The Mental Challenge

This post is to discuss the level of mental difficulty an AT thru hike is.  There is a common saying that a thru hike is 80 percent mental and 20 percent physical.  I also once heard there are 2 kinds of people that successfully complete an AT thru hike: those that love living in the woods and could do it for the rest of their lives and those that are stubborn.  I am stubborn like most others.  It is not easy waking up each day and hiking day in and day out for 2,185 miles.  It doesn't matter if the terrain is easy or hard each day is tough.  In my case usually 2 out of 3 days are low moral days.  I just put my head down and do my best to make some miles.  When moral is low it is also hard to hike fast.  On good days 3.5mph is typical; on bad days (most days) just trying to do 3 mph is tough.  I also will admit it is tough to enjoy the trail on low moral days.  Like today i was in Mt. Rogers and Grayson highlands areas which are phenomenally beautiful but i had a hard time taking it all in.  I just kept moving pretty much.  There aren't many things that can cure low moral either.  Its like this pretty much all the time since the very beginning.  The constant battering and bruising on the body, wet feet (my nemesis), sweaty days, cold nights, loneliness, sleepless nights, fatigue, etc are all things that wear on us thru hikers.  To be honest I am just plain flat out tired.  Ive been tired since Connecticut that i can remember.  The trail has worn me out and I am ready to be done although i have less than 500 miles still to go.  Non thru hikers often ask me if i ever want to quit and the answer to that is every second i want to quit.  I feel that is a very generic response among us "stubborn" thru hikers.  But i wont quit.  I will keep putting one foot in front of the other as long as i am able until i reach Springer Mountain in Georgia.  I once had a dream and made a goal to thru hike the AT.  No matter what gets me down I am going to do my best to accomplish that goal. 

Here is an example of a really, really tough day i had mentally recently.  This was the day i got to woods hole hostel and Pearisburg.  There was a reroute in the AT this year and the guidebook didn't have anything to say other than mileages and locations of things between two points will be different than what is listed.  Well 1 mile into it there was a woods road and no blazes for SOBO's to know which way to go.  Great....  So i looked at the back of a tree and saw a NOBO blaze so i knew which way to go.  Meanwhile there were no blazes at all for SOBO's and no indication of where the trail got off the road.  I walked for 2 miles before i figured i must have missed it, i turned around, and i finally found where it was when i saw the NOBO blazes.  The trail was hidden out of sight for SOBO's along the road but marked impeccably for NOBO's.  Ohh yeah the roadwalk was only supposed to be for 0.2 miles i guesstimate... not 2 miles.  I broke down and cried my eyes out but continued to hike for about 45 mins to be honest.  I was so sick and tired of the trail and all the B.S. out here like the trail not being blazed for a southbounder that I put up with every day.  If you ask yourself though what in life is not full of B.S.?  Its usually really petty just like this situation and normally wouldn't bother me but i have noticed that things affect you more out here.  The AT is a rollercoaster of emotions and truly is a journey not just a 2,185 mile hike.  There is something about this trail.  One thing you have to think about is I am not getting paid or compensated or directly benefiting at the moment in any way to put up with this stuff i.am actually spending money to be out here.  Its stupid stuff like this that after being out here for so long makes me snap and I am only hanging on by a thread.  Ohh well i got through it.  Hopefully i return to normal after i am done with the AT because i dont like hanging on by a thread. I've come 1,701.0 miles so far and i have 484.3 to go.  I guess i will have to keep putting my feet in front of each other one by one a little bit longer.  Ohhh yeah here is my finish date: November 10th.