How has the trail affected your life? Post Trail Stress Syndrome

imported
#1

“I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him; or the old laws be expanded, and interpreted in his favor in a more liberal sense, and he will live with the license of a higher order of beings. In proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty poverty, nor weakness weakness. If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.”

Thoreau

I was curious to see what others felt about the impact, or lack thereof, of a lengthy period in the woods. For me personally I find it hard to re-adjust. 2000 was hard, 2001 wasn’t as hard and this year has proved the hardest. I was happy to get back, at first. Daytripper and me had some grand plans for life after the trail. Time has past. Next week we are heading back to the Smokies to sit and ponder at Charlie’s Bunion; to watch the clouds pass at Bradley’s View; to drink from the hearth of the earth… to smell pines; to feel the changing of the seasons…

I feel so less connected with Babylon. I can’t understand peoples fascination with TV sets. I can’t understand why anyone would vote for Bush or Kerry. I can’t understand why cities exist at all. They are miserable cement beehives that are grey, cold and unfeeling. I really do long for the sanctuary of the long green tunnels. The feeling of pure unadulterated joy at watching a sunset, sunrise, seeing a bear, flowers… the sound of the pitter patter of rain falling on my tarp; the smell of rain and oines intermingled… I don’t know where life will lead me… but for now I am choosing the other road and heading for the West Coast, or at least West…

Peace,

ASWAH

http://www.trailjournals.com/photos.cfm?trailname=1730

Aswah

#2

Is a computer better than a TV?

dude

#3

WoW, This is a big one to add too. Those that know me will not look for any proper paragraphs. I drew up on Long Island and as a kid my family would drive to Up-state NY. When we got to the mountains my eyes were glued to the window. I wanted my Dad to pull over so I could start climbing.

God made everyone different. We here have been gifted to Love the outdoors and Hiking. Others love Golf, fishing, cities, or a combination of things. Allot of people think I’m nuts because I Love being in the woods and sleeping on the ground. Because I walked from Ga to Me. Oh well.

All I know is “I WANT TO BE OUT THERE”

Sub

Subman

#4

I think A-Train said it best. I see a lot of potential in that young Punk. “GO DATA”

Sub

Subman

#5

It’s fine to be idealistic and go hiking when you’re young, but one of these days nature will have its way and you’ll be a wife or husband with kids. It’s a whole different ball game then, folks. Bills become more important than boots, and fluctuations in the 30-year Treasury rate will absolutely fascinate you. Just remember, it’s all about balance in life. --Bob

www.mortgageandbabies.com

Bedrock Bob

#6

Guess part of nature skipped me. I have the husband and the mortgage, but never a smidgen of desire for the baby thing. Nah, too many other people populating the world. (I mean, heck, we could always adopt if we change our mind.)

Sorry, but I always have to pipe up when someone seems to imply that having kids is part of everyone’s nature. Long-distance backpacking is much more in my nature than devoting years of my own life to raising a child. With the husband and the mortgage, I can still go hiking for six months, so I’ll leave the baby-making to others. Still, I think it’s possible to have it all. That is, www.mortgageandbabiesandthruhiking.com. Not easy, but doable.

ramkitten

#7

i’m not really sure why people keep bringing up mortgages and babies. i guess if that’s what you choose, then you have to give up other stuff. i think something i was reminded of while out in the woods was that we each have choices to make which will be based on the circumstances we’re faced with at the time.
if you choose to work your a** off and go hiking every time you have saved up a reasonable amount of money, then you probably won’t be able to get a mortgage or have time for babies.
if you choose to go for a long hike, and then buckle down and get yourself a mortgage and figure out all the logistics of having a family, then you will probably not have time/money to go on multiple long distance hikes.
but this is trailjournals.com, not mortgageandbabies.com, so make your choices, people.

zero

#8

Hiking and having a home and/or family are not mutually exclusive. It’s a matter of establishing priorities and leading a fulfilling and integrated life. The lifestyle you think you need to be happy automatically determines your priorities and your behaviors. You want the starter castle and the two new SUVs in the garage, you will have to do whatever you have to do to get them. Life on the trail is not the end all and be all, despite its wonderful aspects, and life in cities can have great advantages. Different conditions and ways of thinking suit different people at different times in their lives. I change and grow as the years pass and try not to judge people for being where they are in their life’s journey. Balance is key. To say that, some day, hikers will somehow grow up and see the light and wake up with a house and kids somehow misses the point. It’s like saying people with houses and kids will someday wake up and decide to chuck it all and go hiking. Some folks do exactly that. There are lots of versions of reality, and just because someone else’s view of reality doesn’t match mine doesn’t mean they’re wrong. There are some inevitabilities in life, but a house and a mortgage isn’t everyone’s fate…and neither is distance hiking. Polarity, polarity everywhere. Can’t we all just get along?:bawling

Tyger

#9

We set our own barriers. You can live cheaply and travel/hike with a child. You just have to be innovative. Hiking is great, and necessary for balance but I agree with Tyger that is not an end all be all. All that fancy gear thru-hikers carry was not manufactured while hiking on the trail. All those towns we stop into to resupply at were not built while hiking on trail. Thru-hikers depend on the world at large for their experience. If your only goal is to thru-hike, what other contributions are you making to make the world better?

