no trail connection....

[Hammock Hanger]

My hike is not going well...


I have made it through the Whites. It was rough, it was wet, it was pretty.

I have the usual aches and pains ( some really bad aches and pains) but on the whole I'm sound.

Problem is I am not emotionally/spiritually making a connection with the trail like I have in the past. I do the miles but I am not getting the JOY from them that I feel is necessary to warrant being out here.

So, after having rested up at BlueBearee 02's for a few days I "think" I have have decide to levae the trail for the summer. Go home grab my kayak and head out on a different adventure.... I could wake in the morning and change my mind once again as I have every morning for the past week but I doubt it.

Hope you are all doing something that brings JOY to your day. Sue/HH

[poison_ivy]

I've been following your journal and rooting for you all the way. Follow your bliss -- though that always sounds easier than it is. As you know, the trail will be there next year and you can finish up the remaining miles when the trail starts calling you again.

- Ivy

[Pencil Pusher]

That sounds pretty good. You sure have put some miles in on various trails. Don't sweat the not having joy on the trail stuff, maybe after kayaking you'll get an itching to play tennis or something. And then maybe during the winter you'll wanna go hiking in the Whites again. It's all good.

[SavageLlama]

Mid-summer hiking can give you a case of the "Blahs." if you're not feeling it, pack it in and come back to the trail in the Fall, when the leaves are turning.

[MedicineMan]

We leave for the Chesapeak and the Eastern Shore next week to slap some water for a bit, and to pick up a new 'yak in Brick New Jersey, cant believe I'm driving that far for a boat but they dont ship composite boats from the New Jersey Paddler.
Its a big world out there and sometimes its good to compare and contrast ocean and mountain. I hope to soon juxtapose our paddle around Cape May with the AT in SNP in August.
I had to get off my heels for a bit anyway but have connected with a good Orthopod who will not take a defeat in plantar fascitis.
so HH enjoy your paddle.

[A-Train]

HH-

The beautiful thing about the AT is its length. Many hikers curse it, but it provides so many opportunities to come back and back and back....whether you hiked it all or you haven't. Always tough to walk away before you reached what you "thought" was your destination. At the same time, seems you made the right decision.

Katahdin ain't going anywhere

[squirrel bait]

HH, sit on a beach,, gaze bleary eyed toward the ocean and think J Buffet. Get up and continue on, have fun kayaking. Trail will wait for you.

[ridgewalker777]

Hiking during war time with around a thousand G.I.s killed and six or seven times that injured with untolled numbers psychologically affected is far different than doing so in peace time. The stress levels are much higher than usual, there is no getting away from the grim reality. Yet I can still enter into it and enjoy the beauty, though less than usual.