Bad days on trail

imported
#21

Do you have expectations? Hmm. Maybe there is also a group, those that are and have always been woodsy, that have no expectations. They already know that each day is different and they just go with the flow. I think we may be a few of those people, me and the wife and a few friends of ours. We spent many days on the trial in '01 with hikers that had never been out that long before and had gotten spooked about time and milage and The K. We saw it as travels in life, not when are we going to get there. In our case there was never any thought of IF but HOW we get there. And when we did finish…we finished just a chapter in our outdoor experience. We tried, allowing the “hike your own hike” rules, to mellow out our new friends, to get them to see the forest through the trees. “Dude, look around you, smell the woods, you’re alive, you’re here, stop fighting over a sports drink”.

Bushwhack

#22

…make good stories. As I like to tell my friends, it’s not an adventure until someone screws up. But I also point out that if we take care of the planning, the screw ups will take care of themselves.

Ardsgaine

#23

I clearly remember running across bog bridges in Mass. a thousand mosquitoes on me and another thousand waiting in line. It was a thousand degrees also. I had run out of water and if I stopped to pump, they would suck me dry in seconds. My sleeping bad had fallen off my pack, was held up by one strap and it was hitting me on the back of my legs. I was tired, hungry, extremely dirty and burning up. I was also singing at the top of my lungs, sooo happy to be alive at that moment.

At this moment I am wearing clean clothes, full of food, the temperature is perfect, nothing is biting me, there are beautiful women all around me.

Guess where I want to be? Back on that bog bridge. Thrus are just flat out insane. There is no other explaination

Blue Jay

#24

some people are just happy people and look to the positive. Me, I never understood the Virginia Blues… Maybe that occurs for some folks… I had a great time on the trail and usually do in life as well. gotta run

aswah

Aswah

#25

I think the virginny blues were made up by trail trolls to discourage thru-hikers. seriously tho there are no virginia blues. the trail is as exciting and beautiful as all the rest of the AT. Its just an excuse for people tiring of everyday trailife sometime between mile 450 and 1000.
Should be the mid-atlantic plague. Seems like lots of folks for some reason really lose it in PA/NJ especially NY and lower NE.

A-Train

#26

I think “Bad” doesn’t capture my tough days, town or trail. “Challenging” is my preference, because it can be engaged, whereas “bad” leaves one powerless. It’s a way of thinking, really -not a semantic game. When dealing with trailjournals, you see a lot of justified positivity. Many people here are so engrossed in the experience because it really does them well. The people who decide hiking is part “bad” might not devote the energy needed to maintain a journal. I don’t think people “sugarcoat” their entries AT ALL. They are simply choosing what to focus on each day. “Bad” is very subjective. It’s a perception. Who knows, someone out there probably loves mosquitos. But I know many who don’t let them bother them. I even know some who repel them with their “mind”. The point is, its all perception. That’s the beauty of wilderness. It’s all what YOU make of it. There’s nothing else to blame. Taking away your own power to dance through a challenge -now that would be bad. :wink:

Tha Wookie

#27

for all thru-hikers go thru; i’ve often wondered why there isnt a marine recruiter on top of katahdin waiting to sign people up.

“you just walked 2000 miles? well friend; let me tell you about somewhere where you can get paid to do that. Here is a brochure. Lets have a seat and talk son…”

Big Boy

#28

Even some of the worst days inbedded in the dephts and beauty of the wilderness are so much better then the best days anywhere else. The freedom, the sounds, smells, the people, the way the mind works, the days of physical challenge, as well as the way your body adjusts to pain. It makes life a smoother thing in most aspects, because it teaches you humility. Most of the time anyway.
The hard times teach you to be strong and independent, and you are blessed with the things you need when you need them to make the bad tests, better and the rainy days bright as the morning sun.

Lion King