Recently, I had the profound pleasure hiking on the Appalachian trail with my good friend Matsubayashi. He has dreamed of hiking the Appalachian Trail since long before I met him 17 years ago.
We met while living in Japan and have spent many amazing days hiking together on the island of Kyushu in South-Western Japan. Matsubayashi has always been the trip planner and, finally, it was awesome to get to return the favor.
His ultimate dream has been to hike from end to end, the entire 2100+miles of the Appalachian Trail. Life circumstances made that impossible on this trip but we did get to rub elbows with a few of the through hikers attempting the entire trail.
Hiking from Georgia to Maine is a monumental undertaking. We found ourselves in awe of the commitment and perseverance of these men and women who were uprooting their lives for six months or more to make their dreams come true.
Below are four pieces of wisdom from encounters with four different through hikers revealed , to us, along the trail.
We met while living in Japan and have spent many amazing days hiking together on the island of Kyushu in South-Western Japan. Matsubayashi has always been the trip planner and, finally, it was awesome to get to return the favor.
His ultimate dream has been to hike from end to end, the entire 2100+miles of the Appalachian Trail. Life circumstances made that impossible on this trip but we did get to rub elbows with a few of the through hikers attempting the entire trail.
Hiking from Georgia to Maine is a monumental undertaking. We found ourselves in awe of the commitment and perseverance of these men and women who were uprooting their lives for six months or more to make their dreams come true.
Below are four pieces of wisdom from encounters with four different through hikers revealed , to us, along the trail.
Willingly sacrificing something or benefitting from the willing sacrifices of others fosters a positive outlook.
Dan has been dreaming of hiking the entire Appalachian Trail since he was 19. Now, 51, I met him about 30 days shy of completing the journey and 50 plus pounds lighter than when he started. Of all the through hikers I talked to, he appeared to most fully be reveling in the experience. His experience was clearly in lock step with his dreams of how it would be.
He told me, “I feel stronger the farther I go. I’ve never felt so free!” Dan was unmistakably grateful for the opportunity.
With a wife and kids, and until recently a big house and the business that he had built for 25 years, Dan had felt forced to relegate his dream to one week a year on the trail…until this year.
It seems that it was Dan’s wife who pushed him finally go all in. She told him, “It’s time to finally do this.” She and the kids offered to take care of themselves for a while.
They sold the business and with that he had the six months he needed.
I thought to myself, with all of the willing sacrifice on the part of his family combined with the more than 25 years he had sacrificed his dream to put family and work first, how could he do anything but see the trip through the rosiest of rose colored glasses.
Some dreams have expiration dates. Dreams can sour if we put them off too long.
Hans was hiking the trail on two osteoarthritic knees. He was thin. He didn’t look unhealthy but the bounce was gone fro his step. He had lost a lot of weight, that he didn’t need to lose, during his six months on the trail. He popped Advil all day long, every day to be able to continue.
He was facing the real possibility of a double knee replacement when he finished the trail.
He was facing the same prospect before he started. The injections of synthetic knee joint lubricant that he had received before he left home had made the hike possible. The dream was still alive but pain associated with it was also alive as well.
I felt for Hans. His deadline was now dictated by his deteriorating knees. He was afraid that artificial knees wouldn’t be up for the trek and thats why he had finally set off to hike the trail. If he were playing basketball, he would have let the clock tick for too long and hisonly option was a long last second shot.
The trail was a long time goal. For him it was now or never.
And, I felt for Hans. It appeared that he would be able to reach the end of the trail. It was going to take another six weeks. Others on the trail were planning to cover the same distance in three or four weeks. But, I sensed some disappointment. His physical state was causing the reality of life not he trail to fall far short of the dream he had been holding onto for years.
It felt like prying. I didn’t. But I wondered if he wished he had found a way to take the hike before his knees started to complicate the trip.
The maps and the terrain may be very different. Failing to except this will lead to frustration.
I have no idea what his name was. Let’s call him GMD, short for grouchy middle-aged dude. Our interaction lasted all of ten seconds but I felt I had glimpsed a constant in his life…Frustration between what is happening and what he had expected to happen.
I was waiting, with my camera, at the top of a pretty brutal .6 mile climb. We were only 1.3 miles from where we had started that morning and already our group was spread out a hour from first person to last. I was waiting to snap a few heroic pictures of our final member when GMD came trucking up the hill.
GMD was obviously fit. He moved swiftly and surely. He was also pissed off. I told him that the summit was just 50 yards up the trail and he launched into a rant about how the climb was clearly not the .6 miles that the map stated.
The GPS on my watch agreed with the map. The GPS in my legs understood his unhappiness. It was a long tough climb.
Even the best maps are a poor representation of reality. Still, having a map is good. It lets you get an idea where you are and where you want to go. But, a map is just an informational tool. In this case it was a tool that was accurate distance-wise but not a true reflection of the journey.
