Long overdue update - 1-year post breakup in the pandemic

It's been a while since I updated this blog - sorry!

I'll try to sum things up since the last post in 2016.

2017 I got more into backcountry skiing and even bought a touring setup, took my avalanche level 1 class and continued to bag peaks - still not a great skier but it was fun learning.  Guthook and I did most of Skurka's Wind River High Route as part of our now annual backpacking trip. Maybe I'll write a blog about it but the route was incredible and more difficult than we expected. Training was tough as a working stiff, especially with a big project I had at work that required a 10-day on 4-day off schedule with 10-12 hour days when on. Guthook had some altitude problems but we ended up doing most of the route, just taking a shorter exit.  Rachel and I had done a 4th of July weekend trip to the famed Chicago Basin to bag 14ers. The scenery was incredible and I got all the peaks - class 3/4 isn't Rachels cup of tea so she explored some trails in the area. We had a wonderful time. I think that was the year we did the Wonderland Trail too, 95 miles around Mount Rainer only we had no visibility the first five out of seven days. The last two were great but it was a bit anticlimactic and really made me appreciate Colorado - a state where I've never been skunked for more than one day at time.

2018 saw even more skiing - at this point Rachel was a proficient backcountry nordic skier and we had some good trips, a hut trip or two with P. Mags and even a few day skis with the CMC. I bagged more 13ers and 14ers over the summer - I think this is the year a friend from Boston, Matt, moved out and we did some hikes together including some easier 14ers in the San Juans with Rachel. In September we moved into a townhouse I bought in Lakewood. We had been in Boulder the last few years so it was a big change but it was great living together those first few months - painting and picking out furniture from craigslist. The space is really nice and I started to think we would be together for a long time. It was closer to both our jobs and the neighborhood definitely isn't Boulder but there are lots of trails nearby. 

That January I was skinning up Quandary Peak, a local 14er, with two friends on snowshoes. The nearby ski area reported a foot of snow overnight but we found less than 6-inches of new snow covering rocks. I was debating walking down with my friends if it came to that when we spotted a lone figure crumped near the base of the ski line most people do on the east face of the summit. We called out to two people who had went over to check on the skier to see if they needed help - one of them replied they needed bandages and had called 911. I went over to help since my first aid kit is pretty good but when I made it there and started to dig through my pack the victim stopped breathing. I could tell from his tracks he had skied at high speed into some snow covered rocks and tumbled into them. The other two responders had covered his head wound with a wool mitten and I didn't want to look so we got him into a stable position and started CPR. More people stopped to help but I was the only one trained in CPR and a second 911 call brought in flight for life about 20 minutes later. The paramedic assessed the head wound and said he could have landed in the ER and not survived. The group was pretty devastated but we helped move his body and gear to the helicopter. I was shaken for a few weeks but eventually returned to skiing.

2018's annual Guthook trip was a pretty moderate on-trail affair with Rachel in the Elks since we were all out of hiking shape. It was a variation of the Capitol Pass loop and was incredible - honestly better than the 4-pass loop Rachel and I did earlier in the year. I decided to start a 4WD trailhead for fun and we took Rachels 2000 Ford Ranger, which did great. It rained way more than forecasted on our last day and the roads got slick. Drenched and finally back to the truck we decided to take another route out which turned out to be an extremely challenging 4WD road for a stock pickup - big rocks, some drops and lots and lots of bumps. Still, I think it was safer than going down wet switchbacks cut into slippery shale. Rachel was not happy when I told her about the paved trailhead a few miles off the loop we could have used... Also her brake caliper loosened up on the way out, I must not have torqued it properly when changing the pads and rotors a month prior.

In the fall my work sent me to Hawaii for two days of actual work that just happened to fall right before a weekend... Of course I took Rachel along, we loved the beaches and snorkeling but something seemed off. There was no romance and it kind of felt forced. We were both kind of testy most of the trip. I was worried about our relationship but thought it was stress from both our jobs and hoped things would improve. Neither one of us were very good at communicating - I would ask Rachel what was wrong and she would say she was fine but I knew something was off just not how to get at it. 

