sold off everything!" Right. See what it's going to cost you to get it all back. You think you'll be happy with a bare minimum life of some kind if you can just get to Katahdin. Not at your age. That's for the 20 somethings, maybe some of the less ambitious 30 somethings that think-they-can-feed-the-wife-and-kids-granola-in-a-log-cabin-forever crowd. Go for it. Get over the idealism. You should have rented the house out, stored your stuff, and then gone. You'll still scoff and say "No, really, I won't need it! I can get by! I'm Mr Natural and don't need "the man" after I've hiked 2000 miles!" Uh huh. We've been there, done that, and we now know what we should have done.

I'm glad that you posted this. I always have similar thoughts when people talk about "throwing it all away". Why not wait until you get back to sell the house and all your stuff? If you've been living at least somewhat frugally, you should be able to keep up on your mortgage, etc for 6 months without going into debt. Especially if you were working at a "good" job for X number of years.

You may find that you don't want or need that stuff when you get back, or you may find that you really do like a high standard of living.

I don't think it has as much to do with age as you claim. I think it has more to do with the choices you make and the kind of life you want. There are a number of posters in this thread who enjoy their responsibilities to their families, and enjoy providing a high standard of living for them. If you are providing for a family who demand a certain standard of living, you really can't just take off like that. On the other hand, I personally know some folks in their 50's who don't mind eating granola in log cabins That's an exaggeration, I don't know anybody who lives in a log cabin, but there are people who lead happy lives on monthly incomes not much more than double what jbrecon pays for his car each month... Personally, I would not be comfortable living that meagerly, but it can be done and people do it.


Apparently you and your husband are not that kind of person. Nothing wrong with that, I'm not really that kind of person either. I think your advice is good. If you aren't 100% sure that you want to take the plunge into simpler living, it might be better to rent out the house and store the stuff rather than getting rid of it all.

[Cuffs]

[QUOTE=Mrs Baggins;948799]Your hike will end - whether it's in a matter of days , weeks, months or at Katahdin. You are going to need another home ($$$), furniture ($$$), maybe another vehicle ($$$) and you better have a job prospect to pay for it. It's all well and good to be idealistic and think you can just throw all of that away for a thru-hike and "come what may" at the end of it. Sure thing, if you're 20. Not at 40+. It all sounds so good, doesn't it? "I sold my house!" "I sold off everything!" Right. See what it's going to cost you to get it all back. You think you'll be happy with a bare minimum life of some kind if you can just get to Katahdin. Not at your age. That's for the 20 somethings, maybe some of the less ambitious 30 somethings that think-they-can-feed-the-wife-and-kids-granola-in-a-log-cabin-forever crowd. Go for it. Get over the idealism. You should have rented the house out, stored your stuff, and then gone. You'll still scoff and say "No, really, I won't need it! I can get by! I'm Mr Natural and don't need "the man" after I've hiked 2000 miles!" Uh huh. We've been there, done that, and we now know what we should have done.[/QUOTE

I'm glad you know what works for everyone and that your prescribed plan of action is the only one needed and will work for everyone. Since you know such deep info, can you dig me up the powerball numbers for next week? The ones that will work for me...please?

[jrwiesz]

I'm glad you know what works for everyone and that your prescribed plan of action is the only one needed and will work for everyone. Since you know such deep info, can you dig me up the powerball numbers for next week? The ones that will work for me...please?

I'd like some of that action also. Is the payout over $100 million yet?

[Mrs Baggins]

Man, you ought to lose that expensive car anyways



I'm glad that you posted this. I always have similar thoughts when people talk about "throwing it all away". Why not wait until you get back to sell the house and all your stuff? If you've been living at least somewhat frugally, you should be able to keep up on your mortgage, etc for 6 months without going into debt. Especially if you were working at a "good" job for X number of years.

You may find that you don't want or need that stuff when you get back, or you may find that you really do like a high standard of living.

I don't think it has as much to do with age as you claim. I think it has more to do with the choices you make and the kind of life you want. There are a number of posters in this thread who enjoy their responsibilities to their families, and enjoy providing a high standard of living for them. If you are providing for a family who demand a certain standard of living, you really can't just take off like that. On the other hand, I personally know some folks in their 50's who don't mind eating granola in log cabins That's an exaggeration, I don't know anybody who lives in a log cabin, but there are people who lead happy lives on monthly incomes not much more than double what jbrecon pays for his car each month... Personally, I would not be comfortable living that meagerly, but it can be done and people do it.


Apparently you and your husband are not that kind of person. Nothing wrong with that, I'm not really that kind of person either. I think your advice is good. If you aren't 100% sure that you want to take the plunge into simpler living, it might be better to rent out the house and store the stuff rather than getting rid of it all.

