[pct-l] Reasons for Quiting

[gwtmp01 at mac.com]

On Nov 14, 2006, at 3:04 PM, Monty Tam wrote:
> There's a few reasons people leave the trail, but the big one I've  
> seen is
> feet, shoes, and shoe size.

This question of not finishing comes up all the time in the trail  
community.  Monty
has mentioned the common physical issues but I think a lot of people  
stop their
thru-hike because of relationship issues: they miss their family,  
their significant
other, or even their beloved pet(s).  I also think that folks that  
stop hiking in
the first couple of weeks are going to have a distinctly different  
set of reasons for
stopping than folks that stop after a few months.  The trail  
experience itself can
be a rude awakening for folks when their idealized thoughts about the  
trail are
in contradiction with the smelly reality of hiking all day long, day  
after day, week
after week.

I'd be cautious of characterizing folks who don't complete an end-to- 
end hike as
quitters though.  While many people initiate a hike to get from point  
A to point B,
I think most hikers would agree that somewhere along the way the  
motivation becomes
directed towards the enjoying the journey itself and not necessarily  
the destination.
In that sense, leaving the trail isn't really quitting but instead is  
about deciding
that your desires are no longer satisfied with the current journey-- 
time to switch
directions.  I have a hard time using words like 'quit' or 'failure'  
for that type of
a change.

Personally, on the AT I never really entertained the notion of  
stopping the hike even
when I had bad days.  I didn't have to deal with that issue until I  
got a stress
fracture on the PCT near Mt. Hood.  I certainly wanted to continue to  
Canada but I
was no longer enjoying my hike and didn't think it was wise to hike  
on with the help
of Vicodin.  I was much more upset about leaving my friends and  
fellow hikers than
the fact that I wasn't going to make it to Canada.  I'm sure I would  
have felt different
about it if I had been on my first long-distance hike, but I knew  
from my AT experience
that I could hike for 2000+ miles so I didn't have anything to prove  
to myself in that
regard.

Gary Wright (Radar)