In 2019 I finally started to feel proficient at downhill and especially backcountry (alpine touring) skiing. We spent a lot of time skiing resorts and I got some backcountry days in with some Colorado Mountain Club friends but in late March things between Rachel and I still weren't feeling right. I got some birthday money from my parents and we decided to go for a long weekend skiing in Banff since our ski pass had 5 days at three different resorts near there and it was only a 90 minute flight from Denver. They weren't having a great snow year - it was pretty much spring conditions but the scenery was incredible and it was fun to ski somewhere different everyday. Again though things felt kind of forced and when we weren't skiing it just didn't feel right. After that trip I was starting to think about breaking up and what that would look like but after four years of basically being attached at the hip it was hard to imagine. We still couldn't communicate. I had put on some weight and thought maybe I wasn't attractive anymore or was doing something wrong but couldn't get a straight answer. There was just this air of anxiety hanging over everything.

Around the end of April, Rachel started sleeping in the guest bedroom. At first it was because of my snoring but I knew that wasn't right because the week before she wouldn't snuggle like we used to - it seemed like things were going downhill rapidly. The third night in a row I said it felt like we were becoming room mates and asked if she still loved me - I got a silent hug in response. A few minutes later, in tears, Rachel came out to me as gay. She said she had known for a while but thought I would be mad if she told me. I wasn't mad at all, which kind of shocked her. I was actually relieved because finally the answer to why things were feeling so wrong was out and it wasn't anything I had or hadn't done. I wish she had told me sooner, my guess is she knew when we went to Hawaii the previous November but maybe was in denial for a few months.

It took until she moved out about two weeks after she came out to me for the breakup to really hit home. When you wake up and the person who had been next to you for four years isn't there, it's kind of shocking. Going to bed wasn't much better - I just kept thinking about what I had lost; adventure buddy, partner, best friend - someone to grow old skiing with. I cried a lot those first few weeks. I would start to feel normal again and then feel worse when something reminded me of Rachel. A mutual friend was training to thru-hike the PCT so we did some short backpacking trips together the month after the breakup and just setting up the tent almost sent me to tears - it was something Rachel and I had done together literally hundreds of times. Once inside the tent, alone, she was all I could think about. Backpacking in general has been tough for me ever since, always bringing Rachel to mind.

Over the rest of that summer and the fall I tried to re-kindle a friendship from Rachel but I got nothing in return. Each time plans got canceled without any offers to reschedule or invitations to try again I suffered with self doubt and uncertainty as to why . Eventually I suspected she wasn't interested in being friends and a few misunderstandings later, some shitty things said on my part and we aren't talking to each other anymore. Time to move on for good I guess.

Anyway, enough about Rachel. In the fall of 2019 I joined a 20-person ski house-share in Silverthorne. Having a bed with my name on it made skiing so much more enjoyable: no more 5 am drives to beat traffic only to ski all day wondering how bad traffic would be. I also met a bunch of new friends who liked to spend time in the mountains.  Colorado was having a great ski season and having a place to stay meant I could come up during the week, ski in the morning and get into work around noon. The house was rarely busy and despite the 19 other people on the lease there were usually 7 to 10 people there on weekends and 1 or 2 during the week. At $200/month it was definitely added cost to the ski season but it saved me so many hours in traffic between ski areas and home and let me meet more people - something everyone needs after a big breakup.

Right at the end of February I bought a truck! I still have my Honda civic but plan on selling it when the market picks up. The truck lets me drive over unplowed trailheads, 4x4 roads and be able to bivy in the bed. The previous owner bought a matching topper and built a simple platform with storage box underneath. In winter I've been getting around 21 mpg highway so not too terrible. I wanted a vehicle I could sleep comfortable in, could access moderate 4x4 roads with and didn't take premium or eat too much gas. A lot of people would have gone with a larger Subaru but their engine quality has seriously declined to the point where corporate claims 1 quart of oil burned per 3,000 miles is "normal". Plus, they CVTs and non-turbo engines are anemic. If you get a turbo version the mpgs go from around 35 to 28 or 29 and you have to use premium - basically a 25% cost increase in gas so it costs the same as a 22 mpg vehicle. Even then the ground clearance isn't great compared to a truck and there's no 4-low to crawl up and down rough terrain. I would up getting a 2015 Tacoma SR5. Not the offroad version with the locking rear diff and A-TRAC all wheel traction control but I think plenty capable - especially given the places I was able to get Rachels Ranger with open diffs, smaller tires and no traction control at all. I swapped in some LEDs to the interior lights which make a big difference and swapped the worn suspension out for some take offs from a 2019 offroad Tacoma, giving my 2015 about a half inch lift and a softer ride.