GMD seemed to forget this and it was making him insane.
You can often chose to linger in the sweet spot longer than you think.
His months of trail beard growth made him look 15 years older than he was. I was told that he had just graduated from high school and was planning to hike part of the trail before he headed off to college in the fall.
But, the call of the entire trail was more alluring than expected. He wanted to do it all.
To make that happen he had gotten in touch with his university and delayed his start for a semester.
It seems so easy when we hear the story. Of course, somebody could postpone college for semester in order to have a major life adventure. Right?
We are masters of our time, aren’t we?
The reality is that most of us don’t do take the step of changing plans once they are in motion. Once we put something on the calendar we search much harder for ways to stick to that plan than to change the plan…even if changing might be better.
The chance to linger is often available, even if we don’t recognize it.
Dan has been dreaming of hiking the entire Appalachian Trail since he was 19. Now, 51, I met him about 30 days shy of completing the journey and 50 plus pounds lighter than when he started. Of all the through hikers I talked to, he appeared to most fully be reveling in the experience. His experience was clearly in lock step with his dreams of how it would be.
He told me, “I feel stronger the farther I go. I’ve never felt so free!” Dan was unmistakably grateful for the opportunity.
With a wife and kids, and until recently a big house and the business that he had built for 25 years, Dan had felt forced to relegate his dream to one week a year on the trail…until this year.
It seems that it was Dan’s wife who pushed him finally go all in. She told him, “It’s time to finally do this.” She and the kids offered to take care of themselves for a while.
They sold the business and with that he had the six months he needed.
I thought to myself, with all of the willing sacrifice on the part of his family combined with the more than 25 years he had sacrificed his dream to put family and work first, how could he do anything but see the trip through the rosiest of rose colored glasses.
Some dreams have expiration dates. Dreams can sour if we put them off too long.
Hans was hiking the trail on two osteoarthritic knees. He was thin. He didn’t look unhealthy but the bounce was gone fro his step. He had lost a lot of weight, that he didn’t need to lose, during his six months on the trail. He popped Advil all day long, every day to be able to continue.
He was facing the real possibility of a double knee replacement when he finished the trail.
He was facing the same prospect before he started. The injections of synthetic knee joint lubricant that he had received before he left home had made the hike possible. The dream was still alive but pain associated with it was also alive as well.
I felt for Hans. His deadline was now dictated by his deteriorating knees. He was afraid that artificial knees wouldn’t be up for the trek and thats why he had finally set off to hike the trail. If he were playing basketball, he would have let the clock tick for too long and hisonly option was a long last second shot.
The trail was a long time goal. For him it was now or never.
And, I felt for Hans. It appeared that he would be able to reach the end of the trail. It was going to take another six weeks. Others on the trail were planning to cover the same distance in three or four weeks. But, I sensed some disappointment. His physical state was causing the reality of life not he trail to fall far short of the dream he had been holding onto for years.
It felt like prying. I didn’t. But I wondered if he wished he had found a way to take the hike before his knees started to complicate the trip.
The maps and the terrain may be very different. Failing to except this will lead to frustration.
I have no idea what his name was. Let’s call him GMD, short for grouchy middle-aged dude. Our interaction lasted all of ten seconds but I felt I had glimpsed a constant in his life…Frustration between what is happening and what he had expected to happen.
I was waiting, with my camera, at the top of a pretty brutal .6 mile climb. We were only 1.3 miles from where we had started that morning and already our group was spread out a hour from first person to last. I was waiting to snap a few heroic pictures of our final member when GMD came trucking up the hill.
GMD was obviously fit. He moved swiftly and surely. He was also pissed off. I told him that the summit was just 50 yards up the trail and he launched into a rant about how the climb was clearly not the .6 miles that the map stated.
The GPS on my watch agreed with the map. The GPS in my legs understood his unhappiness. It was a long tough climb.
Even the best maps are a poor representation of reality. Still, having a map is good. It lets you get an idea where you are and where you want to go. But, a map is just an informational tool. In this case it was a tool that was accurate distance-wise but not a true reflection of the journey.
GMD seemed to forget this and it was making him insane.
You can often chose to linger in the sweet spot longer than you think.
His months of trail beard growth made him look 15 years older than he was. I was told that he had just graduated from high school and was planning to hike part of the trail before he headed off to college in the fall.
But, the call of the entire trail was more alluring than expected. He wanted to do it all.
To make that happen he had gotten in touch with his university and delayed his start for a semester.
It seems so easy when we hear the story. Of course, somebody could postpone college for semester in order to have a major life adventure. Right?
We are masters of our time, aren’t we?
The reality is that most of us don’t do take the step of changing plans once they are in motion. Once we put something on the calendar we search much harder for ways to stick to that plan than to change the plan…even if changing might be better.
The chance to linger is often available, even if we don’t recognize it.
RSS Feed