Earlier this year I went on the longest hiking adventure of my life. I hiked roughly 650 to 700 miles of the Appalachian Trail. It was hard. On the trail I earned money by doing freelance writing work for people. I was hiking to get away from bad influences and self-destructive habits. I met many people who I hope to maintain lifelong friendships with.... and hopefully hike with again.
There is nothing quite like hiking the Appalachian Trail. You can make friendships in a day. You spend A LOT of time with people, people you have just met, and people who are generally very impressive (sometimes its very hard to avoid people you don’t like). Imagine your current life and the friendships you maintain. How often do you see those people? If they aren’t coworkers, probably not much. On the trail, they come in and out of your life during the day, and tend to be grouped up when camping at night (when all the deep conversation occur). If you sleep in a shelter, you sleep next to people you’ve only just met. It’s an experience possibly replicated by the nomads of old... or maybe never at all in human history.
I still do freelance writing (for college students). Now I have a very low paying part time job to get me through the semester change. Normally I save about a thousand dollars and live off those savings. Also, normally, I don’t participate in much gift giving around Christmas. This year has been different. I’m caught up in the gift giving (I don’t think this is a bad thing, there is a lot of utility in giving presents, especially useful ones). I have less freedom because of an hourly schedule, and more obligations. I work for someone else now. Is the tradeoff worth it? Yeah, of course. This job gives me discipline, it won’t be the end of the world if I lose it, and it gives me a lot of short term purpose (plus some cash). The trade offs are clear with money and freedom. I can have more money and less freedom, or more freedom and less money (its doable to have both, but very difficult... and mostly retired people who were well-disciplined savers).
I’m still using the iPad and keyboard I used on the Appalachian Trail for writing what you are currently reading:
However, I want that Appalachian Trail hiking experience back. Not necessarily the social part, I can take or leave it, but the hard hiking. I want to put my body through hell again and have that amazing feeling when you get in the zone, hiking: -occasionally smoking some weed, listening to music, and hiking all day long- -the rhythmic pulse of the footfalls of my hiking pace mixed with an altered state and good music- -short term goals while contemplating long-term aspirations- -the necessary creative thinking of keeping a budget with limited work ability- -networking with hostel owners to work for stay, etc-
I don’t think I can find all of those elements on the Hoosier Trail, but there are things much more curious about it that can inspire someone to. Not all of the trail is in the countryside, some is straight through cities. While the Appalachian Trail goes through towns like Hot Springs and Damascus, the Hoosier Trail goes straight through Indianapolis. Also, I can section hike the Hoosier Trail while writing essays and keeping a part-time job.
Check out the cover of Scott Taba Ward’s guide on the Hoosier Trail:
This looks like a lot of fun and as far as I know, not a lot of people have done it.
Anyways, I thought I’d share that on here. I’ll leave a link below if you want to check out the guide that Scott Taba Ward is selling.