March came though and COVID-19 hit Colorado hard. Vacationers to ski areas from out of state started outbreaks in Vail, Gunnison and Denver. The Governor shut the ski areas down with no warning. Suddenly there were talks of ventilator and PPE shortages, skyrocketing caseloads and overwhelmed rural hospitals serving a vulernable elderly population. Vail sent all their employees packing; potential vectors back to their home towns. Rocky Mountain National Park closed, then the ski areas closed their uphill access. There were no travel restrictions yet and the national forest was still open so I and a few friends still went out skiing - we had two weekends of fantastic powder, some of my best backcountry days to date. 

In mid-April I learned of another backcountry ski fatality. I have always followed accident reports through the Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC) as a way to learn from others mistakes. This time though, the report was about someone I knew - Aaron, from the ski house. We weren't close but had skied at Copper together once and hung out at the house a lot, discussing avalanche conditions and decision making. Aaron and two friends went out to ski an incredibly exposed, narrow and aesthetic couloir or snow filled gully. It was several days after a significant storm and a few inches of snow fell the previous night. The party didn't expect a significant wind slab problem and confirmed their beliefs with some intentional ski cuts above the entrance to the couloir. When the third skier joined the other two he set off a thin wind slab avalanche, only 8 inches deep but enough to knock Aaron off his feet and send him nearly 2,000 feet down the couloir to his death.  

The backcountry and ski house community was shocked - why had they been out there during the pandemic? What made them think that north facing line was safe? Aaron was a mentor to several people and considered a highly capable backcountry skier, one more capable than me or most people I know - and he died. It came as shock both from the loss and the realization of how dangerous backcountry skiing can be. For me it was an affirmation of the choices I make to ski conservatively, avoiding no-fall zones and conditions that could lead to a fall on steep terrain. I would rather ski fun slopes in good conditions and turn back more often than I need to than push boundaries and ski steep exposed terrain like many others. The death of a better, more experienced skier was just another reality check and helped ground me to avoid that kind of terrain.

When the order to socially isolate came, I stopped doing anything with other people entirely. I was kind of glad to have gotten a renter/housemate back in July since I wouldn't be totally alone. I still went out to nordic ski on closed roads and snow covered trails since it's so low risk and kept me sane. Around the end of April the snow started getting too icy to be fun for skinny nordic skis and floppy boots. I finally got my parents to ship out my old Bilenky road bike and put some money into new tires and some work into the drivetrain to get it running.  Road biking was a passion of mine from about 2006 to 2010, ending in a persistent knee injury. The quiet roads from social distancing have been fantastic to ride on and a bunch of my neighbors and coworkers are roadies to boot. I know - social distancing - but do you really think you can transmit a virus between people moving on bicycles? I don't so I'm not going to worry about it.

I've found some quiet trails to hike as well and have been wearing a mask when hiking past people although I think even that is a bit much. I even got a mid-week backpacking trip in without leaving my county! Reynolds Park has hike in campsites available for reservation through Jefferson County and nobody else was there during a Wednesday night outing last week. At a half mile each way I think it was my shortest backpacking trip to date but was a great change from my house. I had the whole place to myself and plan to go back when at the next new moon to see some stars.

Planning the year with COVID is going to be difficult at best and futile at worst but I still have the following goals:

1.  Finish the 14ers - I have 11 left
2.  Bag at least 5 more centennial 13ers
   
3.  Finish the Colorado Trail - I have about 80 miles from Durango to the CDT left
4.  Explore new parts of Colorado - this one is intentionally vague if restrictions are in place all summer
5.  Do another trip with Guthook somewhere awesome - also going to be hard to plan and likely to be put off until Fall
6.  Keep making new friends
   

In addition I'll be mountain biking, hiking and even road biking during the week and weekends when I'm not supposed to travel. I'll try to keep this blog updated and see how I do.

The Golden Age of Thru-Hiking

If you like this post - check out my fundraiser to support the AZT, CDT and Te Araroa!


I’m certain we are entering a Golden Age of through hiking powered by social media, volunteer mapping efforts, GPS equipped smart phones and the trail organizations themselves. You can see it in the rapid rise in numbers of PCT through hiker permits given each year and anecdotally on the Continental Divide Trail which does not formally track through hikers.  Each year’s through hiker class has more hikers than the last and many maintain blogs or online journals every step of the way.  It’s easy to blame Cheryl Strayed’s “Wild” for this surge but I believe she is part of a trend, not creating it.  Even before her book blew up, through hiker rates were rising. 

