After the Hike
Staying in Shape
Ray Jardine commented that many hikers finish their thru-hikes in great shape, but that their excellent trail condition usually doesn't last too long. This was true for Jardine and his wife, and to our dismay we found it true as well. Along with home cooking, and the daily routine of work, we found our weight increasing and our conditioning waning. The only way around this problem is to keep training, and watch what you eat.
I lost more weight than I wanted on my JMT hike, and after a few days at home found myself eating ravenously Curiously, my weight didn't start to increase right away. I think my body was trying to find some sort of equilibrium. If you want to keep your trail conditioning—at least to some degree, don't relax too long after you finish your hike. Rest and eat well for a few days, but start doing some strenuous hiking before too long.
At the end of our hike, we all experienced complex emotions. We looked forward to getting back home, eating “regular” meals and enjoying our families again. At the same time, we knew that we had had an extraordinary experience on the trail, and we didn't want it to end. Hikers who have done long trails like the PCT and the AT, sometimes say they felt profoundly disoriented after their trek. We didn't experience this degree of displacement, but something strange happened when my wife picked us up at Whitney Portal. She asked me to drive back to the Bay Area, and it felt very unnatural getting behind the wheel. Fifty miles per hour felt disturbingly fast. Our minor disorientation didn't last long. Within a week or so, we had all resumed our “normal” routines, and our trail experiences receded into memory.
Beyond enjoying and completing a long hike like the JMT, most people want to learn from their experiences. Hikers often keep a log while on the trail. Craig and I each kept a written log, and in addition, I carried a little voice recorder. While hiking, we often discussed how well various pieces of gear worked or whether this or that technique was better. Sometimes we also noted particular insights in our logs. Immediately after the hike, we organized and summarized our logs and notes, with the goal of improving our wilderness skills. In addition, I started to work on a narrated slide show using the iMovie computer program. While this is a user-friendly application, it took me a while to synchronize the narration and the slides, but the final result was gratifying, and I recommend it for anyone who wants to keep a visual record of their hike.
About the Pictorial Section
Would you like to take a photo hike along the JMT? The next page explains how you can do that, and also how you can use amazing programs like Google Earth and National Geographic's Topo! to supplement your virtual hike.
Following that introduction, each page has a series of photos accompanied by a brief description and a map inset showing where the shot was taken. Would you like to add some of your photos to the mix? Find out how in the next section.
Pictorial Section