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[pct-l] Adjusting to post trail life WAS re: I can't cross theborder



Strider mentions the shock of going from the 2-3 MPH
pace of hiking to the 60 MPH pace of a bus.
(Hmm..maybe I should write these speeds in the metric
system..after all we do end up in Canada ;-)).

I remember last year finishing the trail. Reached the
border at about 5 PM. Celebrated, walked into the
first campground on the Canadian side and slept. The
following day walked the 7 miles into Manning Park.
Saw Yogi (out again this year!), Dewey, Gottago and
T-Bob. We all wooped and hollered, took our pictures
and sad some sad "until next times". (I refuse to say
goodbye to people I care about. Goodbyes are too
final!)

Parents of a good friend of mine in Boulder picked my
buddy Tim and I up in Manning Park. (As a quick aside,
Tim has been a friend of mine since our Catholic
school days. For some reason he decided to spend a
vacation backpacking with me on the PCT than with his
wife who is beautiful, intelligent and very nice.
Never did say my friends were intelligent. :D)
After spending a night in Vancouver was dropped off a
terminal to pick up a bus that goes to Seattle.
Apparently, this terminal is a popular place for
cruiser ships to depart.

Going from the quiet of the woods to the hustle and
bustle of a port in Vancouver was a bit jarring.
People bumping into you, the crowds, the noice, the
smell of car exhaust. Tim noticed how tense I was
becoming and basically told me to chill. Seattle was
about the same for me. Flew out the following day to
Providence, RI to see my family. Nothing like the
northeast to really make you appreciate a wilderness
experience. :-) (RI is a little over a 1000 sq miles
with about 1 million people crammed into it. Egads!)

In two days I went from living in the wilderness of
northern Washington to being in the most densley
populated part of the country. Took me a little while
to ease in. I thought being a second thru-hike, I
would be a bit more used to it. I was wrong.

The body really does wonder "What the hell is going
on??!?!?!?".  Took me a little while to ease back in.
SPending three weeks in Rhody seeing my family and
friends was actually a good thing. It was a
mini-vacation before I went back to Colorado and
started the task of looking for a job, finding a new
place to live, etc.  I can't imagine how I would feel
from being on the PCT one day to job hunting less than
a week later!

So, try to factor in some "decompress" time after a
thru-hike. When you see MAYBE ten people a day to
dealing with a city full of people, it can be jarring.
Don't add the stress of starting the daily grind over
again so soon after a thru-hike. Visit reltaives, see
some friends, go to a family wedding and get asked why
you aren't married yet... (OK...this part I would
avoid again. :D)



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The true harvest of my life is intangible.... a little stardust caught, a portion of the rainbow I have clutched
--Thoreau

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