The cause is based in the information age that we live in, not one particular person or invention.  Previous barriers to entry to through hiking were largely information based.  For instance, if you wanted to through hike the PCT in the 1990’s or earlier you had to:

•         Know that the PCT exists and can be hiked in one year – probably by word of mouth, by encountering it by accident or from a printed National Geographic Article
•          Arrange for permits along the 2,600 mile trail corridor for dozens of wilderness area’s, national parks and USFS land by snail mail
•          Acquire the maps along the trail, also by mail from a litany of agencies and sources and with little added information like tabulated mileage between points, reliable water or trail conditions.
•          Determine where you can resupply, what’s available and whether a box is needed
•         Determine reliable water sources (no water caches existed either) or just carry more water all the time
•          Acquire the skills and gear of a long distance backpacker without Google

All of those are largely information based and are now available for free on the internet by a few google searches and mouse clicks.  The PCTA provides a permit for the entire route, Halfmile provides excellent maps for free download on his website and tabulated mileage the water report (pctwater.org) gives up to date information on water sources and town information can be found for free on the internet or through yogi’s guidebooks as well.  Not only that, you can download halfmile’s app for free on a GPS enabled smart phone and not even carry maps, a common practice.  Guthook also offers an app for sale with more detailed information like additional campsites and water sources not shown by halfmile.  Even that last bullet point - a huge amount of experience can be informally learned from the trip reports and blog posts by others and dozens of gear reviews are only a google or youtube search away.

Equally important is social media.  Thru-hiker blogs like Walking with Wired and Carrot Quinn have taken off and become incredibly popular among day hikers and people who might never have heard of the “big three”.  The most popular blogs are those who post entries daily or almost daily – something only possible by typing out entries on trail, in camp with a smartphone and uploading them when cell service or wifi is available.  These blogs are then shared, tweeted, liked, forwarded and reach potential hikers by the thousand.  Before the internet you would be lucky to get a post card! Popular bloggers are able to capture the sense of grandeur, community and freedom through hiking provides – a stark contrast to an office laden 9 to 5.  Combined with breath taking photo’s they grab those of us bored with everyday life by the heart strings, hook line and sinker. Gear lists are googled and cottage manufacturers eagerly provide lightweight gear catering towards specific needs of long distance hikers and those who dream of it. 

The trail associations themselves have grown to be incredible forces of both sharing the information about the trails and helping to construct and maintain them.  If the PCT had as much road walking as it did 30 years ago, I don’t think you would see the numbers we do today.  A quick look on the PCTA website shows listing for all the information you could want as a through hiker and a blog feed from the current years hikers.  Trail conditions such as fire closures and news are also posted and shared on facebook. 

The CDT is undergoing a similar transformation with the help of the new CDTA and their excellent website in addition to miles of new trail going in faster than they can be mapped.  Guthook is already working on an app for the entire trail and free maps from Jonathan Ley and Bear Creek have been available on the internet for years.   The uncertainties of navigation, terrain and resupply are largely taken care of with a smart phone and a large enough battery.  This does not make through hiking easy (I still plan on using map and paper) but it makes some of the logistics easier.

Each year more people through hike one of the big three blogging along the way.  Each year some of their friends are inspired to do the same and some will through hike other trails.  I did the PCT in 2013 and many of my friends will be joining me for the CDT in 2015.  In several more years  I wouldn’t be surprised to see more experienced thru’s on the PNT, GET, TA, AZT and other less known trails which will drive the same kind of information sharing that is making the PCT so popular.  The snowball is building and the Golden Age approaches!

What does a Golden Age mean? 

Many will decry a perceived loss of solitude or complain about the increased numbers.  Others will moan about how much harder it used to be, without all the information.  Both sentiments share hints of elitism and entitlement but the trails are public spaces, they are not private play grounds for fantasy adventures into unknown lands.  If that’s what you’re after, it never existed on a long distance backpacking trail constructed by people, mapped and described by other people and maintained by still more people.  A better response is to welcome and educate the newbies, something that actually does happen often in real life.   The community of long distance hikers is growing exponentially and there’s no stopping it!

If you like this post - check out my fundraiser to support the AZT, CDT and Te Araroa!

