Weird Changes Long Distance Backpackers Experience

hey y'all Dixie here today I'd like to talk about some of the more weird realizations that long-distance backpackers often have about themselves once they've been on trail for a while some of y'all may have heard that if a domesticated pig that se lives on a farm ends up being turned loose into the wild before long that pig will turn into a feral hog grow darker hair may be tusks and before long you won't be able to recognize that it was a once domesticated pig well I feel like some of us humans who have spent an extended period of time on trail can probably relate to this in one way or another I noticed for myself that there were some changes in me that I wasn't really expecting I hadn't read anywhere in a book or anything like that and I asked on my social media platforms if those of y'all who watch this channel also experience things like that and so I've compiled a list today of things that folks tend to notice about themselves that you might not hear about otherwise and I want to share that with you today just in case you're thinking about getting out on a long-distance hike these are some of the things that you might expect to see in yourself first let's talk about some of the changes in the sense of smell when I first started out my body odor was kind of offensive to me I mean it wasn't great I knew i stunk but it seemed over time that I got more accustomed to it or familiar with it and after a while I started to smell like basil to myself not necessarily Pleasant but like it had a twinge of basil anyway and when I mentioned that on social media they said that they also related their Bo two different familiar odors one girl said every time she pops off a piece of aloe from her aloe plant she smells what her Bo smells like and there were other familiar sense that people related their Bo to like crayons onions maple syrup skunk and weed which I guess those two things are pretty similar these days and because one's body odor becomes so familiar after several days without bathing once you get into town you might not realize how bad you actually smell to other people and if you're sitting in a rest you've not had a chance to take a shower yet you might notice people looking at you strangely or like sniffing the air or wondering what smells so terrible but I think the true test to really gauge how terrible you smell is once you get to town after not having a bath for several days you take off your clothes you take a shower and then try to put the same clothes back on that you were just packing in and I guarantee you they're much more offensive than when you first peel them off and you were still gross and that's something else that somebody commented to me is that they didn't realize truly how much grime and filth was associated with backpacking because they say no pictures can do it justice you know no videos it's just something you don't truly realize until especially once you shower and watch all of it go down the drain also I think a lot of long-distance backpackers notice that in normal everyday laughs we're really desensitized as far as our sense of smell goes because it doesn't take very long being on trail and if you smell a day hiker pass you they smell amazing I mean oftentimes you'll even smell them before you see them some people even say that after they've been on trail for a while the scent of soap shampoo conditioner body spray deodorant etc fabric softener even is just too much for them and it's really off-putting it almost stinks after they've been on trail for a while for me as long as it's just one or two people I'm fine on trail but it seems when I first get back to town it takes a while for me to get used to smelling all of those scents at one time so I think you've realized how much your nose just kind of turns off all of those since it's not that they're not as strong it's just you get so used to smelling those things every day and when you're out in nature and you've got fresh air and a break from all of that then you do smell all that stuff at one time and it's kind of like an overload but I noticed that I could smell a campfire at what seemed to be a longer distance than before because my nose was so used to not really smelling much or just my body odor so it would kind of into those little things that maybe before it wouldn't have tuned into now let's talk about some changes that folks tend to notice about their sense of taste first of all long distance backpackers tend to have some pretty strange cravings like pregnant lady cravings and not just on trail where they're mixing a conglomeration of things together that maybe in normal life they would have never put together like bacon bit peanut butter tortilla wraps there's nothing like that or peanut butter in there Raymond noodles etc but it's not even just on trail when you get back to town especially on a thru-hike for myself on the 80 I was just all the time craving chocolate milk as soon as I got to town that's exactly what I wanted I didn't want a shower I didn't want to bed I don't want to eat I wanted some chocolate milk and now I know a lot of people told me that they don't typically drink Coca Cola's or any carbonated beverages but when they through hack they just really really crave that stuff and then some people even get almost like this obsession or addiction to certain snacks on trail for myself it was salt and vinegar chips on several of the trails I've also had a thing for Snickers but it's almost like you have to have this thing and if you don't have it then you're thinking about it every day while you're hiking and I can't really explain it I've never had a child so I don't know about pregnancy cravings but from what I've been told it's it's pretty similar like you're just thinking about this thing and you really wanted also many hackers have noted that their standards for food have gone completely down during long-distance backpacking trips now I've often wondered that for myself because there are several restaurants along