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Chapter 8. Building Friendships, Discovering Self, Enjoying Terrains
- The University of Tennessee Press
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chApTer 8 Building friendShipS, diScoVering Self, enJoYing TerrAinS Evaluating Personal Experience The AT survey quantified hiker perceptions of the impact of their journey on personal outcomes such as forming friendships, improving physical fitness, and experiencing inner harmony. The questions were an amalgam, primarily derived from the original applications of the Spiritual Health in Four Domains Index (SH4DI)1 and other surveys intended to determine spiritual wellness, including an instrument the World Health Organization had developed for application internationally in a range of socioeconomic settings and in regions where religions other than Christianity are dominant. 2 I added statements that reflected historic beliefs about the outcomes of the long-distance walking pilgrimage and the value of the American wilderness experience.3 In reading the survey results, it is important to remember that the respondents were predominantly successful hikers who completed major sections of the AT. The outcomes might be different if the survey had been conducted with day hikers, weekenders, or hikers just starting from Springer or Katahdin. The attitudes recorded may not be entirely the result of the thru- or section hike. Hikers who were in good health when they began were conditioned to survive the rigors of the ridgetops and less prone to drop out because of fatigue or injury. A predisposition to the casual and oft-instant friendships the AT generates may have assisted a hiker in finding comfortable social and physical surroundings through the mud, rocks, and drizzle. Those who had backgrounds similar to other hikers may have negotiated easier entry into hiking partnerships or “trail families” comprised of kindred spirits. A degree of spiritual well-being at the beginning of the walk should help the would-be 2,000-milers survive the trail. Building friendships, discovering Self 146 Environmental Experience The hiker response to the trail environment provided some of the highest personal experience scores overall. (Appendix II.1 displays the fifteen personal experience statements with the highest average ratings, or in the case of negative statements, the lowest ratings.) The hikers thought “the natural environment on this trip is pleasing” (mean=4.5) and “the trip has produced many interesting events and experiences” (mean=4.7). The AT hikers reported low rates of boredom despite some long plods through relatively unchanging blocks of forest. In response to: “I often feel bored on the trail” (mean=2.0), a mere 13 percent found this to be true to very true. The hikers gave the AT trip a high rating, though, as “a learning experience” (mean=4.5), in concert with the high level of interesting personal experiences. This learning appeared to be largely informal, arising from interactions with other hikers and from the Appalachian landscape itself. An unavoidable part of the AT is the heavy precipitation and the frequent patches of muck. End-to-enders mutter “you can’t get to Maine if you don’t hike in the rain” (fig. 8.1). Hikers taken by surprise have to back down off the ridge when caught in a May ice storm. Raiding bears trap weary backpackers in shelters . Granola-seeking mice run across packs and jump out of the pockets (which I personally leave open so ambitious rodents do not have to chew their way in). One of my field assistants woke up one night at Derrick Knob shelter to find a skunk sitting on his chest. He had difficulty finding a polite way to ask the skunk to leave, so he lay awake for quite some time just wishing the skunk would depart. Youth groups sometimes stay up most of the night in camp, and make certain everyone else does too. Out for a spring ramble, I once arrived at an undistinguished shelter in late afternoon to find that more than thirty thru-hikers, including Dan Wingfoot Bruce, author of more than one AT handbook, had gotten there before me (bunks for ten). Survey respondents reported, however, they were not bothered by the continual dampness, crowding, and primitive overnight facilities. They rated the statement “Environmental or weather conditions have been unpleasant or uncomfortable” as somewhat untrue (mean=2.4). These stoic wanderers were even less concerned about sleeping on the ground or bunks, and rated “Overnight accommodations have been unpleasant or uncomfortable ” as untrue (mean=1.9). A mere 4.5 percent whined about the hostels and pavilions by deeming this sentence true or very true (appendix II.1). The surveys proved that for successful thru- and section hikers, the degree of environmental acclimation is...