Date: 2012-11-01
To: Some thoughts on one month later...
Miles today: 0.0

Lunch time today we head out to talk to the local Rotary Club about our thru hike experience, our first such speaking engagement since completing the trail. We are nowhere close to solving the riddle of how to adequately cover 168 days on the AT in a mere 15 minutes, but our intent will be to keep the program light and airy.Now that we are over a month removed from the event, several folks continue to ask us to wax an elephant and take a more philosophical, in depth look at our 2012 hike. While we are not ready to make such an attempt ourselves, we note our hiking team member Castaway has recently posted an entry on his blog that also catches many of our post hike feelings. His site can be found here, but since it is not on trailjournals.com, and thus a little harder to locate, we hope he won¢t mind if we also quote it at length below. It is indeed eloquent:Adrift on the AT with Castaway:It has been one month since I finished the trail. Every day I think of some way to tell people what it was like to walk through a chain of mountains on a footpath that extends nearly 2200 miles in length. I can tell of the misery of bad weather, explain the aches and pain the body endures, try to convey the fears we were confronted with every day, and describe what it¢s like to dedicate such a large portion of your life to something no one told you you had to do. I can tell of the beauty of the mountains, describe what it¢s like to be one with nature, live simply with basic needs, and find motivation in moving forward towards the inevitable goal you have set for yourself. After all this time, I still don¢t know how to put my AT journey into words that reflect my life for those six months; I¢m not sure I even want to. How has the trail changed me? In the past few years I read numerous journals and books about thru hiking the AT, all with great insight into what a person undergoes on the trail. I thought I was well prepared for what I would encounter out there. I thought I would know how I would feel both during and after the hike. I thought wrong. Until you hike it yourself, you can never know what it¢s like or how you will feel. It might be selfish to say, but we belong to an exclusive club. I want to share the experience, but in some deep personal way there is a part of me that doesn¢t want people to understand; I have something that¢s mine, and everyone else should find a peace of their own. Other than knowing I have accomplished something extraordinary and maybe dealing with things a little more patiently, I don¢t think I¢ve changed at all. I¢m often asked what was the best part of the trail. I have to say that each day I was out there was better than the day before. The mountains get more beautiful the further North you travel, the friends you make become closer with each passing day, and every day puts you closer to accomplishing your goal. There was never a day when I wanted to give up. Sure, some days things didn¢t always go as planned, but even those days were better than days when I had to work for a living. If I was younger and had a healthy body, I may have turned around and hiked south from Maine¢¦Well said, Castaway. Well said.