Post Hike Depression?

[funkyfreddy]

Does anyone get this or is it just me? I got it when I came back to NYC from a recent trip to the ADK's, then the week after with all of the rain and no sunlight sent me into a real pit which I'm just now getting out of......

I often get post trip depression after spending time hiking or kayaking, in the past it would usually happen after coming back from Maine or NH after a week or so in the woods. All kinds of things/chemical changes seemed to occur in my body - I would feel healthier, my body's clock and internal rhythms would reset themselves (probably due to the sun, exercise, and getting up at dawn), lack of air, noise, and light pollution, etc. This is a good thing but then I have to go back to NYC , where my body and soul experience the shock of re-entry to the urban environment.

Anyway, I'm just wondering if other folks on VFTT that live in urban environments like Boston, NYC, Hartford, etc, ever experience this. The adjustment seems to be getting worse for me as I get older, wondering if I should move away from the urban experience all together or find a smaller city to live in.

 

[BorealChickadee]

i go through withdrawal when I come back form Maine each year.After the first week up there I listen to a different drummer, and that guy has no idea what the date is! For the first few days back every time I see a New York license plate, I'm "oh look". Yeah right, I'm home what else would be there. It's a shock to come back to the endless demands of stuff. I live in a village and it's still hard to come back. I get used to listening to the ocean lulling me to sleep real quick.

When I come back from a day trip or a weekend in the Adks the biggest shock I have is visual. I keep thinking about the lack of deep green. When I look out at my yard and let my mind wander, I don't see my yard, I see the forests.

 

[MattS]

I live next to Boston and I am the opposite. After each weekend hiking, I get a high and then I go in monday morning telling all my coworkers about my fun weekend trip because I know it was probably more exciting than what they were doing. Then I start getting excited about my next trip.

 

[sapblatt]

I get out 2-4 days per month - the other 28-31 days I plot how I can get out again. I feel so good when I am hiking in the woods and mountains - it is addictive and it cures city depression.

 

[bunchberry]

I wouldn't call it depression in my case, but it certainly requires some re-adjustment...every single time! Especially during this fall, as I have been hiking much more frequently than ever before. I LOVE being outdoors, in the mountains, in nature, and I don't get to hike as much as I would choose to if I could...but I also find a lot of value from the things my urban Boston, day-to-day life offers me--I guess it is all about finding a balance. I have definitely noticed that I prefer less urban settings (rural areas) much more so than before...and I hope that someday I'll live in a place where I can go for a challenging hike after work, right in my neighborhood
-katie

 

[MichaelJ]

I absolutely feel uplifted when I'm on a hike, and to a lesser extent when planning or when I return and am telling people about it. I'm not sure that I'm in any kind of depression in between (at least not any caused by the hike), but I am sure that hiking itself does wonders for me. Physically, the challenge and strength pushes endorphins and makes me feel great. Mentally, I am escaping into another world, even though it's the same world around me every day.

And I know that hiking has definitely helped cure unrelated depressions for me in the past, much better than sitting home and moping.

 

[Michelle]

I wouldn't say depression, but this year after a good long hike it was a bit of a shock getting back into the "swing" of things.

Just being in a vehicle was strange, and forget being in the backseat.......motion sickness galore!! When I got behind the steering wheel of my car, it was a very scary scene! 55 mph was sooooo fast! Tractor trailors and little grandmas were passing me on the highway!

You definately miss the outdoors when not surrounded by the beauty 24/7. The sights and smells of the woods are hard to find in a city. It just makes you long to get out there again!! So, I start thinking of the next trip! There is always a positive side. And my co-workers love hearing about different adventures, so I get to relive my hikes/vacations time and time again!

 

[dr_wu002]

I wouldn't say depression, but this year after a good long hike it was a bit of a shock getting back into the "swing" of things.

Just being in a vehicle was strange, and forget being in the backseat.......motion sickness galore!! When I got behind the steering wheel of my car, it was a very scary scene! 55 mph was sooooo fast! Tractor trailors and little grandmas were passing me on the highway!

