Entering Familiar Territory

I’m 1455 miles in, writing this on the train from Pawling to White Plains New York, where I’m excited to spend a night with my friends Chris and Audrey. To get there, I hitchhiked for the first time! After my scheduled uber cancelled, I asked someone in the parking lot, Steve, who very kindly agreed to take me to the station, and wouldn’t take any money.

It’s been almost 3 months on the trail (today is day 90), and while the structure does feel borderline routine now, it hardly resembles the early days of the hike. As I have been informed by my small audience, I’m a “list writer,” so I’ll embrace that and list what has changed on trail since Georgia:

1. I rarely see other thru-hikers. At first, I’d see dozens of others each day. Now I can go days without seeing anyone. This is due to many quitting (less than 1/3 finish), but also the fact that I started at the beginning of “the hiker bubble” and have been moving a bit faster than average. When I do see a thru-hiker, the energy is different. We aren’t nervous and excited, we are tired but confident in our ability to traverse the trail.
2. Everything is familiar, or at least more familiar. At first, I was in parts of the country I had never been, doing something I had never done, spending all my time with people I had never met. Now, pretty much all of those have changed. On the topic of people, this has been somewhat intentional; instead of focusing on making sure I spend my social time in the trail community, I’ve focused on getting together with friends. It’s certainly a tradeoff, but I haven’t thought twice about it nor do I have any regrets. When it comes to the scenery, it’s been really fun coming across places I’ve been before. Familiarity has become novel, if that makes sense.
3. I’m no longer filled with my usual boundless energy to always go further. Rest has started to feel like what I want in a way it hasn’t ever before. I get excited for short days, and feel less likely to do that extra few miles at the end of the day
4. The trail is more rugged. The southern half of the trail felt borderline runnable most of the time. It hardly ever feels that way now, even after leaving the damned rocks of PA in the dust. 

I’d generally call these changes welcome. I certainly miss the early-days excitement, but I have no qualms about how the journey has changed.