Post PCT or (PPCTSD) Post Pacific Crest Trail Stress Disorder 🙂
Getting back to normal life, real life, civilization etc. has been hard for me – way harder than I actually thought it would be. The PCT has shown me how beautiful a simple life can be. And by simple I mean just having to worry about a very few basic things because having all these nice hiking equipment, camera etc. might not be simple to some. Waking up every day and only have to consider where to go next, where to get food next and how far to the next water source gives You a ton of extra headspace to enjoy the world around you – even though You spend a lot of time actually looking down at Your feet so You don’t stumble over a fracking rock or a branch that suddenly decides to pop out of the ground 🙂
Getting Back Post PCT.
Getting back I quickly realised that everything was exactly the same as when I left, kind of like the world hadn’t moved while I was away.
I’m not sure that I had expected, because I didn’t change either so why should anything else? I didn’t go on the PCT to discover myself or reinvent my life, so it didn’t come as a surprise that I still feel the same, apart from knowing that I NEED to go back to the wilderness and discover more trails and that the “normal life” is not really fulfilling my needs anymore. (No dark thoughts! so this is not the time to sound any alarms 🙂 )
So when I say that the trail hasn’t changed me, it probably isn’t really true 🙂 But as a person, I still feel the same, now I just know that I really enjoy hard hiking trips and love sleeping in a tent eating ramen 🙂
Next Adventure.
I am already in the process of looking for my next adventure. I have already decided that the AT (Appalachian Trail) and the CDT (Continental Divide Trail) aren’t for me right now.
And for the next few years, I will probably only be able to do hikes that take about 6 weeks, which still leaves PLENTY of trails to do 🙂 As of right now I am looking really hard at The Arizona Trail, with the Colorado trail as a close second. But I will not be able to do any long hikes before 2020 as I will need to save up, so that will be the plan for 2019.
Thankfully it won’t be as expensive to “only” do a 6 weeks hike as I don’t have to get leave from work (we get 5 weeks vacation in Denmark). So, for now, I am just tagging along, doing everyday stuff like going to work, paying taxes etc. until I can escape back to nature again.
