Have you ever noticed how antsy you get when bored? There's this itch. A physical sensation in your cranium. That's supposed to be impossible, I know, no pain nerves in there. But the itch is there anyway. Left alone to fester it produces lethargy, angst, long dyed black bangs, the tendency to listen to crappy music and imagine that hipster vampires really do exist and that only they would ever truly "get you".
I know this itch well, it seems to be a part of my makeup, my being. The things I want to do with my life and what I am doing with it seem very opposite. I'm not sure how I managed that; by being what I thought I should be I suppose. I'm thinking that this is how gay people who are not out must feel. Acting a certain way, doing certain things, simply because you are expected to.
What I really want to do? Well, it damn sure does not involve sitting in a cubicle slaving away at a computer. That sucks and it should be illegal. It is more lethal than batter dipped, deep fried butter on a stick, with a side of mayo. What I want to do is through hike some trails. The AT for sure, someday, but the AT is cliché. EVERYBODY that likes to hike says that "Someday I want to hike the AT" and of course, most never even try, or if they do, give up after a few days. Well, I do, of course, want to hike the AT but I know that I cannot sacrifice eight months of my life right now to accomplish it.
Besides, do you know how difficult it is? And the physical hiking is just one part of it. The Appalachian Trail is a difficult hike. It meanders through, and over, a 2000 mile mountain chain. Sure they are not mountains like the Rockies, the Alps or the Himalayas, but even 3000-4000 foot high "hills" wears on a body, especially in the beginning. It is spirit breaking. What sense of accomplishment can you get from climbing a hill when all you see at the top is another hill that needs to be climbed?
And again, the AT is LOOOOONG. You don't get a sense of accomplishment from hiking 100 miles when you only clip off about 4-1/2% of the damn thing. Endless hills. 515,000 feet in elevation gain. That's HUGE!!
So it's a bitch to hike. What else is the problem? Food. Most of the AT is pretty remote. So how do you supply yourself with food? Logistics. You need to plan food drops along the way. You mail yourself (well, you have someone do it for you) food packages. Wait, what? That's right. You send packages to post offices along the AT with "Attn:
Your Name Here" on them. This means that you must have your entire itinerary, eight months worth, figured out beforehand. If you hike too fast? You wait for your food. Too slow? You run out of food on the trail.
Sounds like a hoot right?
Anyway, no. I'm not looking to hike the AT, not at this point in time. The Northville-Placid Trail? Or the Laurel Highlands Trail? Or the Loyalsock Trail? Now those trails are very doable. Of course I'd have to talk the family into allowing me to spend one or two weeks of precious vacation time on, well, not them.
So, will through hiking make this itch in my brain go away? Probably not, not permanently. It sure sounds like a good way to try and alleviate it.
