Thru-hike post-hike blues

imported
#1

Just wondering how all the other thru-hikers handle their post-hike readjustments. Even several months after our hike my husband and I are still having trouble living ordinary life. We are always thinking of being out on the trail. We both seem much more depressed without the daily hiking regime. In fact the only think we get excited about is planning our next long-distance hike, which we hope to do this summer on the IAT. So thur-hikers, let us know how you are doing and what ways you find to fight the post-hike depression.

Budder Ball

#2

Budder Ball,

I think everyone experiences some adjustment time. Rather than being depressed, you should be happy you’re still married. At least that is what people told me after my wife and I thruhiked in '01. :slight_smile:

We are back into the swing of daily life, but we still think about the trail all the time. I find helping other people through the forums to be therapeutic. We also volunteer with the AMC maintaining a section of trail from the top of Goose Eye to Full Goose Shelter. It feels good to give back , leave a little trail magic here and there, etc.

Grimace
ME->GA '01

Grimace

#3

Still B+B, still depressed. I think hiking as a couple made us stronger and tested our limits together. We are better for it…and it’s STILL ONE BIG SHOPPING TRIP FOR YOU ISN’T IT? :>)
Okie and Trapper are still married, but then they’re cute that way. Twin Schwinns are. AT one point we had all three married coules hiking together. That was cool.

B+B

#4

Some people get back into their old lives, or begin new ones, without a lot of difficulty. Some of us have a harder time. We tend to be the ‘repeat offenders’ who go back and hike again and again. I think it depends on whether you have something else in your life that really excites you - as much as the long hike did. For me, that has been hard to find. After my first hike, I moved, which helped for a while as I explored my new environment and new hiking trails. But then Springer fever came back and I ended up doing another AT hike, four years after the first. After that one I moved and got married and did a lot of hiking, but still ended up really missing the long distance hiking life, so went on another hike, followed by another. Now I’m back to wishing on a daily basis that I could be thruhiking, but know that it won’t be possible for several years. Planning for summer hikes helps, for a while, but isn’t the same as planning for a real long distance hike. I have a good life, a great marriage and get out to do a lot of hiking and trail work, but there is something about long distance hiking that is addictive for some of us. The intensity of life and the happiness I knew on the trail just aren’t the same as the transitory joys of my off trail life. Good luck in the transition. 14 years after my first hike, I still haven’t gotten over it.

Spirit Walker

#5

I have found that beer and TV has helped my post thru-hike transition. Although… now i can keep a job cause im drunk all the time. The winters almost over… ill just thru-hike again.

Werewolf GA->ME02

Werewolf