PCT Reflection: Changes to the Body and Mind

There are countless reasons why you shouldn’t hike a long trail. It can be expensive, it can be dangerous, it’s hard to step away from your life for 6 months, the list can go on and on. While all of those may be true. There is also an endless list of reasons why you should hike a long trail. In my mind, the only reason needed is the simple fact that it will change your life.

How will it change your life? Well that’s going to look different for everyone. While I may not be able to tell you exactly how you’ll evolve. I can tell you how it changed me.

Physically

When I decided to do the PCT, years before taking my first step on trail, I knew that I had a lot of work to do in order to be ready for the physical demands of hiking day after day. Growing up playing sports I always thought myself to be in decent shape. I wasn’t the strongest cardiovascularly, but I could hold my own on day hikes.

Over the next couple years I focused on getting as strong as I could. I picked up running, I went on day hikes, and I lifted weights consistently. Unbeknownst to me at the time, this is where the physical changes were beginning to take shape. When the time came to step on-trail I felt ready.

After just two days of hiking through the desert of Southern California it was clear to me that all of my preparation was still not enough. The mountains have an unbiased way of truly testing your fitness. That first week was a reality check for me. Needless to say I was humbled.

Over the course of the rest of my time on the PCT my body underwent a massive transformation. My legs got stronger and I started to lose a good bit of weight. Because of this, miles came more easily and climbs that once seemed daunting became pleasant. By building mileage slowly and staying patient; I gave my body time to adjust to its new routine and it was finding ways to thrive in this new environment.

I was thrilled to unlock a new level of potential within my body that I had never known existed. The body’s ability to adapt to new stimuli continues to fascinate me. However, the body wasn’t the only part of me that was being transformed.

Mentally

Ask anyone that has hiked a long trail and they will likely emphasize how mentally challenging it is. At times you will be experiencing some of the most euphoric feelings that you can possibly imagine. Other times your mind will be tormenting you with harrowing thoughts of doubt. Learning to balance these two becomes the ultimate test of the trail.

I could give you dozens of examples of when I was at my highest high and also my lowest low. The thing that makes these trails so special is the ability to experience both in such a compressed time frame. In normal life it may take days or weeks before you come down from a high or battle back from a low. On trail you’re likely to fight that battle each day, oftentimes more than once per day.

Being forced to fight these opposing forces day after day you must learn how to find a middle ground. Learning to stay level headed is a crucial skill when navigating the backcountry. Understanding how to feel your emotions without attaching to them will give you the freedom to fully experience the highs and the lows as they come. It takes a lot of practice and requires a keen level of self awareness to develop this. However, learning this skill will undoubtedly enhance your experience on-trail.

My mind started off as my enemy. It took a lot of energy to try and suppress some of the negative emotions that I was feeling. As time wore on I began to notice how those negative feelings eventually gave way to new ones. It became more and more obvious that how I felt in that moment wasn’t going to be around forever. That is when I began to understand the value of staying level.

Staying level doesn’t mean you shouldn’t feel and appreciate the good feelings when they do pop up. You should. However, you must also acknowledge that something different is surely to follow. The same can be said about the bad. Feel your emotions, learn from them and know that they will not last forever.

Conclusion

If you are looking for a way to change how you view yourself and how you view the world, I simply can not recommend hiking a long trail enough. Change is never easy. Especially when you are trying to change yourself. Yet, I can guarantee that you will look back and smile at the tattered rugged path that got you there. So what’s stopping you?