my thru hacks that I've wanted to go back to because they were so delicious while I was on trail and I wonder if it's not because I was just that hungry and not actually because they were that good I know one way I've kind of gauged this with myself is I love mountain house meals while I'm on trail but if you try to eat one at the house I mean they're all right they're not terrible but it just does not the same I'm convinced like my taste buds change somehow from when I'm at home to when I'm on trail because my standards significantly drop and finally another thing that was noted with sense of taste is once you're on trail and you're drinking out of freshwater sources a lot especially if you're on a trail that does have good water sources once you return back to town city water just tastes disgusting I mean you can taste the chlorine in it sometimes it's almost like you're drinking pool water especially if you've been backpacking somewhere like the Sierra Nevada where the water sources are just almost pristine and so you've got that good water that that really has no flavor and you go into a town somewhere and it's just it's it's obvious that you're drinking faucet water as far as hearing goes some people say that they feel like their hearing is a bit more fine-tuned when they're on trail for myself I think that this is definitely true if I hear something walking through the woods during the day oftentimes before I even look up I have a pretty good idea of what animal it is you know just just from hearing alone but I feel like this is pretty true of anybody who spends time in the woods maybe not even an extended period of time but day hiking hunters kayakers etc but it is funny how that can disappear at night when you're in your tent and you hear something outside of your tent because I'm telling you a caterpillar sounds like a grizzly when you're camping alone at night but one of the things I think is a bit more unique to long distance hackers is that after spending so much time out on trail and and not having so much stimulation and noise constantly that going into town can be a bit overwhelming I know for myself I noticed this at grocery stores just hear people talking and the beep of things getting scanned and the machines at the self-checkout talking and just all of that noise noise noise as the Grinch would say and if you don't believe me then try the same experiment I tried when I was on the Appalachian Trail and go from just the serenity of the trail and then throw yourself into Times Square in New York City because something I went and did while I was on the 80 and I wonder now since I've been back in civilization since my last thru-hike if going to Times Square would be quite as overwhelming my guess is no now let's talk about sense of sad I know I've talked about this in some of my videos before but somebody else mentioned this when I asked about other people's experiences on trail and she says that even though everybody who is on trail during a through hack is just disgusting and dirty and grody somehow you see beauty in them and the men are handsome and the women are just really pretty with no makeup and just being very natural and then you go back to normal life and you put on makeup and feel like a clown and I remember seeing a lady at a zoo in New York where the 80 passes through when I was on my threw hack and and she had on so much makeup it reminded me of a character from The Hunger Games from the Capitol you know how they really doll up and everything and I mean she was a very beautiful lady but it just looked very strange to me because at that point I was so used to seeing women including myself not wearing makeup so it's interesting how we almost come back to our cavemen selves and the the more natural thing is beautiful because before my thru-hike of the 80 I mean you're gonna go to Walmart I was putting on some kind of makeup because I felt naked without it and now I just I don't I don't worry about that as much you know if I don't have a chance to put on makeup that day I'm gonna have just as much fun as if I had on a whole bunch of makeup so anyway that certainly took some time to change them myself I'd say you know three or so months on the 80 of not being able to fix my hair not being able to put on makeup and still being in towns when I resupplies another thing that I noticed with my sense of sight is I seem to get on to a schedule with the Sun so when the Sun came up I was waking up even though I kind of dragged getting out of camp but and then once the Sun went down I was ready to wind down for the evening set up camp and before long I was out but once I went to town to take a zero day I would notice if I didn't cut off the lights if I stayed in a private motel room or something like that that I would stay up and I wouldn't even realize how late it was because it was like my body was used to well if you see lot then you're awake now let's talk about some things that are a bit more physical like going to the bathroom when you're out on a long-distance hike I got used to being able to go to the bathroom pretty much wherever and whenever I wanted to with respect to the distances to trail and water and campsites etc but pretty much I could just wait until I had the strong urge to go and go on and go but once you get back to normal life it takes some time to transition back to the idea of I have to wait in line to go to the bathroom or a bathroom might not be immediately available so I had to remind myself when I got back to civilization that as soon as I noticed the urge to go to the restroom I needed to start looking for one instead of waiting until I had to go immediately somebody said that they noticed that they pee less on warmer days even though they're chugging water it's almost as if their sweat creates this you know equal water in water out and so they don't end up having to pee so I do think it's important on a long-distance trail to remind yourself that you need to drink water and that it's important to stay hydrated especially if you