My friend spent 3+ months in Antarctica recently and she had a lot of trouble getting back, especially to Boston... probably somewhat like post hiking the AT. However, she suffered from sensory deprivation and had depth perception issues. The problem with Antarctica is it's so big and open you lose a sense of near and far. It made driving impossible for her!

-Dr. Wu

 

[arghman]

I have definitely noticed that I prefer less urban settings (rural areas) much more so than before...and I hope that someday I'll live in a place where I can go for a challenging hike after work, right in my neighborhood
-katie

Newton has some nice parks, my friend lived right near one, can't remember the name but it had some fairly extensive walking trails.

In my town there are some places to hike both formal (e.g. N. & S. Uncanoonuc) and informal but conserved/protected. However, the nearest one of these is a 10-minute drive. Grrr. Ironically the closest place to hike is in the next town over.

I find that walking/exercise helps. For me it's definitely a sensory thing though, about being in the woods and changing what I do and do not have to pay attention to. I can find places nearby to enjoy, but I get a bit bored after an hour or two.

Whereas I could spend all day above treeline (in the nicer months at least ) & lose track of time... I wouldn't call loss of the exhilaration, that accompanies a good hike, "depression" but it's definitely a downer to get back to reality.

Sounds like you already know the answer to "wondering if I should move away from the urban experience all together". If urban life is making you physically, psychologically and mentally ill, then listen to your body.

In an ideal world, yes. In the real world, it is pretty @#%$# difficult to move away from cities, especially when one's potential job skills aren't as relocatable as, say, jobs in schoolteaching/plumbing/farming/construction. (but that gets into a whole other debate)

 

[Tomahawk]

I also feel "depression" after returning from a fun hike. I can't stand going back to working in an office after enjoying the beautiful views up in the White Mountains. I'm just getting out of college now so many thoughts have come to me about my future plans. Working in the outdoors seems like it would create a better everyday attitude compared to working in the city as I do now. If you can't get enough of the mountains, focus your career around them!

-Tomahawk

 

[Puck]

This is an interesting thread and something I have thought about. I wonder how many people after the spend a day hiking twenty miles or more have a problem with depression, irritability, appetite change, amennoria and insomnia. To a trainer these are all sign of over training. The body is getting stressed (maladaptive) and releasing cortisole. Some have a euphoric feeling they are releasing other hormones (adaptive stress) that are associated with thrills.

After an extended stay in the wilderness it is a differnet ball game. Simply and philosophoically stated, it just sucks to go back.

 

[Tuco]

I think of it as post hike stress.

I go on a hike and I am totally stress free no matter what happens- or at least its been so so far.

I go home and Monday am get stuck in traffic on 93 or 128 and then the aggravation builds up again..... My level of tolerance reduces daily and exponentially the further I get from my last hike.

This is the cycle until my next hike.

Agree with Sapblatt, I try and spend time planning hikes as a way to "get lost" in hiking without going.

Remember. stress kills. Thats how the argument to Mrs Tuco goes in my quest for more hiking days anyhow

(note that I don't live in the Urban experience but work in it )

 

[Nessmuk]

Anyway, I'm just wondering if other folks on VFTT that live in urban environments like Boston, NYC, Hartford, etc, ever experience this. The adjustment seems to be getting worse for me as I get older, wondering if I should move away from the urban experience all together or find a smaller city to live in.

I live only a couple of miles outside the Blue Line, so coming home is not such a transitional shock. However, after a particularly good trip (new discoveries, new sights, new "grander" accomplishments) I like to relive the experience. You can bring the experience back home with you. Do you journal while trekking? Take the time to write your thoughts during the trip, like in a personal diary. Any little comment will do, include the insignificant along with the grand. This may be difficult if you are a speed hiker, but at least save some evening time to recount the day. When you get home you will be amazed at what memories reading your journal can do for you. You can write more then, filling in the blanks. I recently discovered using an inexpensive digital voice recorder makes journaling all the more easy and rewarding. Not only is it much easier than pen and paper (meaning you will take more notes), you get the benefit of listening to the intonation in your voice under different circumstances. I have recorded sounds of babbling brooks and waterfalls and frogs and loons and deer snorts and swatting deer flies.