Dan

#10

Aswah, I met you at “the Cabin”, this year I believe. Jan’s post really reverberated in me. Coming off the trail I saw myself slowly shutting down that “ALIVE” feeling I carried with me everywhere. For some reason, coming back to the more structured world, it wasn’t OK to “feel” anymore. That aliveness, that fire, is always inside me, it is always “on”, but i chose not to feel it in the world of cell phones, concrete, and car insurance.

Here is my struggle. I see my linkages - the joy and fire felt on the trail is only felt on the trail. The modern world appears to be what you said: “cold, grey, and unfeeling”. My confusion is mostly unconscious… but i see myself making the trail the thing that creates my joy/aliveness rather than it is ME that creates my joy/aliveness, regardless of my surroundings. This may be why you feel “so less connected to Babylon”.

Right now I’m spinning my wheels, wondering what to do next. Get a job? Plan another hike? I have all this desire to do something, but don’t know what it is. I’m reading a book now called, “I Could Do Anything, if I only knew what it was”. So far, it’s pretty good and getting me out of my “directionlessness”.

Dharma

#11

“There is another call, the one that arrives the day when what once worked no longer does. Sometimes people need a shock; sometimes a tocsin call. It’s time for a wake up call. A man fired from a job; a child runs away from home; ulcers overtake a body. The ancients called this “soul loss”. Today, the equivalent is the loss of meaning or purpose in our lives. There is a void where there should be what Gerard Manley Hopkins calls “juice and joy.” The heart grows cold, life loses it’s vitality. Our accomplishments seem meaningless.”

  • Phil Cousineau

“These city walls, are like a prison. We got keep on living with our backs against the wall. We are creatures of love; victims of hate…Start living on a higher vibration. Perfection of divinity is everyone’s duty. Don’t waste your time, living for the vanities. We are creatures of faith; victims of destiny…which we created. Now we are living on a higher vibration.”

  • Ziggy Marley

well, it’s been a great thread… I myself am moving to a greener state of mind… looks like Oregon, California or somewhere like that… as far as the woods… when I get out of trail debt and a couple g’s saved… I’ll come home to the woods. For those that want and like the corporate world… peace be to you… but it ain’t for me no more.

What’s up Dharma? Oh, Ramkitten, yeah it was weird to hike near people for six months but never really run into them until the top of special K… Hope life treats you fairly and enjoy your next hike…

One Love,

ASWAH the Ignorant

“Even as an old peasant woman recognizes her god in a painted image, in a childish medal, in a chaplet, so life would speak to us in it’s humblest language in order we understand. The joy of living, I say, was summed up for me in the remembered sensation of that burning and aromatic swallow, that mixture of milk and coffee and bread by which men hold communion with tranquil pastures, exotic plantations, and golden harvests, communion with earth.”

Antoine de Saint Exupery

Aswah

#12

A lot of folks have fantasies about “if only … then I’d be happy.” For some it’s winning the lottery, losing 100 pounds, living on a tropical island etc. They know, though, that the chances are, those events will never happen.

As thruhikers we have the constant thought that “If I could go back on the trail, then I’d be happy.” And we know that a) thruhiking is, for us, really happiness, and b) it isn’t a fantasy, it could be reality for us if we are only willing to go do it.

In some ways that thought is a torment, when I think about how much I would like to quit my job and go hiking now instead of waiting two more years, but it is also a beacon of hope because I know that no matter how bad things get in this other reality, I can and will go home again, it just may take a while.

Before I did my first thruhike, I knew I loved the outdoors and I hiked almost every weekend. Even so, I never imagined how much thruhiking would become an essential part of my life. I think frequently about past hikes, plan future ones, follow along in the journals of current hikers, give advice to wanna be’s – some would say it is a sad thing to be so focused on one part of my life, but it has given me a great deal of pleasure over the years. Being in the woods makes me happy. Planning a long hike makes me happy. Doing a long hike, despite the difficulties involved, is real bone deep happiness. I plan on at least two more long hikes, more if my body will hold up.

Spirit Walker

#13

No wonder you are unhappy! You’ve been out in the woods getting away from the real meaning of life.
MONEY $illy! Spend it, earn it, count it, smell it, steal it whenever you can.
Get in your car and go to work!
It should be easy to get a job in this economy, you can go to India and get one.
As for the trees and the outdoors, you can see them easily, W will have them sold out and cut down in the next 4 years if he can. Go to your local lumber yard.

Mr. success