A long hike might work. But whatever he does, he needs to pick something that is achievable, and that he'll finish. I worry that traveling might not provide the structure he may need.
Hiking for a week or so while covering ~20-30 kilometers per day is hardly beyond a motivated individual. Especially if you have collaborators on the other end, and can arrange being picked up in some remote location.
In one of his early entries, he explains that he made a conscious decision not to wear a backpack to save his knees and feet, it adds weight to every step. He's an engineer; if you read some of the posts he mentions researching different ways to take care of his needs while on this trip.
Although he seems to have spent enough time thinking everything through, I do think you have a point, I wonder if he will post later that he is getting rid of some stuff. He hasn't hit the Rockies yet (will he go through South Pass? I don't know).
Probably the happiest time in my life was the month I spent hiking the Long Trail in Vermont. The rhythm of waking up every day and exhausting myself physically (but having plenty of mental energy for thinking) helped me to gain a much better perspective on life. It was also a great opportunity to connect on a deeper level with my father before I went off to college.
I plan to attempt the PCT or AT some day, but their considerable length makes it a much bigger commitment than hiking the short 270-mile Long Trail. Unfortunately it's hard to justify taking 6 months off from education or employment—many people see it as a "hippy" thing to do.
At present, my plan is to hike the AT when/if I sell a startup. People seem to be more understanding of you taking out in nature when you're wealthy.
This is interesting advice. To add on to it, hiking the Appalachian Trail might accomplish a similar goal. The combination of endless alone time for self reflection, the simplicity of the task at hand, and sleeping on the ground every night will inject a dose of humility into anyone.
I'll try it from a different angle. Included in the things he took with him were 5kg of rice and a gun with 400 rounds - that's some level of planning. Now, he didn't have a plan so he didn't take a map. Why would he take a map? He had a vague idea of what he wanted to do, and part of it was seeing if he could survive off the land. He couldn't; so be it. He could've been more prepared and increased his chances of survival, but the point that resonates with some people was that he tried. He got off his arse. He wasn't beholden to the expectations of his parents or his money or the usual life. I have a friend who loves the idea of going on adventures and makes endless technical lists and buys gear, then barely goes anywhere. He has lots of maps...
When Alex Honnold free-soloed El Capitan, the exact point was that he didn't have a rope. He had a desperate urge to challenge himself with bigger and more difficult tasks.
i never hiked or walked 14 miles but assuming he is few miles in to 14 miles way back, is it difficult to walk back say 10 miles without having to give up?
But did he know? My read is that he thought it was beyond hoofing it. 20 miles of decent terrain with my normal hiking gear I would have no problem with. Survival situation, I'd do it with a GPS and water.
I notice the article suggests he was 20 miles from a village. That sounds walkable in a couple of nights to me, as a fat middle aged man. I am pretty sure someone used to the terrain and climate could do it in a single leg.
Scenic, yes. Far more remote, though--you'll be spending a lot of nights in the wilderness and most of what you drink will be natural sources that you filter. Your cell phone will rarely work--assume a SOS will have to go by satellite.
Look up the Appalachian Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail and the Continental Divide Trail. All make his 4 day trip look like a stroll in the park--to do any of them in 4 *months* would be a very good performance. All require a certain amount of permitting, I know the PCT permits are by lottery (capacity restrictions), I'm pretty sure the CDT ones are not except for problems getting campsites in the national parks it passes through. No idea on the AT. To accomplish any of these in a single trip requires maintaining a good pace. There are people who have hopped around (doing hot parts in cool times and cool parts in hot times) and completed all three within a single calendar year--last I knew the number of such people exactly matched the number of moonwalkers.
If that's too big for you there are things like the Arizona trail (IIRC 800 miles) and the Colorado trail (I think it's under 500--but note that an awful lot of it is in the 10,000'+ range.) There is the Vermont Long Trail, no idea of the details. I know there are many others but they do not come to mind.
I assume he's getting water along the way and filtering it, not bringing his water for 6 days. I don't think many people hike out with almost a week's worth of water vs. finding water sources.
At a minimum, you need to be reachable and possibly attend meetings. Even if I'm taking a day somewhat easy and running some errands, I'm not going to head off for some 4 hour hike.
I haven't done a 150 day hike, but I have done 100 - 150 day travel before.
Things like that are a great way of creating chapters in your life. Everything in the old chapter closes before you go. You stop working, get rid of 'stuff', move out of your living space and simplify down to essentials.
When you're done, a new chapter starts. In the new chapter, you'll do things differently because you get a new chance to start, and because a long break generally gives your brain a chance to bubble up what it think the long term priorities are.
Call it a life reboot with a disk reformat and OS update. Sometimes you need to take the server offline for a while to bring it up to spec.
A long thru hike is something I've always wanted to do. I was planning on hiking the AT or PNT after I finished university. But, now that I'm a few weeks away from graduating/starting my job, its not something that's financially possible for me. Does anyone have any suggestions about how to find time for something like this later in life?
I left my job in May and I'm hiking the Appalachian Trail now. I saved more than enough for living in a tent for 5 months (admittedly the tent was expensive but I already had it). So far it's been great. I've met a lot of folks who are burned out and taking some time to think.
If long-distance hiking appeals, I'd be happy to discuss it.
Yeah i guess am hiking incredibly unprepared all the time and would hazard most others are too. 14 mile out and back should take a day, he got lost and things went bad. Doesn’t feel like justice to me but will make me rethink my packing list next time I hit the trail.
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