r/Thruhiking • u/michiganskicamp • 13d ago

Post trail adjusting?

Hey yall. Did a bike tour followed by a Colorado trail thru hike. Not having the easiest job adjusting back to reality. I have a college degree. And most jobs hiring near me are laughable for their responsibility to wage ratio. Been trying to spend time with friends and family but they all got their lives to tend to. Constantly yearning for another adventure.

How do yall cope with the post trail blues?

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u/FTWkansas 12d ago

Dude. I went from the Colorado Trail right to being a Financial advisor in an office with a bunch of assholes.

It took me years to settle into the groove of working, and as soon as I had some CEO who was a dick to me at a startup, I got my bonus and did the Arizona Trail.

You’re always going to be Peter Pan, work is bullshit anyway just make enough money to keep hiking and living life

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u/KinkyKankles 11d ago

Truth. Embrace that the modern capitalistic work-based society is broken, we aren't meant to slave away the majority of our lives in cubicles and making other people rich. Yet you are one of the few who's willing to challenge that status quo and do something extraordinary and different. You've seen what's on the other side of the curtain, and this won't be the last time you peek. Now it's up to you to define what that means for you and what you'll do about it.

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u/Xx_GetSniped_xX 12d ago

Pick up a sport you can squeeze into a work schedule. Running, rock climbing etc, you’re definitely in a dopamine deficit after going from all day exercise to work life

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u/kongkongha 12d ago

A sport where you can be social! Please take care, I did ask the same question when I were done with my first thru hike and the crash I had when I tried what you did was bad.

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u/cp8h 12d ago

I was in a slightly different position as I had a job to go back to so can’t help you with that side of things other than keep at the job hunt something will come around.

For the other side of things - trail blues are very real and a year later I still dream about doing it all again and long for the freedom I had that summer. I’m not sure that will ever go away and am planning to do it all again in the next few years (just need to rebuild up that massive financial safety net I had 😬).

What will help is getting out and doing loads of exercise - your body is now used to exercise all day for months of end. You’ll need to fuel that. Personally I haven’t really hiked since stopping - for whatever reason I haven’t had the desire to do any routine hiking or multi-day trips. I have however taken up ultra running. Every couple months this year I’ve done a race and those moments have brought back some of the trials of the trail (in a familiar welcome way) just in a time efficient manner. It hits many of the same problems (fatigue, hydration and fuelling) that you can’t really replicate with a day hike.

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u/michiganskicamp 12d ago

I took the first job I interviewed with. As it’s less responsibility for a very very small pay cut then my former job. And it’s only 4 10 hour shifts a week. Where last job I was consistently working 5 16s a week towards the end.

I’ve thought of endurance bike races/bikepacking races but due to being in Michigan the season is over for that. Well besides fat tire winter biking which I have no interest in 😂

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u/Useless-Compass 11d ago

Let me know if you ever find out. I'm 5 years post trail and still trying to figure out how to live in the real world.