The Next Big Hike

As soon as I got back from the PCT, people kept asking me "what's next?" wondering what I could do to top that.  My thinking at the time was that a new job, a new city, a new life.  Maybe that would do the trick and I could finally make a place for myself, long term, instead of the slow descent into boredom and wanderlust.  Conversely, the PCT seems to have had the opposite effect.  Before hiking, I always wondered about all the incredible places on the planet and if it was even possible for me to do a long hike.  After hiking, I know I can do it and I still wonder about all those places so it simply enabled me to think even bigger. At the same time, I was blown away that trails like the PCT even exist, that you can literally walk on a continuous trail for hundreds or thousands of miles! Imagine all of the effort required to build, maintain and negotiate access for that! So while I want to get back out there, I also want to give back.

Here's a rough plan:

September 4 - 11 - The Wonderland Trail (93 miles)

September 12 - 18 - Volunteer Trail work on the PCT in the Goat Rocks Wilderness

September 22 - Mid November - The Arizona Trail (800 miles) - AZT

Late November - Early April - The Te Araroa Trail in New Zealand (2,000 miles - think hobbits!) - TA

Early May - September - The Continental Divide Trail (2,500 to 3,000 miles depending on route choices) - CDT

That's right, I'm planning to go hiking for a year, including a week of trail work on the PCT.  Not only that, but I will be fundraising for the nonprofit organizations responsible for creating, maintaining and providing information about these trails!  The fundraising campaign is here: https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/fmYf1/ab/c3U9D9

Every year lots of folks hike for a cause and it's almost always an external one - cancer, lukemia, veterans, etc but without the trail those people would have no where to hike!  Few seem to stop and ask where the trail came from and how they can help make it better.  In the case of the CDT, the TA and AZT we can have a pretty huge impact on making these trails better.  They are still being established and better routes through private land are being negotiated or purchased.  The existing trail is often in need of improvement to make access safer and prevent erosion.  The money you donate will support projects to negotiate access across private land, extend conservation land, improve the trail tread and signage and help volunteer efforts for trail maintenance.  No one likes hiking on bushy, overgrown trail and private property rights always have to be respected.  Without these kinds of trail associations, we wouldn't have such incredible places to hike!  So even if you can't or don't feel the need to donate, please share the link on facebook, twitter, google +, whatever!  Just get the word out in the hiking community that the newest trails need help and we're the ones to do it!

I plan on taking a long break after (and possibly before) the Te Araroa to catch up with family and do some fast paced CDT planning since I can't really plan that far ahead.  I will have to keep things flexible and may not end up hiking 100% of all of the trails.  The end goal is to support the trail associations and get the word out about how amazing they are - not a speed record or continuous back to back to back through hike.

You can subscribe to my blog and keep up with updates on the fundraiser and my progress by typing your email in the "subscirbe by email" box at the upper left side of the screen.  Here's that fundraiser again!  https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/fmYf1/ab/c3U9D9

Day Hiker Extraordinaire

I'm sad to say that I haven't slept outside in several months.  I still hike frequently, generally every weekend but at the end of each day there's the car, the long drive home and the hot shower.  It's a very different mentality from through hiking.  Rather than a vague number of days to reach a road for a hitchhike with innumerable campsites in between, now I need a set course, a turnaround time, and time allotted for travel has to be incorporated.  Want to go for a 20 mile day hike? Better be up driving by 5 am and you won't be home until at least nine pm.  If it's winter, you'll be in the dark.

The other big change has been hiking with the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC).  When I returned to "normal" life in my new city of Boston, I decided to make my outdoorsey activities more social.  AMC had a volunteer run winter hiking and backpacking program starting about a week after I began my new job, so I signed up.  I already knew most of what they were teaching but it was a good way to meet some folks and do some hikes I wouldn't have done solo.  The course culminated in an above treeline workshop with a winter summit of the highest peak in the northeast - Mount Washington.  We used crampons and ice axes to work our way up the remarkably steep Lion's Head route, then up to the summit in 40-50 mph winds but at a balmy 20 degrees.

Summit of Mount Washington in February

Afterwards, I hiked with an old friend-of-a-friend on a moosileake ski in and hike up and Osceola summit.  I alternated my time between winter hiking, XC skiing and snow biking on my new 4-inch wide tire'd fat bike - a Surley Pugsley.  This was an excellent winter for XC skiing, we had a solid month of weekly snow storms to build a solid base of snow and create perfect skiing conditions on the weekends. No fun for driving to work during the week but perfect for skiing!

