A Word on Learning

I've noticed the traffic on my blog has spiked a bit (from 1 visit a week to 2) and I imagine some of this is from my journal link in the Whiteblaze 2013 thru-hiker database list.  I was contemplating removing my name from the list since I have decided to postpone my hike.

I've decided to keep it in, mainly to allow anyone who is interested to see the machinations of a thru-hike that didn't work out.  There are so many stories on successes and near successes, but little on how a planned hike never gets to start.  Who really wants to admit they failed?

I do, if only to help others work out in a realistic fashion whether they should even consider such an endeavor.

Do not misunderstand, I am not saying you should not consider taking it on.  Just look upon what I've done here as a lesson learned.  If it applies to you, great.  If you are cut from a different cloth than I or have things that drive you that I do not, fantastic.

Do what is right for you, above all else.  As many famous folk have quoted, follow your bliss.

Good luck.

Plan B - Optimized Failure

I should have been doing my final preps this week, packing, and stressing over the last details of a well planned thru hike.  I've diverged from the plan in the fact I am off the plan, and will not be back on it for I think many years to come.  Somehow I planned myself out of going.

So goes another failure to launch in a long string of failures.  I've spent a lot of money, educated and prepared myself as best able.  Yet when the critical moments of execution come I have discovered the inherent flaws of my ambitions, making it pointless to continue at this time.  I so wish I could be like some people who ignore things like that and just blindly push on...

Hitting the Wall

As anticipated, I have reached the juncture in this little expedition where I begin to question and rationalize my decisions.  And equally as anticipated I am very good at arguing the points of my own folly at taking on such a stress inducing endeavor.  I hate arguing with myself, mainly because I'm usually right.

Flip Flop and Try

I anticipated the universe would intrude upon my "ideal" thru hike in some manner, and as expected I am challenged with conforming my ideal with reality.  This is not a bad thing, as I will still traverse the same number of miles and see the same scenery and pass the same white blaze markers of the trail.  It just won't be in the order, direction, or time frame I had originally planned.  Unless I figure out how to bend space-time to my will, this involves

The Lull Between Disasters

As I imagine will be the case on the trail, so I have noted of late the spans of time between things worth mentioning.  I am working the plan, hiking the hike so to speak.  At this point the plan involves paying down the last balances on the credit cards (to the dismay of the credit card companies), and retaining employment without strangling my coworkers so as to accomplish said credit card paying.  In other words, life as usual.