Backpacking & trekking—what we do

Will you be a backpacking quitter?

An Open letter to summer hiking companions about to begin a 500 mile trek on the Colorado Trail

Most long distance hikers don't make it. That is, they start but don't finish. Some don't even start--pulling out the week before. Remember, on long distance hikes HALF the hikers pull out in the first week... HALF!!! Then another 40% pull out along the way--That's the truth---on long distance hikes only 10% --only 10%--of the starters finish... this is not some walk in the park that any old guy can do... it is more like a slow-paced marathon... So, consider what we are about to do:

We will cover more than a half-marathon every day...
…not on the level but in 11,000' elevations
…not on a road but a rough trail...
…not merely in running shorts but with a heavy pack on our backs...

We will finish our half-marathon then sleep on the ground..
and get up the next day and do another half-marathon
and again the next day for more than three weeks...

BUT...
We will do this in good company...
...with sweet chats in late afternoon walks..
...and sometimes quiet sitting with wraparound vistas fee get to see...
...and we will ache...
...and get so stiff an hour after stopping we can hardly walk to the creek to get water
...and we will forge life-time friendships...
...and our breath will be taken away at the views...
...and we will want to quit...
...and our foot will hurt strangely...
...and our shoulder will have a funny ache we never had before...
...and our knees will seem to be injured...
...and will have the runs for two days in a row...
But we will keep on...

...and our friends will urge us on...
...and when we fall into bed we will be so exhausted

…we will sometimes sleep on a 1" rock all night and not notice until 4AM...
...and we'll get up and think of fried eggs and bacon and home fries, but eat a pop tart...
...and we'll get a cheap motel in town and feel like we are in the finest accommodations in the world...
...and we'll think a shower is worth $100.
...and we'll go eat two pizzas each.
...and people won't believe we walked there from where we started—they’ll ask “did you hitch?”...
...and we'll celebrate in town... and finally move on...

...and we'll accommodate to life on the trail..
...we'll see a M&M dropped on the trail by someone and pick it up and eat it.
...It will rain and we'll hardly notice...
...weekender hikers will look so clean...
...and the perfume on any weekender girl-hikers will linger half a mile in the air to our now-sensitive noses...
...and we will fall into a routine of half-marathons each day...
...and we'll get cocky..
...and we'll say, "Lets do a 20 miler"
...and we will do it..
...then we’ll try a full marathon one day..

..and we’ll accomplish in the mountains with a pack what most people cannot do on flat land.
...and get up and do half-marathons every day the following week...
...until walking 15 miles is normal for us...
...and dry cereal and nuts and raisins are normal food..
...and we'll eat instant oatmeal raw one day, washing it down with cold water... and pronounce it "fine"...

...then it will be almost over,...
...and we'll see our final town in the distance...
..and all at once, abruptly we’ll be in the car again

...then we'll be back on campus...

....and we will feel strangely out of place...
...as if we left home... where we "life" behind on the trail...
...and people will ask inane questions...
..."did you live off the land?"
..."did you get a lot of writing done"
..."so were you on a road?
..."I hear you HITCHhiked 300 miles!...
...and they will not understand...

...then when we see each other we will know "He understands.."
...and there will be a bond...
...and we will see "mind slides" of views we will remember when we are sixty...
...and in the following spring we will again think of the trail... our trail…

…we’ll wonder how it is; what it looks like, has the snow melted yet?
...and even if we never hike again in our whole life...

…we will be permanently altered...
...we'll wonder how we could be so changed…

…there was no Bible study...no pews...no planned "services" no small group activities...no workbook...

…but we’ll know we are different forever..

...most of all our character will be altered...
...we will do hard things when we don't like them...
...we will stick with things that aren't always pleasant..
..and we will repeatedly see that our hike influenced us most because…

..hiking is a metaphor for life...
...life is a long distance hike...
...a job is a long distance hike...
...marriage (especially) is a long distance hike...
...and we will ponder the influence of this hike on our lives...
...and determine that the metaphor is what influenced us...

just watch...

we'll never be the same...

Keith Drury May 2000