#posttrail

October 10, 2017 — It’s been over a month since I finished my Appalachian Trail thru-hike but it feels like just yesterday I was at Katahdin Stream Campground preparing to summit Mount Katahdin.

I’m reacclimating to measuring time in days, weeks, and months, rather than miles and states. On the trail, I could walk 500 miles--or the entire state of Virginia--in a month. Off trail, time flies by without that feeling of accomplishment. I know that other people feel this way because I’ve been reuniting with friends I haven’t seen since I left for the trail in March, and they often think I’ve only been gone for two or three months. People seem surprised when I say I was out there for nearly six months, and I venture to bet some of them wonder where the time went and what they accomplished in that time.

But in the last month, I haven’t been sedentary. After summiting, I explored the coast of Maine and Massachusetts with my mom, flew to Pennsylvania to see my dad, and drove through DC and North Carolina to visit friends. Once I spent some quality time in my hometown of Charlotte, I loaded my car with nearly everything I own to drive across the country to San Diego (more on this later). I’m writing now from Denver, Colorado (they’re having their first snow of the season!).

I was slightly picturing post-trail life to be equal parts relaxing and depressing. I would enjoy the luxuries of real beds with real linens, catch up on all the shows I missed while on trail, reflect on the trail, and miss it.

Maybe I’ve been on the move to avoid post-trail depression. I miss the trail every day, but I’ve chosen not to dwell on it and to keep adventuring instead. 

There are some people I relate better to now after the trail--other hikers and people that were somehow involved--and some topics that I just don’t care about anymore. I find myself starting sentences with “on the trail” at least half a dozen times a day and trying to hold back from this life to trail life even more.

I’m moving out west by myself without a very secure plan, something I would be too afraid to do before the trail, making this wayward and westward journey confusing to many people. I want to continue growing, exploring, and using what I learned on the trail, and I’m going to continue posting as I go.