Dear Future Thru-Hiker,
At this point, you’re looking at minor details like “where do I stop for my first resupply?” or “will I really have to hitchhike??”. You’ve either told your employer that you’re going for a walk and will be out of cell-phone range for 6 months…. or you’re about to tell them. You’re probably giving up a “great” job for reasons that your boss can’t begin to understand.
At the same time, you’re turning down the volume on the negative chatter from your loved ones. Perhaps you’ve never done anything like this before in your life, and you’re hearing speculation about your fast-approaching death in the wilderness. I can see the headline now: “Hobo Eats His Way to Death on the Appalachian Trail”. Truly terrifying.
If you’ve made it this far, pat yourself on the back. You’re having a staring contest with your own conviction. And you’re winning. It’s terrifying, I know. You’re uprooting yourself from a life of “comfort” that you probably don’t find all that comfortable. You’re about to embark on one of the most difficult and rewarding experiences of your life, no matter how far you end up going.
It’s here, on the AT, where you’ll come face to face with a community that’s worthy of it’s own episode on Planet Earth. And yet it’s with these hairy creatures that you’ll re-invent yourself. 7 days of relentless rain will turn you into blubbering lunatics. But you’ll be amid a bunch of other lunatics the whole time.
Cigarettes will become currency. Strangers will become tramily. Soon, you’ll be able to spot thru-hikers you’ve never met as they stand trying to decide between nutella and peanut butter in the grocery store. And you’ll both light up like light bulbs, knowing that your struggles are shared.
Unless you’ve been psychologically preparing yourself by wearing your trail runners in the shower or by carrying a child around for days at a time, you won’t be prepared for what you’re about to encounter. But that’s alright because you’ll adapt. And it is the challenge that transforms you.
You might witness a comrade fall 60ft down a waterfall. You’ll probably start giggling relentlessly as hypothermia sets in somewhere in the Smokies. You might get chased by a bear in the Shenendoa. You’ll definitely see two cuddling rattlesnakes somewhere in New York. But rattlesnakes are actually nicer than you’d think. Embrace the good, bad, and the ugly. Whatever happens, just keep walking.
I’m going to let you in on a secret. I stumbled upon this concept right before my own thru-hike, and it gave me just a little extra ammunition on the tough days: “To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest. To live fully is to be always in no-man’s-land, to experience each moment as completely new and fresh. To live is to be willing to die over and over again. ” ― Pema Chödrön If you can relate, you’re doing something right. Live it. Love it. Laugh. Crush it, ya’ll.
With all of my love,
-Mouse
