[pct-l] I am back: decompression;CDT

[goforth@cio.net (Joanne Lennox)]

Returned two days ago from having completed virtually all of the PCT in
California with Hopi Horse.  I went alone for the most part, and packed and
rode on a single horse.  I was slow when I thruhiked, I was even slower
with a horse.  Took longer to do just California than to walk the whole
trail in 99.  I learned a lot - a real lot. Both me and my horse are in
very good shape, safe and healthy.

This is part of my last post from the Saufley's at Agua Dulce: ( I haven't
got everything written or on the website yet - pcthiker.com under goforth)

I think the decompression phase is a very important one and usually is not
mentioned or talked about in journals.  I believe that I have gone through
4
of them.  It is a very strange process to come off a muti month journey,
where you are focused on walking or riding each day, and than suddenly
stop.
It is very difficult, especially since it is totally mystifying to the
person experiencing it and completely inexplicable to those around her. 
For
me, after so much activity, I don't want to do anything.  Rest, of course,
is necessary.  But what is happening seems to be much more psychological
than physical.  Right now to me, it feels like a lot of things have
happened
out there on the trail and I have brought them back and they are still
separate from the rest of my life.  Perhaps a long integration period is
necessary.  Maybe we are trying to retain and keep some of the more
precious
things we have found out there and we are not even sure what they are, let
alone how to keep them and have them as a continuing part of our life.
There is a reluctance to just go back to doing things exactly as we have
done them before considering what we have found out about ourselves and our
world on the PCT.

I plan to return to the trail next year and complete the rest of washington
and Oregon.  That would probably be in late july or August after the snow
is gone.  Hopi Horse is in great shape - strong, agile, with a better
attitude and a really strong back.  He has no injuries and is very lean and
welll muscled but with no ribs showing - I have not seen a horse in this
good a shape before.  So I am thinking about trying to do part of the
Southern portion of the CDT in April and May, (March and April?).  Any
recommendation or thoughts from old CDT hands?

Goforth