![]() Papa Canuck made the wrenching decision to go off trail because one of his knees just will not cooperate. Other Tramily members have been forced to end their hikes early due to injury. I still find myself wanting to turn around and point something out to Dawg City even though he has not hiked beside me for months. Friendships are made quickly on the trail and the connections are deeper than expected given the short time frames. As he was a Lasher (Long Ass Section Hiker), I knew his departure was inevitable, but I didn’t know how lonely I would feel after he left. Of course, he did eventually leave me to attend Trail Days in Damascus and then fly home. We said ‘see you down the trail’, and didn’t know in the moment that we would actually reconnect the next day. We had hiked together for around 200 miles but I was beat and willing to take my chances with the bears he was energized and not willing to risk it. For example, just outside of the Smokies, Dawg City decided to continue to night hike when he was uncomfortable with a neighboring tenters poor bear hang. “Hike your own hike”, is the guiding mantra of the trail. These goodbyes usually happen when a Tramily member makes a choice that is not aligned with my personal plan. Saying goodbye to them is the hardest part. I have been fortunate to count a number of hikers as part of my extended Tramily. The ones that stick, because you just gelled, hike at the same pace or stay at the same place for a zero, become your Trail Family or Tramily. One of the best parts of doing a thru hike is making many friends along the way. For me that would include saying goodbye to Tramily, dealing with anxiety over getting to The Mountain before the snow flies and being alone. ![]() Physical challenges aside, it is the mental ones that I find the most daunting. Things that go bump in the night don’t bother me – I am usually so deeply asleep I never hear them! The last time I camped near a road with Scout, she asked me if I had heard the drunken locals howling at the moon the night before. Who knew that pitching underhanded in softball as a kid would pay off 50 years later? Now that I have ditched the splint, I can usually get a good hang in less than three throws. And bear hangs were only hard when my primary throwing wrist was broken. The sweatier I am, the steeper the grade, the bigger the challenge – the wider the grin. What I have discovered is that I actually enjoy the physical challenge. When I started this journey I assumed that the hard parts would be walking for 10-20 miles per day, setting up a proper bear hang and being afraid of things that go bump in the night.
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