notice that you're not going to the bathroom as much as you should be for the amount of water that you're drinking and finally one hacker shared this he notices that when his hacker hunger hits that he has to start digging a larger hole because you know more food in more food out another realization that a lot of hackers have is that they get into a muscle memory they don't even realize they have so once they're off trail they find themselves reaching for their water bottle when they're thirsty you know it's like I'm thirsty I'm just gonna reach back therefore my smart water or reach for my little hydration tube I never found myself reaching for my bottle like other folks did but I did get used to the idea of I have my pack with me so I have everything that I might need and when I was off trail I mean it took several weeks before I realized I don't actually have everything I need with me at any given time so I had to make a mental note of okay grab my wallet grab my keys debit cards etc because again I just got so used to I always have what I need right on me so this kind of brings us to the more mental side of things because once you've gone on a trail and you had one bag for six months that had everything you needed in it with the exception of resupplying food or certain other supplies you get home and you see all of this stuff in your house and people start to realize that maybe less is more and having all of these things might not actually bring them happiness but it might be more burdensome to have all of this stuff so I think a lot of through hikers go home and they just start purging decluttering and they find themselves becoming more and more minimalistic but this idea starts rolling over into other areas of life so maybe through hackers aren't just getting rid of clutter and stuff they don't need but they might also start getting rid of old habits or insecurities for myself I mentioned before that I used to feel like I had to have on makeup if I went out in public every single day but I would also wash my hair every day and blow-dry it and straighten it etcetera and spend so much time just to get prepared to go somewhere but now that time I spend in different ways because of reprioritize and I feel like there's a much more constructive use of my time even if that's just getting another hour of sleep one mental hurdle that through hackers often have is the way water is treated differently on trail versus in town on trail if you've been in an area especially where there is a lack of water or a lack of good water sources so maybe you've been drinking out of a cattle trough or a cow pond or maybe even from a sister and that has a dead animal in it and then you go to town and you have this already treated water right there at your fingertips by just turning a knob so it's it's something that definitely allows you to appreciate having fresh water basically instantly whenever you want it and then also it's really interesting because on trail you're told to avoid water sources when you're doing in a cat hole and go into the bathroom but then you go to town and you sit over a perfectly clean bowl of water and do two into it so anyway that can be an interesting flip of events for the mind another mental adjustment that hackers often have to make is the recalibration of speed and this can be troublesome in two different ways first of all you get used to having a certain pace as a through hacker I feel like most of us probably walk about two to three miles per hour well I found that my friends and family usually don't walk two to three miles per hour and if we're walking somewhere together I actually have to tell myself you know slow down a little bit or they tell me because I just tend to fly ahead of them and they're like Holly slow down so it's actually an effort that I have to put into it to walk a little bit slower but then on the other hand of things if you're in a car or on a motorcycle or anything that goes faster than a walking pace it can be a bit overwhelming and it can feel like you're going 70 miles per hour down the road when really the person driving is only going 35 miles per hour and if you haven't driven in several months and once you get behind the wheel that's kind of a shocker - and some other random realizations are things like how a soft cushiony wool sock can turn into something like a solid plastic shell like thing I mean it's really disgusting how gross a through hacker sock can turn pretty quickly and they will never ever be the same folks also find it very normal on trail especially if they haven't seen people in a while to talk to themselves and things to themselves out loud for myself Christmas music and Disney songs always seem to be the first to come into my mind and out of my mouth and finally how being so exhausted can cloud your judgement on what is an acceptable place to take a nap or camp for the night like maybe a park bench or a Walmart or even under a bridge and I've slept under a bridge with a dead bird alright y'all that's all I have for you today and I just want to say thank you to everybody who contributed their experiences so I could compile this list if you've experienced any of these things mentioned today or something that I didn't include today feel free to leave that in the comments below because I always think it's cool to see how we humans can also kind of be feral once we're out in the woods for a while and I'm sure that not everybody realizes the same differences in themselves anyway thanks for watching and we will see y'all next time

Channel: Homemade Wanderlust

Views: 227,791

Rating: 4.9462094 out of 5

Keywords: travel, hiking, backpacking, hike, gear, adventure, fun, story, Appalachian, Trail, PCT, CDT, thru-hike, Auburn, Alabama, epic, climbing, canyon, national, nature, mountains, update, park, lake, trail, tents, camping, summer, University, Aubie, River, stream, Mountains, National, Scenic, Dixie, Camino

Id: 1DANuWwVG2g

Length: 18min 47sec (1127 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 15 2020