Date: 2011-12-02
To: Hike On
Miles today: 0.0

Well, Frog Caller wanted me to write an entry thinking back about the whole AT and finishing. Since I started 8 years ago that is thinking a long way back. What do I have to say?Hmm... First off, I am very glad I had the opportunity in my life to hike the AT (and most of the PCT). Since I retired my goal has been to keep plugging away until I completed both trails and I have now completed one and most of the other - some 4,500+ miles. Not bad for an old lady.The AT - I started with my daughter in 2004. I was still working and could only get about a week of hiking in. I was amazed (being from the west) that people got on and off the trail at most every town. I had never hiked that way before. In the west you get on the trail and go a long way between towns. I also was amazed at the numbers of people on the trail. We were on Blood Mountain on a weekend and there were well more than a hundred people camped there including a couple Boy Scout troops. Amazing! That first trip did teach me much about the AT and I was convinced I could certainly hike that trail by myself even if my daughter or someone else was not with me. Over the years I have become very comfortable doing so. Over the years since my retirement I have continued to section hike the trail. (I think one year I sat out while I was still working.) Each year has been an adventure worth doing.I have a bit of a different mind set than a thru hiker. I didn't take out 5 months to do an "adventure of a lifetime." Every year when stopping I just started planning the next year's hikes. Doing 300-400 miles on each trail each year was a double adventure each year, not "one in a lifetime" but one after another. I did not thru hike, and therefore I did not consider it to be a complete lifestyle change followed by re-entry. I have a pretty active life when I am not hiking but it has been immeasureably enriched by having pretty long section hikes each year. it has become a lifestyle to hike each year, every year.Perhaps that is why re-entry this year has seemed somewhat strange. I won't be planning on hiking the AT next year. I have finished the AT. This year was a pretty hard hike - not surprizing considering that it is usually thought of as the most difficult part of the trail. However, I do not think any of the AT is a piece of cake. There were rocks in every state. The rocks are beautiful but the hiking in places was challenging, to say the least. I am a western girl. And I am parital to trails that one can walk on without using hands and climbing up and down rocks. Still, those rocks were beautiful and the trail, while having an eastern forest feel instead of a western mountain feel was a beautiful trail. The Rhodie forests of the south, the Hobble bushes of the north, pastures and farmland, history and stone fences, lakes, rivers, snow in the spring, snow in the fall, fall color and not so much fall color this year, all were worth seeing.And the people. People are always on the AT. Maybe a day or two in all those years I did not see people but almost every day I saw at least someone, even when hiking in November. Some I got to know. As the years went by and I had knee problems and got slower I did not get to know so many people as I often was going in the opposite direction from the flow and sometimes at the least popular time of year. But there were always people. They brought companionship and joy as only hikers sharing what they love can do. Also funny and somewhat wierd times that were also treasured.One of the joys was to see people, sometimes from one trail to another and year to year. Almost always, I would meet someone on each trip whom I had met somewhere before on AT or PCT. The hiking community is not that large compared to the rest of the world and the addiction of hiking these trails doesn't just bite me. Hiking more on a trail or on a different trail in a different year is quite common.Trail angels and trail magic were other blessings. Since much of my hiking was not with the main bunch of hikers I did not get those big hiker feeds. But I had plenty of magic and angels that were there when I needed them. I love that the trail almost always turns macho independent types to realize the help freely given to hikers and be thankful for that help. Many go on to give that help to others.I won't list people, either hikers or trail angels as there are way to many to list and I also am certain I would forget to name some. Hey, I am 70 years old. I forget lots of things. Suffice it to say I have many wonderful memories of people from each and every trip.Although I have no intention of hiking more on the AT (there are so many other trails to explore and I am not getting any younger.) I am very glad to have hiked past all those white blazes, seem all those sights, met all those people and have had all those experiences.But now what? I have become accustomed to taking long hikes every year. Although there were times this last year on both the AT and the PCT when the thought of just buying a travel van and doing a few day hikes now and then certainly seemed appealing - especially on long slogs uphill, or on snow or with wet feet, I don't think I am quite ready to hang up the backpack yet.Of course I have about 80 miles to finish the PCT sometime this next summer. But I especially like a long spring hike and a long late summer/fall hike. And I am used to planning long hikes every year. There are still plenty of trails in the world I have not yet trod (and there will continue to be trails I have not seen long after I am no longer able to trudge forward.) God has blessed this world with beauty, wilderness and people too. But I hope to see some more of it.So, I am planning to head to New Mexico in April. I don't know if I have the physical ability over the next few years to complete the CDT. At this age it is year to year and month to month and day to day. But what the heck, I might as well give it a try. If I do not finish, at least I will see and experience some more of the wonders of the trail. If I do finish that would be spectacular. One cannot finish without starting. So I will start. But it is really just a continuation. I section hike. I am not ready to stop section hiking. While I can, I will.And life is good.