[pct-l] Reasons for Quiting

[Pea Hicks]

i started a thru-hike in 2005 but quit fairly early on, mostly for 
personal motivational reasons. i had set my mind on as pure of a 
thru-hike as possible, and when the snow conditions in the socal ranges 
meant having to do road-walk detours, etc, i quickly got discouraged and 
decided to try skipping around to the stretches where the snow wasn't an 
issue, in hopes of returning to the snowy parts a couple weeks later 
when the snow had melted more. this strategy proved to be my undoing, 
though, because i found that as soon as i had decided that i could hike 
the trail in any order that pleased me, i found myself getting up every 
morning and finding some sort of reason why i didn't like where i was 
hiking, and my thoughts were filled with various schemes of where i 
might be able to skip to that might be easier or more pleasant. i tried 
to beat the trail at its own game, and i lost. instead of simply getting 
up and hiking north another 20 miles, i just got frustrated because i'd 
already ruined the continuity of my hike. i ended up using a bout of 
heat exhaustion as an excuse to quit hiking and try again next year.

so this year i was determined not to let those factors disrupt my hike. 
i had a few situations where it would have been easy and it would have 
made sense to skip a chunk of trail, but i knew that if i allowed myself 
to do that once, then i'd probably end up with that mindset for the rest 
of the hike. it was really hard to get thru some sections, but i 
remained stubborn and kept heading north, and i'm very glad i did so. 
the only section i skipped was the 47-mile burn closure in oregon, and i 
really stewed about that for a couple days, it really bummed me out. 
fortunately that was far enough into the hike that i wasn't going to let 
it derail me, and i got over it. i plan to hit that segment next summer.

well anyway, if you're like me, and your goal is to thru-hike from 
mexico to canada, my advice is not to succumb to the temptations of 
either skipping or flipping, as it can really screw with your motivation 
and your forward momentum.


girlscout