Way Over Yonder

With a grateful heart, I say hello to my family, friends, trail family, and fellow pilgrims near and far. Your continued interest is inspiring and makes me realize how our actions contribute to one another in unseen ways. I have been surprised to see folks from 21 countries and five continents tuning into my story. I asked a colleague upon my return, “why would anyone besides family, friends, and other hikers be interested in my blog?” She said, “I know why; this past two years, we have all been on our own trail as we navigated a global pandemic. Any story that inspires or informs is helpful.”

I promised an update on my experience coming off the trail in a blog about Post Trail Adjustment Disorder. But first, here is my unexpected pick for the song that most inspired me while hiking the PCT. Despite the myriad of rocking numbers from my formative years and those given to me by my fellow hikers, this song and album took me deep every time, and it still does. It makes me feel like a natural human.

Way over Yonder – by the amazing Carole King

A way over yonder
Is a place I have seen
In a garden of wisdom
From some long ago dream
Oh yeah
                        Carole King, Way Over Yonder, Tapestry 1971

The most challenging question that I faced when returning from the trail was, “what does it feel like to return to real life.” I have asked that same question of others, but weirdly, I completely froze. What was going through my mind was which life is real life. Walking in nature day after day with few responsibilities or supporting my family, job, and being a functional member of society. The answer is both. My natural life and my civilized life are both real. The interesting question is how to merge them as much as possible.

What Worked from my Post Trail Adjustment Plan

I identified three areas to work on to ease me back into civilized life. The first was finding meaning in my experience by connecting with interested people. This practice has worked incredibly well. A dozen people have gone deep into my experience, and their perspectives have opened new insights for me. I also shared my insights with my Zen community in several settings. In my relationship with others, I see new facets of my experience. Merging perspectives is the best example of bringing my two “real” lives together. I look forward to connecting with fellow hikers because we share something beyond words, and hearing how this experience unfolds for them is a precious mirror.

My second practice was to find new ways to exert my body to bring me joy and continue my ongoing connection at a cellular level. This practice revealed some unexpected issues. The big one is that I had not realized how much muscle I had lost in my upper body. After doing more research, people in their 60’s and beyond lose a higher percentage of muscle mass with a drop in weight than younger adults. I dropped as much as 19 pounds and then kept increasing my food to get back to a 13-pound loss. The other issue is that I will have a more challenging time metabolizing protein to build back muscle. So, my practice now includes a virtual personal trainer and a lot of weight lifting. Instead of wanting to keep the weight off, now I want to gain it all back in the form of muscle.

The other practice was to get back on the trail. One of my best motivations to push my PCT mileage was to have time in September to travel with Pleasure-Way to visit our son and fiancée in Switzerland. We combined that with some fantastic hiking in the Jungfrau region, and my body just loved to feel the trail again.

What Hasn’t Worked from my Post Trail Adjustment Plan

The third practice I identified was to examine and change habits that no longer serve. I have made a few minor changes, like drinking less caffeine, but others prove very difficult. For example, I am a chronic list-maker and can obsess over what I check off rather than being fully present with each step along the way. I am struggling with media consumption and had to turn off most of my feeds. Habits that don’t serve me seeped right back into my civilized life without asking permission. I will need to work hard to retire habits well past their expiration date with kindness and toughness. In the Zen tradition, these obstacles are teachers who have come to guide us down life’s trail. I look forward to swapping stories.