Date: 2022-11-28
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Miles today: 0.0

I flew home the day after summiting Springer, almost half of my thru hike completed. My plan is to do a couple of day hikes later in the fall in PA, then to start back up hiking in April. I will do posts on those hikes, then some gear thoughts during the winter ¢intermission¢. What is it like to return from the trail? I was only gone for 2-12 months, half the time of a full thruhiker. But it has been a bit eye opening. In no particular order:Returning home. The logistics of returning home were a bit trickier than I expected. Springer is in the middle of nowhere, reached by car up a long winding fire road. After you summit, you can either have a shuttle ready to pick you up, hike down the approach trail to Amicalola Lodge, or get a friend/family member to pick you up (which I did).  If you can drive home, great. If you are flying home, you need to discard the stuff that can¢t go on a plane at all (like fuel, which can¢t just be tossed in the nearest trash can), and mail or check the items the TSA feels are too dangerous to carry on (trekking poles, knife, tent stakes, etc). If you check these items, you need to conjure up a suitcase. You probably want to shower and wash your hiking clothes before sitting next to your fellow passengers. This all takes time, so you probably need to find a place to stay overnight as well. All of this is a bit of a downer after the high of finishing. Physical recovery. I was fortunate, returning home with relatively minor ailments. Over 3-4 weeks of doing nothing, the swelling on my sprained ankle disappeared and the ankle recovered enough to let me run in the local Thanksgiving Turkey Trot. I PR¢d that run but, more interestingly, after running my fastest time ever I was ready to run it again. I still had residual endurance reserves 4 weeks later. My knees have not recovered yet - still stiff in the morning and sore after most exercise - but I am being patient with them. Weight - I lost 20 lb over the 10 weeks. Based on everything I have read, I am expecting to gain that all back - but 4 weeks later the weight is still off. I can¢t figure this one out, and am wondering when my metabolism will notice that I am no longer hiking 20 mile days. I did ratchet down my calorie intake, but find it takes some time to teach my body to not expect to be fed every 90 minutes. In the meantime, I have almost no clothes that fit!Friends and family - I have been so lucky with the support of my family and friends. It was a priority to reconnect when I returned, but I underestimated just how time intensive this would be as I was getting back on my feet at home. Many had heard about this blog and taken the time to read it, and had great questions. I found it difficult, though, to effectively handle questions from acquaintances less steeped in what the experience was all about. There is no ¢elevator speech¢ to explain a thruhike, and my responses to queries like ¢You hiked for 10 weeks??¢ were wholly inadequate. Fellow thruhikers. One of the joys over the past couple of weeks has been watching other hikers that I met complete their thruhikes, a monumental achievement. Gander and Goose, Truman, Happy Dancer and Bee Balm, Locket and her sons Navigoat and Care Bear, Manchego. And finishing before I got to Springer - Coach, Living Proof, Captain Hook, and Float. Amazing job by all. An avalanche of things to do. One of the consequences of putting your life on hold is that there is a huge backlog when you start it up again. The first couple of weeks back, I was buried by simple things (balancing a checkbook after 3 months on the road, responding to deferred emails) and more complex stuff (upcoming vacation and holiday plans, financial decisions). I needed to catch up on routine doctor visits. Get a haircut. Get a pedicure (okay, this wasn¢t required but sure felt good). Psychological recovery - a lot has been written about post-trail depression, and its high incidence among thruhikers who struggle to reconnect back with their daily lives upon return. I have not experienced this - I am naturally a glass-half-full person, have been too busy to think since I got back, and was only gone for 10 weeks - but I am conscious of a lingering, invisible pull back to the trail. Being able to begin planning the 2nd half of my hike, even the couple of day hikes I plan to take in December, has helped ease this ache considerably. And that¢s it. I¢m now back home, looking forward to holiday and vacation plans here, but ready to go next spring.