Do you photograph your trip? Like the digital voice recorder, I use an inexpensive very small digital camera to take hundreds of photos. Along with grand views I include trail signs and junctions and mushrooms. Unlike a regular size camera, the small one is always ready and I capture many more photos than I ever did fumbling around with my larger camera.

When you get home you can pour over the photos, along with your journal. Make a package out of them. The digital time stamp gives you a chronology of your experience. You've brought the trip home with you and can use it to plan the next one. The anticipation may help ease your depression - daydream a little.

 

[coldfeet]

Freddy, if Mayor Mike knew I was typing this in school I'd be dead!..but it's my lunch time.....I've been depressed since the Vermont trip...all i do is think about the great outdoors...it's also almost a compulsion....I read web sites in the am, afternoon and pm...i can't go anywhere until mid nov...think when i retire in 2024 I'll move to the rural areas...

 

[The Sikes]

I feel fine when I first get back because I look at the millions of pictures I take and then I have to make a CD and scrapbook but then if I can't get out after a little while, I tend to get a little moody. My kids always say, "Mom, it's time to go hiking again." I can tell with them too.....we need that time away from every day stuff to relax and not think.

 

[Chip]

I got it when I came back to NYC from a recent trip to the ADK's, then the week after with all of the rain and no sunlight sent me into a real pit which I'm just now getting out of......

NYC to ADK's and back is more dramatic than most transitions, I would suggest. My wife is a nurse. She had worked for 9 years at St Vincents in lower Manhattan. When she moved to CT she experienced a substantial 3 to 4 week "depression", sleeping 12 to 14 hours a night, etc. even though she was not unhappy with the move. We now refer to it as her "decompression" after the high energy, tense lifestyle of NYC.
You are subjecting yourself to compression and decompression on a regular basis. "Free-Floating Situational Anxiety" is a term used as a catch-all in Psychology. Knowing that it will occur and understanding why is probably all you need to control the associated anxiety/depression.

Standard disclaimers apply...
It's great being able to give unsolicited/uneducated medical advise to strangers !

 

[Michelle]

My friend spent 3+ months in Antarctica recently and she had a lot of trouble getting back, especially to Boston... probably somewhat like post hiking the AT. However, she suffered from sensory deprivation and had depth perception issues. The problem with Antarctica is it's so big and open you lose a sense of near and far. It made driving impossible for her!

Wow, that's got to be rough. (the driving, not the 3 months in Antarctica) 2 hands on the steering wheel is hard enough of a concept to get used to, then throw in a little depth perception problem and I'd be done for!

 

[Rob S]

I am the opposite. After each weekend hiking, I get a high and then I go in monday morning telling all my coworkers about my fun weekend trip because I know it was probably more exciting than what they were doing. Then I start getting excited about my next trip.

Ditto. I feel a natural high after a hike that lasts several days. And after the high is gone, I only need to show pics of the hike to family or coworkers to re-live the high. I want to climb up (i12climbup) ........ to get high .......

 

[rhihn]

On most "normal" dayhikes, overnights, etc. in the Adirondacks I don't feel depressed, but more of a high (even when I might look like I'm miserable!), as I know I'll be able to come back to experience that whatever-it-is feeling relatively soon. On "special" trips, longer backpacks that have been planned far in advance, there is a definite post-trip "down" that I suppose might be interpreted as a depression. After three days on a trail I start to feel more of a part of things and start to forget other issues, so breaking away from that is difficult.

 

[Artex]

Cool thread!

I live in a very rural area, so I don't get the full-on contrast between wilderness and big cities. But I do get that bummed out feeling after a big, epic trip. However, there is definitely a lot to be said for sharing the adventures with your friends, family, and co-workers afterwards.