GDT – The Aftermath

It has been nearly two weeks since the end of our thru-hike on the GDT.  I want to share and record my journey in writing, but I’m slowly coming to grips with the reality that hiking the GDT cannot be put into words, rather it is something that must be experienced.  If running 100 miles is like living a year of your life in a day, then thru-hiking the GDT is like running a 100 miler a day, for 18 days straight. Life is simplified to the placement of one foot in front of the other, while at the same time the importance of each footstep is amplified x1000.  Miss a junction, take a wrong turn, stumble on a rock, choose the wrong socks or shoes, trip on some deadfall and your hike could be over.  Feet, food and health become obsessions.

Smiling faces on top of La Coulotte (GDT Day 2)

I worried that living outdoors for nearly three weeks would spoil me.  That I’d become sick of trail food, tired of the outdoors, and need to take some serious time off to just veg out on the couch eating pizza.  In reality, the exact opposite has happened.  I have found my need to be outdoors stronger than ever, and I’ve developed a serious addiction to sugar.  If you need me, you can find me up a mountain shoving my face full of cookies and gummy worms.  In the last 8 days I’ve climbed 6 mountains and eaten more junk food than I’d normally ingest in an entire month. I’m not sure if this is the most recommended recovery method from a long hike, but it seems to be working.

Mouth full of cookies on Mount Tyrwhitt

I don’t own a scale so I don’t know precisely how my weight changed on the trail, but I figure I lost about 10lbs.  As I finished the hike my legs looked skinny for the first time ever, muscle striations were clearly visible on my arms, and blood vessels were popping out on my stomach.  The gaunt look was accompanied by a ridiculous appetite and intolerance to cold.  Thankfully, my mom and Matt had anticipated my hungry return home, and I have been well taken care of with big pots of stew, tuna mac and cheese, pancakes, bacon, seafood chowder and anything else I could think to request. My vascular stomach is softening up, and on Sunday I noticed I was back to being the least dressed person on the mountain top.

My body held up reasonably well on the trail, especially considering this is the first time I’ve attempted anything of this magnitude.  My left shin became inflamed during the 2^nd week of hiking, but that injury was virtually healed by the time I finished.  Going into the 3^rd week my right shin started to become inflamed, however this never affected me very much because we were doing so much bushwhacking. I’ve discovered that shin splints don’t mind bushwhacking nearly as much as nicely groomed trail.  In the days following our hike my shin swelled up further and the range of motion was limited. I found that the pain and swelling would subside with movement so I took this as justification to get out scrambling as much as possible. With each mountain climbed the shin seemed to heal further, and as I write this the swelling and pain have completely dissipated.   

My goal for the coming weeks is to put this experience down into words the best I can, even though I’m still not totally sure what this will look like. I also plan to put together some short video clips for our YouTube channel, Mountain Movement.  I hope that by sharing my story I am able to preserve these memories and influence others to challenge their perceptions of what’s possible.

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  Feeling cold on Mount Carnarvon

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  Following the ridge from Tyrwhitt to Pocaterra

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  Weeknight scramble on Mount Edith

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  Fun scrambling on Mount James Walker