When we got rid of practically everything we danced with joy and told everyone how "free" we felt, how unburdened, who needs all of that crap, we sure don't!" We also absolutely believed we'd be gone for months and there was no doubt in our minds we'd do the entire hike in that time. No doubt. 8 days later it was over. That's the reality no one wants to hear. Everyone wants to hear "You'll do it! Go for it! Worry about it all later!" Before we set off from the Hiker Hostel we met two men there who had lasted exactly 2 days and were going home. They, too, had planned and waited and dreamed for years and were sure they'd do it. We could have turned the house over to a property manager to rent out for one year so that we didn't have to deal with the renters or the money aspect. It would have been a simple thing to find an apartment to rent until the lease was up on our house and then we would have moved right back in. We could have spent $3100 to store everything for 6 months instead of $1800 to store what was left and then $7000 to replace all our basic furniture items that we had sold off. We could have kept both vehicles instead of having to get yet another car loan to replace the one we sold. Our biggest piece of good fortune was that we did sell our house just before, and I mean literally WEEKS before, the housing market crashed. We had the money to start over. But still, looking back, we would not have done it the way we did. We had no home to come back to, made a rash, pressured decision to settle somewhere else, and then my husband got called back to his job - - in their Canada office, and I was left in a town I grew to hate because we had hurriedly bought a home there, we spent far too much money on that monumental mistake, and in the end after nearly 3 years we've come right back to where we started from in terms of location and life style. We were very very lucky. This time we bought a house that we can keep if we want to lock it up and go away for months. We had friends who took their two young daughters to Singapore (job) for a year and they didn't sell everything. They came back to a home they loved and settled right back in.

Have a Plan B. That is not some way of insuring defeat. That's common sense. Once you're in your 40's and up, chances are outstanding that you aren't going to have your mom's sofa to crash on til you get your life together. Your grown kids aren't going to fancy having you living with them either. And while friends may offer up a bed they'll soon grow tired of you as well. They probably just got their own kids out of the house. They don't need you hanging around now. I'm not mean. I'm brutally honest.

[Pages]

good advice, mrs baggins. this is just the type of REAL WORLD EXPERIENCE i was looking for when i originally started this post.

it IS great to be idealistic at 20 or 30, but at 50+, bouncing back is not nearly as easy and a miserable return after the hike could be completely defeating and something i WILL avoid.

I WILL follow my dream, but will have "bailout plan insurance" just in case the dream turns into a nightmare.

i know that my health may decline in several years, and the trail will not be what it is now - but then it has already changed tremendously from the 70's anyway, but waiting closer to retirement, i think, is a much better calculated risk.

for all those who can do it differently, stop reading this post and get out on the trail already!

tv

[Grimelowe]

My story:

I am planning my 2011 GA>ME thru-hike.

I'm 34 now. I will be 36 when I start on April 16th 2011. I have wanted to hike the AT since I was in H.S. Until now, I've suppressed these dreams with the realities of my life.

I was 20 when I found out I would become a father. I dropped out of college and got a job. Shortly after our son was born, my wife and I married. I've worked for the same good company for 14 years. I am happily married to an awesome woman who inspires me even though she doesn't always understand me. (She doesn't camp, much less backpack) I now have a beautiful daughter two years younger than my son.

I also have all the trappings of suburban existence (A decently large house with a swimming pool, two large dogs, and a couple of 4 door cars, and lots of 'stuff' and 'things'. I'm sending my son to a very expensive private school.) that seem to cost money.

But...

I won't give up any of it.

I am not willing to give up my suburban family life style until my kids are out of the house... My wife might never be willing to give it up.

I have been paying off my bills, and saving smartly. I have gotten approval for a 3 month unpaid LOA from work. I'll use my LOA, 2011 vacation (27 days), carry-over 2010 vacation (10 days) to stretch for a 147 days (April 16th to Sept 11th) of walking holiday. 2011 will be the first year since I was a young poor H.S. graduate, that I can make this dream a reality without neglecting my family.

I believe attempting a thru-hike is absolutely a selfish act for a 'family man.'

My children are old enough now that my absence from the home for 5 months will not be an extra burden on my wife. Since my wife is a teacher, she'll take the kids on a few short vacations between June and late August to meet-up at towns along the trail. (She figures this is a healthier mid-life crisis than the alternatives... I see this as a sabbatical instead on a mid-life crisis, but she is humoring my dreams either way)

I feel very fortunate and blessed. I think there is a different story/reason for each person who hikes.

Just H.Y.O.H. and enjoy the journey.

-Grimey
We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time. -T.S. Elliot