"Post-thru-hike: God you are not going to believe the changes that will have occurred to you if you complete a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. Physical, mental, spiritual changes.
This is something you might want to take into account prior to starting your thru-hike -- like, don't plan to start work the very next day after you finish your thru-hike! It would be best to plan to take a month off between finishing your thru-hike and your first day of work if possible. That'll give you some time to come back to the reality of society and get accustomed to what everyone else thinks is 'daily living'.
Also, be aware that people who know you well prior to you starting your thru-hike may find a different person returning from the Trail. Here are a few changes that I experienced right after my thru-hike -- I think most of these are pretty common changes experienced by thru-hikers:
a) You are considerably skinnier! Ha. Your facial appearance may have changed substantially, you may have grown a beard, your hair may be 6 months longer and it may be difficult for some to recognize you without having to stare for a moment or two at you. The first thing people say to you who weren't aware you went on a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail is, "How did you get so skinny!" The next thing they might say is, "Why are you always hobbling like you're in pain?"
b) You eat like a horse and don't have any table manners left. Yeah, little pinkies up didn't seem to be all that important to you over the course of the last six months. You'll probably come around to fitting back into table-manner society though.
c) You see clean water running from a sink spigot that doesn't have to be treated with iodine as the most amazing and enjoyable invention of man. For the first few days back from your thru-hike, you may find you still drink from your water bottles and fill them up from that amazing colossal sink spigot.
d) Taking a shower and being clean all the time -- woo boy this whole side of life is such a joy! And people get to do this shower thing every day?? With hot water?? Ha, wait until someone tells you they think it might be a good idea for you to start considering under-arm deoderant. Big ol' pitch of the head to the side as if you heard a high-pitched noise.
e) Cologne and Perfume. You are probably not going to be able to stand the smell of perfume and cologne. Even today, three years after my AT thru-hike, it still gags me. Right off the Trail your sense of smell will likely have become so acute that even the smallest amount of perfume is magnified many times over. But your own natural skanky body odor... yeah, that smell somehow gets filtered out by your brain.
f) You are going to find out just how noisy life back in civilization can be -- the noise level that most people live with every day of their life (and actually think of as being "quiet"!) is annoying to you when you first return from your thru-hike.
g) You may find yourself scared to death riding in a car doing 70mph down the freeway while the driver has their head turned talking to you rather than watching the road ahead. Just keep pumping that imaginary brake pedal and grabbing the dashboard...
h) You may constantly wonder where your backpack is located. You've carried the thing for over 2000 miles and it's become a part of you. Knowing where your backpack is located while your on the Trail had become very important to you and being without it after your thru-hike is going to feel so odd.
j) Sleeping indoors. I know if you're sitting at home right now contemplating your upcoming thru-hike next year, this idea of not getting used to sleeping indoors is gonna seem strange to you. How could you not wanna sleep in a soft bed with warm covers inside a building? For some thru-hikers returning after their thru-hike where they tented all the way the length of the AT, a bed may seem to be too soft and uncomfortable when compared to sleeping in a tent with a sleeping bag. After a few days or weeks most thru-hikers will come around and get used to the idea of sleeping indoors in a regular bed. However, I have heard of past thru-hikers who, 30 days after their hike, continued to sleep outdoors in their sleeping bag on their front porch at night.
k) Sunrise. You may find that once the sun comes up, you can't sleep anymore even if you try to go back to sleep. And all those birds at home that start chirping at sunrise that you'd never heard before...yeah, you're probably going to hear them every morning for say, the first month back in civilization.
l) Fears and worries. Right off the Trail you're probably not going to have too many worries and you're probably not going to have fear of much of anything beyond the speed of cars on the freeway. Fears are things you'll re-acquire to some extent once your back into civilization on a full-time basis.
m) Confidence. Ha, right off the Trail you are probably going to be the most quietly confident person you've ever met. Nothing of importance is going to seem too big a challenge. It'll take a while for society to beat a little of that confidence out of you but in the end, it'll still be a huge net gain of confidence after society is through melding and molding you into the way you end up becoming after your thru-hike.
n) Clothes. Why in the world do people have so many clothes?? Well see, it's this way. People always want to look their best because looking good helps them feel better about themselves and others will remember that you just wore such-and-such sweater two days ago and...
o) Animals. After my thru-hike I found animals had a great attraction to me. I can't explain it much except maybe it was due to animals not sensing fear in me. Or maybe they were attracted like flies to the smell! Ha.
p) Reflexes. If you used hiking poles during your thru-hike you're going to find that your hand reflexes are on the extreme side of fast. Much of that is probably due to constantly having to guide hiking poles with a fine touch without having to think much about the placement of poles while you hiked.
q) Television. If you were a TV hound before your thru-hike you may have a great desire to catch up with all the TV shows you missed while you were on your thru-hike. Then again, you may end up deciding that television is simply a means where Corporate America can sell products interspersed with a little entertainment now and then. In any case, there will likely be an amazement of some kind about the power and/or waste of television.
r) Music. I listened to music almost every day of my AT thru-hike. I'd made it a point to purposely listen to music that I hadn't really encountered much prior to my thru-hike. Particularly country music and classical music. When it rained in Georgia I listened to Chopin because his music sounded much like rain to me. When I passed through Tennessee I listened to country music because, well that's all there was on the radio! Ha. For someone who didn't like country music at all prior to my thru-hike it's become the preferred music I listen to on the radio in the car.
s) Trail Talk. Right after you return to civilization all you are going to talk about, think about and dream about is life on the Appalachian Trail. Your co-workers, your spouse, your kids, your parents are probably not going to want to talk about the Trail *NEAR* as much as you are gonna want to talk about the Trail. Eventually you'll get some additional interests and start talking about other subjects after having been back in society for a while. But talking about the Appalachian Trail will not likely ever leave you completely.
