[pct-l] Re: Coming home?

[Karl Brandt <brandt@snf.stanford.edu>]

On Tue, 7 Mar 2000 17:20:42(CST) Michelle Haynes <mhaynes@mbayaq.org>
wrote:

> All this planning about the PCT trip to come, can PCT alumni talk about
> there experience after finishing the PCT.  The challenges and re-entry
> trials they had to face.  Thanks

Fortunately for me, I hiked most of OR & WA with a partner. Finishing
alone would have been awfully depressing. Still, somewhere between
Stehekin and the border it hit me that it was about to end. Even though I
was tired of hiking, I didn't want everything to end. After all the
celebration at Monument 78, my partner and I hardly spoke a word during
the 7 miles in Canada. I purposely arranged it with my sister to pick me
up a day date in Manning Park just so I could spend a little more time
near the trail. 

After spending a few days in Seattle, I caught a train home. That worked
out much better than a plane because it gave me some time alone to try and
digest what I'd experienced. I've lived in the Bay Area most of my life.
When I started seeing intimately familiar sites for the first time in
months, it felt like I was seeing them for the first time ever. 

Within a few weeks, I was back at my same job. It didn't take long for me
to start feeling depressed. I was maddened by the routine of every day
life. On the trail, I got to see new sights every single day. Suddenly, I
was stuck getting up at the same time, driving the same roads through
traffic to the same job I'd had for years. 

I eventually worked my way through the funk but there's still a nagging
sense about me that ordinary life just isn't satisfying any longer. I find
myself longing for adventures or maybe it's just something to struggle
for in life. 

This time of year can be especially bad because I know this year's
thru-hikers are in the process of getting ready and will be hitting the
trail soon. Maybe instead of calling myself a "former thru-hiker" I should
be saying "recovering thru-hiker". :-)

-Karl

*********************************************************************
Karl "Birdman" Brandt PCT97 LT98                       (650) 363-1350
http://www.stanford.edu/~kbrandt/

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