At all stages of this adventure there have been thoughts and expectations about what coming home would be like. Upon returning, some of these expectations were met and some were shattered.
After two weeks of hiking Jenna and I were completely immersed in the hiking lifestyle. Our responsibilities included waking up at a reasonable time, taking care of our feet, eating the correct amount of food, and a few other trivial tasks. After hiking for several months we both began to reminisce about home and what we would do and eat when the time came to come home. I thought it would be hard to leave the trail and come home but at the same time I was beginning to get deeply worn out. I did not believe I would struggle reintegrating into society and the lives we led before the trail.
When we arrived at the monument the feelings were joy and a weird sadness. It is hard to explain my feelings at the monument. It was the end of a great adventure, incomparable to anything else I have ever experienced. It was hard comprehending what we accomplished. We took each day as it came and slept in a new place nearly every night. Every day was an adventure in and of itself. When we reached the monument we ended an amazing adventure, one that we meant we had to go home. It is not that we did not want to go home and see our families, but that we just wanted to keep hiking forever on our adventure living a simplistic worry-free lifestyle. I had to realize over the course of the next few days that reaching the monument was by no means the end of the adventure and the unknown, but was just the end of one chapter of our lives. Life is an adventure and this was just one small sub-adventure. Once I came to this realization, ending the trail was easier to cope with. I missed the trail immensely but I was okay ending the adventure and heading into society with this in mind.
It was a bit of a shock coming into Seattle and having a huge population of busy people running all around us, living their lives. This was not as huge of a shock for me as it was for Jenna I think, although she adjusted to this fairly quick. Seattle still felt like we are on vacation and was still part of the adventure. Coming home however was different than I had envisioned. It was great to see my family and be home again but it was such a weird feeling. I am able to picture every day and almost every hour of our PCT adventure for the last 5 months and all of a sudden that was over. Being at home felt like I had been gone for no time at all...it felt like yesterday. That was such an unusual feeling, it really felt like our whole trip had been a dream. On the trail, time went by as normal but everyone said it felt like a long time. It is just odd to me that now that I am home and it feels like no time at all. I guess time flies when your having fun. I imagined eating lots of food and eating at all our favorite restaurants for weeks. This was not the case. I did eat fresh fruit and salad a lot but have still yet to eat at the majority of the places I fantasized about while hiking. Also, I had a list of things I wanted to do when we got home. When we got home all we wanted to do was hike and be outside, it was too hard to sit still for more than 30 minutes. At the same time, home tasks such as doing dishes, walking the dog, typing, and other things all felt normal and came naturally. I thought that when I got home I would not know how to do anything and I thought that I would have forgotten how I used to live. When we left for the PCT we had just graduated. When we got home that finally started to sink in. Also, when we got home it was October and we didn't know what to do with all the time in the days since neither of us were in school anymore and neither of us started up work right away. There has been no point in either of our lives where we can not remember going to school. This was one hard aspect of coming home and integrating back into society.
Now that we have been done with the trail for two weeks and home for nearly a week and a half some things are different. I am able to sit still and read or watch a movie etc. Life seems normal again but we still both miss the trail. I don't really feel any more stressed than I did on trail. On trail there are as many things to be stressed about as at home (in my opinion). For example there are trail chores such as cooking and setting up the tent or worrying about snakes, mice, and other animals. To me these things are no more stressful than paying bills or any other task at home, working being the exception. For this reason coming home didn't stress me out any more than being on trail. The main stress came from not hiking all day or simply missing the trail.
It is great to be home. We are helping each other integrate back to society. It is fun hiking around our area. Washington and Utah have very similar hiking trails and scenery. Fall is amazing here and is the best season. As I said earlier, life is an adventure and the trail was one small adventure in our lives. I can't wait to do another long trail in the future and in the meantime it is great to be home. Just like coming home and living our lives came naturally, I think that once we get on another long trail that will come naturally again.
May the force be with you,
Nate/Jungle Cookie
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