I got a late night phone call from one of my best trail mates the other night. We couldn't believe that it had already been a little over a month since we had finished. We talked a lot about post trail life and how it feels like we were just waking up from some fantastical dream. It has been undeniably a huge adjustment from waking up surrounded by an expansive forest to being enclosed in by four gypsum board walls. A day hasn't gone by this past month that I haven't thought back on trail life. Even the smallest of events that you never thought you would remember suddenly come vividly rushing back to you at random. They remind me that it all wasn't just a dream. It was something that we lived, and something that we should continue living.
1. Manifestation Is Real
Every night before everyone headed into their sleeping bags, my hiking partners and I would all get together and do what we called Highs and Hopes. We would all go around in a circle and tell each other our high moment of the day and our hope for tomorrow. We were known as Team Highs and Hopes on the trail. The High responses always varied greatly from just hiking that day to having some life altering moment on trail. The Hope responses are always really what intrigued me though. It seemed as if the hopes always came to fruition, I would say about 85% of the time. Even when the next day had a 100% chance of rain in the forecast, something that we have no control over. Somebody would hope for no rain, and just like that we would just have an overcast day with no rain. Our last night in the 100 Mile Wilderness, Trail Mom had hoped that we all see a moose together, and then the next day a moose and her calf where right there on the trail with us. Other times it would be a hope for something that we had control over like a cold drink or to put extra miles in to get to an amazing campsite, and we would all go out of our ways to make that hope come true.
If you want something to happen badly enough it will happen. It may not happen when you want it to happen, but it will most certainly happen when you need it to. You just have to keep the positive energy flowing and keep walking in the direction that want to go.
If you want something to happen badly enough it will happen. It may not happen when you want it to happen, but it will most certainly happen when you need it to. You just have to keep the positive energy flowing and keep walking in the direction that want to go.
2. The Best Experiences Are Never Planned
The best advice I can give anyone trying to plan a thru hike is don't. Make sure you have the proper gear and mental mindset and just go. If you have to be done by a certain time that is fine, but don't try to micro manage by telling yourself you will be at point "A" on such-and-such day; because, something will always happen and plans will change. The best concept for me to grasp was not to have plans, but ideas. If you set a plan, you will feel like you have to stick to that plan and not deviate from it. Ideas though are fluid and change all the time. They can grow into something completely different from their original intention. It leaves you open to chance and spontaneous opportunities. Instead of saying "No, sorry, I have to be somewhere" you are able to say "Sure! I'll come to your wonderful lake house in Maryland for a night!" The best experiences that I had on the trail would not have happened if I had stuck to a schedule that I had planned out for myself.
3. People Are Amazing
Whenever I am asked what the best part of the trail was, I always have the same response: the people. Even after all of the incredible sights and experiences that I had, they were all elevated in their pure awesomeness by the people that surrounded me. It wasn't just the other hikers either. It was all of the Trail Angel's that took the precious time out of their lives to help you for no reason but to just help. It was the local that would stop you in town just to see how you were doing and to live vicariously through you. It was the people back home that were rooting for me. Everyone that I encountered on and off the trail were so gracious and tried to help out if they could. It absolutely reaffirmed in me that people are inherently good. It's a shame that a majority of what we see on the news these days is about war and violence.
4. Stress Is A Waste of Energy
Seriously, why do we do this to ourselves? Before the trail, the majority of my stress would stem from some future event that I was working towards. I remember leading up to the event (no matter what it was) I would be conjuring up different scenarios of how it may go and what could go wrong. The problem is, the way in which you may think something may turn out never turns out the way that you thought it would. So why waste the energy stressing about what could possibly happen? Instead just use that energy into enjoying the process that gets you to the event. The trail has doubtlessly taught me to just enjoy the present moment; because, truly, it is the only moment that you actually live in.
5. The Trail Doesn't End At The Last White Blaze
My feet still hurt. So, that must mean that all of this actually did happen right!? It wasn't just some dream that I am waking up from? Great, it's good to know I haven't gone completely bonkers yet. In all seriousness, I feel like I have lived more in the past 6 months than I have in an entire lifetime. It is good to know that the experiences and people that I met along the way will have an everlasting impression on my life. The Appalachian Trail experience is something that I will be able to grow with and continue onto the next adventure, even if it isn't on a trail. By undertaking such an incredible journey, it is a comforting feeling to know that absolutely nothing is impossible. The famous white blaze of the Appalachian Trail can be whatever you want it to be.