[pct-l] post pct

[Marion Davison]

Some would say that a wilderness experience is closer to being the real
world, and that it provides a level of healing from the man-made world.

Stray Wolf

I totally agree.  The trail is the real world, where you must cope with 
the weather.  If you want to talk to someone, you must go find them.  (I 
carry a cell phone for emergency contact with one family member but have 
used it only twice).  You eat, you sleep, you walk, you experience the 
surroundings with all your senses.
When my husband and I finished our longest hikes, we were both sobbing 
as we approached the parking lot.  One year I wore trail clothes for the 
first month back at work.  Another year I started sobbing in a training 
meeting on the first day back at work, having finished my hike the day 
before.  For months after a hike I have mental flashbacks of lovely 
places on the trail.  They hit me out of the blue, interrupting my daily 
mental grind.
The trail is the real world to me, and my existence at home seems like 
the virtual world. So much purposeless activity, so much reliance on 
technology, which is just great until it doesn't work.
Marion