Reassimilation into the (non)wild

It's been a week now, and the shock of being in such a populated, fast paced area has begun to wear off. The insatiable hunger is still ever present, and needs to be curbed soon! All is fine and well when just getting back, but one can only consume so many calories when the body thinks it's going to hike 23 miles a day to burn it off - and I'm not doing the hiking part.

The mental battle of snapping back into things is a little more difficult to overcome than the change in diet. Cars whizzing by, hundreds of people at every intersection, but not a single connection made. When out in the backcountry, the folks you pass are typically in such random areas, that you at least get the 10-second rundown on who they are and what they're doing. It's funny, and odd, to crave the wild (and thus lack of people) for the connections made with those who's paths we do cross. 

Harder even still is to have a goal for over a month, and wake up everyday with that single goal, and do your best to achieve that just a little bit more. Waking up to hike, hike all day, then get into a camp and set up, it seems like a simple and monotonous adventure, but the simplicity of the goal makes for a very fulfilling and rewarding lifestyle. Everyday you grow closer to your goal, and dreams, and the achievements that entails. It's harder in the 'real' world to have such a distinct and defined definition for accomplishment. It's no longer just waking up and fulfilling an action. Aspirations are more complex, and thus require more creativity to fulfill. 

Time will continue to pass, and things will slowly go back to normal. Until then, the dreams of open skies and simple days linger on.