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[at-l] Incomplete thru hikes
I'm not really sure what some people are like when they leave the trail and
return to their careers, lives, and family. But on the Trail, the thru hikers
I met were like demigods to me, so *authentically* human that the memory of
their prescence has left an indelible imprint on my life. "To be awake is to
be alive," Thoreau said. "I have never yet met a man who was quite awake. How
could I have looked him in the face?"
On the Trail, I found myself waking up with the best of my kind.
I left the Trail in Damascus not because I'd had enough, but because there
was a greater gravity that pulled at my heart strings. I simply missed my
wife.
I've been called misanthropic and a loner and a lover of solitude, but in
truth I'm a gregarious misanthrope and a sometimes social loner. I love my
own kind, most especially my wife, and then of course, my dog :).
Among the many things we do together, it is hiking that continues to eclipse
all our other hobbies. And together we've set some financial goals and dates
for setting our affairs straight, preparing ourselves physically and mentally
for a thru-hike together in 2000. And I'm happy to say that planning the
logistics for a company of two has been much more fun than I remember when I
was planning for one.
Hell, she's already picked a trail name....sheesh, and she thinks mine is
silly!
Dude, I'm Packin' Gorp For Two This Time,
Jabberwocky
and Gleep
AT2000
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