By early May the snow began to melt and hiking up north meant post holing a slushy monorail all day, which is no fun so I kept to some lower elevation hikes.  I took the spring leadership class through the AMC and can now co-lead hikes, basically assist the leader with logistics and help make sure no one gets lost. One of the AMC leaders I had met, Pam invited me to a few hikes afterwards too.  We ate sandwiches (and lasagna) on the sandwich range and a week or two later did 12 out of 13 mini-peaks on an 18 mile day in the Belknap range.  I then co-led my first AMC hike with Pam and a few other leaders up Mt. Cannon in the White's.  It was a beginner hike, so we took the "fast" group and it was nice to see people who are new to hiking enjoying a perfect day up to their first 4,000 foot summit.

View of Franconia Ridge from part way up Cannon

Last weekend brought another, bigger, AMC day hike.  I originally hiked the northern 13 miles or so of the Wapack trail and back as a training hike for my PCT through hike but missed the southern 9 miles or so.  A while back I saw a trip listing with the AMC for a full day traverse - 21.4 miles and about 5,000 feet of climbing.  A single traverse like that isn't easy solo since you have to get back to your car somehow. Camping isn't allowed along the Wapack, except at the middle in a lean-to at my favorite XC ski spot which makes a two day out-n-back too long.  The single day traverse went well, and as usual there was the typical range of hiking speeds in our group of 12.  It seems no matter how accurate the trip description there are always a few who bite off a little more than they can chew, but there's nothing wrong with that if they don't mind losing the ability to walk the next day.  We had a slow start with too many breaks at the beginning but eventually things sped up after most of the climbing was done over North Pack Monadnock. I finished with the lead group at around 7 PM but we were waiting until 7:45 for the rest.  It was a good hike and I even met an AT 2012 through hiker who's aspiring to do the PCT in 2015, so it was fun nerding out about the PCT with her.

The Wapack was perfect training for this weekends big day hike - a Presidential Traverse.  We'll be going over 10 of the Presidentials in a 20.6 mile hike with 8,600 feet of elevation gain.  That may actually be more elevation than my biggest days on the PCT, which seemed to top out around 7,000 feet in a day but had more miles.  This is a highlight of hiking in the White's and I have barely spent any time in the Presi's, so I'm looking forward to it.

I don't plan on staying a day hiker for very long though.  I'm planning an overnight trip with a friend and another solo trip both in the Whites.  The next big trip is right around the corner as well...

Fourish Months Later - Looking Back

During the toughest parts of my hike - whether it was my innumerable blisters, freezing rain or severe dehydration - I always thought about what I would be doing if I decided not to take that first step, to quit everything and go hiking.  And I laughed.  If you had been hiking along side me, now and again at the worst times you could have caught me laughing.  Laughing at how amazing it was that I was there, in that moment, hundreds or thousands of miles hiked since Mexico in the middle of a thunder storm above the protection of the treeline instead of stuck at work, doing something I tolerated but did not enjoy.  I realized now I laughed because my days had turned from a metaphor for Sisyphus - everyday going to work, checking off a to-do list and returning right where I started the next day into having an established goal - hike north - that took me through unthinkable beautiful new places to meet incredible people.  At the end of the trip I was ecstatic to be finished, to have finally made it all the way without injury or weather or some problem that would take me off trail.  Finally my feet would stop hurting and I could eat real food!  At the same time reality loomed ahead.

Now I'm back at work pushing the boulder up the ravine every day and I'm not laughing.  Instead I am often filled with bliss at recollecting some random experience from hiking.  I get stuck at a traffic light and think of a weird hitch hike to town.  Bored on the subway often means thinking about the mountains of the north cascades or the sensation of ice cold water in a parched mouth drunk straight from a tiny spring high in the mountains.   All the while everyone asks how I'm "adjusting" to "real life" and I never know what to say or whether they'll understand it if I did.  I think this must be the opposite of post traumatic stress syndrome.  It's a shame there isn't to be a word in our vocabulary for it - maybe that speaks to some structural deficit of our culture?  What do you call an experience so vivid and long lasting the repercussions cause spontaneous bouts of happiness and satisfaction long into the future? 

I recently read some advice from some famous author on how to be happy.  In a roundabout way the author recommended figuring out the types of experiences you like to have and workings towards having them more often.  If that's the case, this is something that will have to happen more often than once every 28 years.  The only question is how to do it.