I think I’m going nuts! I always find myself drifting off thinking about the A.T. Thats all I can think of is the A.T. At home and @ school all my spare time is on the web messin around researching every aspect and whim that pops in my head that even has anything remotely to do with my hike. Like posting this message. Any body else like this out there or am I really crazy?
Bucky
I am section hiking the AT. I started last September, hiked again in Feb and I am heading back to the AT to resume my NOBO hike in September again. I thought tht when I returned home, I would forget about going back for a few months, BUT, instead, I think about heading back on the trail everyday! You’re not crazy, we’re all crazy!
Zydecajun
I coul’nt stop thinking of the AT before my hike, I read everything I could lay my hands on and spent hundreds of hours on the Net. However, after my hike I find I still think of the AT all of the time, the only difference now is that I have the satisfaction of havinf completed my hike and lots of great memories and new friends.
Downunda
Let us think here…you want to…strap 30-50 pounds onto your back…while walking 2160+ miles…through everything from sun/heat to rain/sleet/snow…without pay…
Yeah, sounds crazy as hell to me!! Sign Me Up!!! 
I do the same thing, thinking about it all the time, surfing the 'net endlessly, etc… :tongue
see ya in '04
xtn :boy
airferret
I hiked sobo in '99 and I still think about the trail often. I seem to get the bug when the weather is good in the spring and fall. I just want to hike. Bugs, rain, mud, sun, heavy packs, starving for more food, and all that stuff. I would quit my job and hike right now if I got the chance.
Darth Pacman
Me too, me too. I am married 19 years, 38 years old, 12 yr old daughter, very full life, settled and I am doing exactly same thing. Yes, I walk and hike as much as I can but no where near ready for even a section hike. Yet I find myself constantly trying to figure out ways to deal with my back and hip problems while hiking AT or PCT. What’s wrong with me? My mother squeals “GET REAL! There’s NO WAY you could do it.” I can’t stop thinking about it trying to make it work in my mind. Maybe my constant reading about it just fuels this illogical fire in my head and heart?
AquaAllie
No Bucky, you are not crazy. You have been bitten by a bug that causes an infection called The AT. Once you are bitten you become addicted to the AT and everything about it.
Fortunately there is a cure. It’s called hiking. You put the pack on and go hike. It’s better to do it on the AT but in a pinch any trail will do.
Happy trails.
Grampie-N->2001
Grampie
I’m so glad to read that there are others out there with this same affliction. I can not stop THINKING about this damn trail. It’s insane. Ever since I found out about it’s existence when I was in the 5th grade, it lit a small spark somewhere deep within me. But somewhere in my college years, the spark ignited, and then it would occasionally dart in and out of my mind. Over the past 3 years, however, what began as a tiny spark has evolved into a raging inferno within my soul. I can’t stop talking about it, reading about it, thinking about it. Can this plague be cured by a pain-staking six-month hike through rugged terrain and grueling weather conditions? I’ll find out in 2004!
C-Giddy
SHUCKS AND BY-GOLLY, IT’S THE DRY-LIFES, THAT do not DRINK OF IMAGINATION’S SPARKLE, THAT ARE NUTS !!! AND HERE ARE A COUPLE OF QUOTES : “THEY SICKEN OF THE CALM, WHO KNOW THE STORM.” — DOROTHY PARKER PLAYING WITH FIRE IS BAD FOR THOSE WHO END UP BURNING THEMSELVES. FOR EVERYBODY ELSE,IT’S A GREAT PLEASURE." — LEON DAUDI ANOTHER : “ANY FOOL CAN PUT HIS HIDE ON THE LINE AND THROW HIS LIFE AWAY IN THE PROCESS. THE IDEA IS TO BE ABLE TO PUT YOUR HIDE ON THE LINE —AND THEN TO HAVE THE MOXIE, THE REFLEXES, THE TALENT, THE EXPERIENCE, TO PULL IT BACK IN AT THE LAST YAWNING MOMENT–AND THEN TO BE ABLE TO GO OUT AGAIN THE NEXT DAY AND DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN—AND IN ITS BEST EXPRESSION, TO BE ABLE TO DO IT IN SOME HIGHER CAUSE, IN SOME CALLING THAT MEANS SOMETHING.” CHEERS AND HAPPY TRAILS !!! TABASCO
tabasco
Short hikes help but even a thru-hike may not be the cure. For some one bitten by the bug, we want to hike again and again. It become an addiction to long distance hiking. Just read journals of people out again and again.
Darth Pacman
I have 248 days left at work 273 days left at home 274 days 12 hours 53 ninutes till I start my hike.I have got evry thing I can get this early in planning.
I hike on the AT jest about evry weekend but it still not enough!
Chris(Pole Break)Oakley
Doesn’t matter. Some of us get the bug and it never goes away. Even knowing what the reality is - the rain, the heat, the cold, the hunger . . . I would give anything to go back. Well, I will go back. I’ve done four long distance hikes now, and can’t wait to go back and do the CDT and PCT again – three years until our next journey. I may even do the AT for the third time, one of these days. For some of us, the life is very addictive. Weekend hikes and vacation hikes are good, but they just whet the appetite. There is something about spending five or six months totally immersed in the hiking lifestyle. I do miss it.
Spirit Walker
I’m a thru hiker wannabe with a career and family responsibilities that may delay my hike until retirement. I’m 49 so I have many years to wait (and dream). I only hope I’ll still be healthy when retirement comes. Maybe I should get myself fired so I can start now. I’ve done most of Virginia but want to experience it all. My wife thinks I’m crazy. Went to Damascus for Trail Days just to be around others who share the dream.
Jack Berry
Hey Jack, I thought my knees were shot after N.H. But they seemed to have come back. Im 46. I just look twenty two!!
Virginian
Jack – As to the knees, they probably won’t improve with age. I’m 60, thru-hiking VA, and they are holding up pretty well as I do the AT in small sections. Bring your poles every time. It’s amazing how much they’ll help fragile knees from getting beat up.
As to to the original post, Merle Haggard (or Waylon Jennings) said it best in his song of the same name – “I’ve always been crazy, it’s kept me from going insane.”
Sky Rider
I’ve been crazy. It’s a nice walk. It was fun getting there. If you plan on going crazy, start in GA and walk to ME. This year I got to hide my own Easter eggs and I got a nice coloring book for my birthday. Virginian, I’m 56 and look twenty-two!
Papa Smurf
Hey Tobasco,
Your quotes reminded me a one of my favorites:
“It is not the critic who counts, nor the person who points out how the strong person stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the person who is actually in the arena; whose face is actually marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again, who knows great enthusiasm and great devotions, whose life is spent in a worthy cause; who, at best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and at worst, if failure wins out, it at least wins with greatness, so that this person’s place shall never be with those timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” — Theodore Roosevelt
Raz