Hello hikers out there, have you ever had any expectation on how your hike should be and look like before any hikes? – From the beginning to the end, every moment and every second are PERFECT.
So, what is your actual feeling or experience after your hike? Do you compare your expectation with your actual feeling or experience after your hike?
If you do, are they the same with your expectation? Or, how far is the reality from the expectation? Hm……
Lemme guess. You definitely have!
Well, you are NOT alone! I mean, who doesn’t have fantasy / imagination? Whenever you learn from those avid hikers on how exciting or fun hiking is, you already start imagining in your mind. – Fund, Excitement, Adventurous, On the top of the world……
But, unfortunately (sort of), our expectation starts to shatter, bit by bit, right from the moment even before we start to hike.
In this post, let’s see the expectation versus reality when we hike and see how many of them you actually feel the same way, too!
1. Hiking gears and equipment
Expectation
You’ve researched on the hiking gears and equipment. The night before the hike, you pack those relevant gears and equipment into your backpack / daypack. – snacks, first-aid-kit, compass, map, water, jacket, tent, poncho……
Everything FITS inside your backpack / daypack. The weight is just RIGHT, too. – Everything is just nice and fit.
You smile because you are so satisfied that you are well prepared. Then, you get to sleep early for the hike next morning.
Reality
“Hm….. should I bring this? I think I should bring this, just in case……” or “wait, I need to bring this!” – You literally say to yourself for EVERY SINGLE gear and equipment while packing!
So, you pack as if you are opening a convenient shop. You literally bring everything under the sun. And guess what, your backpack / daypack is HEAVY like a mountain!
Or, you literally don’t care at all. You just pack NOTHING, I mean almost nothing inside your backpack / daypack. Not even water or snacks! – Well, you think you can get them from your hiking buddies!
Worse still, you only start to pack on the day right before you leave your house for the hike! As a result, you just simply put something inside your backpack / daypack, and don’t really bother what those are……
2. Wake up
Expectation
Your alarm is ringing, and it is 5.30am. You wake up and you are so excited because you can’t wait for the hike!
You have a great sleep because you slept early yesterday. After having your breakfast and putting on your hiking clothing and carrying your backpack / daypack, you leave your house and drive to the trailhead. – No muss, no fuss, everything is just-in-time.
Reality
Your alarm is ringing, and it is 5.30am. You are so groggy and sleepy because you watched Netflix until 1am last night. While knowing you need to get up to get ready for your hike, you question yourself why you want to go for the hike.
Sleeping is everything, at that moment. You hit the “snooze” button, letting yourself sleep for another 10 minutes…… – Of course, it’s never 10 minutes!
It’s already late once you wake up. But, you exert your world-record-breaking talent in completing everything and leaving your house just less than 10 minutes. – There you go.
3. Parking
Expectation
Finally, you have reached the trailhead. It is dawn and you can see the sun rise. Furthermore, there are a lot of parking spaces which literally you can park everywhere.
So, you chose the best spot, a parking space which is right next to the trailhead.
However, you know this is not the matter of luck. You know you’ve done your research and you come to the trailhead much earlier than the expected crowd.
Reality
You’ve reached the trailhead. However, the parking lots are full with those early birds’ cars.
You complain there are insufficient parking spaces and you complain the incompetency of the authorities in taking care of the welfare of hikers.
But, actually, you know it is all because you are late! You just give yourself excuse and push the blame to the authorities.
While looking for parking space for more than 20 minutes, you finally get a space, a space of 1km distance from the trailhead.
After that, you still need to walk for another 10 minutes to the trailhead.
4. Meet up
Expectation
You meet up with your hiking buddies at the trailhead. Everybody is so punctual!
Without further ado, after a brief greeting with each other and warming up, you guys are ready-physically and mentally-for the hike.
You guys start hiking right at 7.30 am. Not even 1-second delay.
Reality
You are already late because of the 20 minutes looking for parking and 10 minutes walking to the trailhead. Your hiking buddies are annoyed AF. – Well, you have no choice, but to apologize to them, while giving them tonnes of excuses.
But, someone is even worse… and he is not there for meeting up, yet! You and your hiking buddies complain about the latecomer. While waiting for him, you guys also gossip about the celebrities and the recent drama…
There is no time for warming up. Once the latecomer comes, you guys start your hike immediately.
5. Team pace
Expectation
Everyone is very fit and it seems like everyone is an experienced hiker. Some of them are very serious about their physical fitness as well.
Everyone is fast hiker and no one drags the pace of the team. Everyone is at the RIGHT pace.
Reality
The team seems quite random, from experienced to newbies, and from fit to untrained. Because of the different level of physical fitness, the pace of each hiker is not similar and hence, the team is stretched.
You may be the slow hiker and feel embarrassed in slowing down the pace of the team.
Or, you may be the fast hiker who is annoyed by the pace getting dragged by the slow hiker.
Some hikers impatiently complain about the hike and prefer staying at home. While some hikers drags the pace of the team, the team leader has no choice but to further split into smaller teams, according to the pace of the hikers.
6. Weather
Expectation
It is a sunny day. Close your eyes and feel the sunshine on your face. The sunshine is warm but the weather is cool. What a PERFECT day to hike!
Reality
Again, you expectation shatters again during the hike. Indeed, it WAS a sunny day. But, the sky suddenly turns dark and the rain is immediately pouring from the sky.
Shit! You forget to bring rain jacket, as you’ve checked the weather! And, the rain jacket is damn heavy for you so you don’t bother to bring it for hiking! So, you have no choice but to hike in the pouring rain…… – Damn it, FML!
You feel betrayed because you TRUSTED the weather forecast…. – Well, the weather forecast cannot be trusted!
But, hiking while raining is not really that bad! It is quite excited and fresh, despite the 100x difficulty……
7. Trail condition
Expectation
The trail is so straight forward and so clear. Not muddy and not rocky, as if the trail is welcoming your presence.
Reality
The trail was covered by the untamed and dispersed grass, which you couldn’t even notice the trail at all!
“Goddammit, what the hell is this?” while walking through the untamed grass and plant.
And, you might even get hurt because of the thorn of the plant. Well, you don’t have time to take care of this. You just want to get the hell out of the “bush”-or whatever you call–ASAP!
Finally, you escape from the “bush” and you take a moment to check the cut on your skin. The hike is totally out of expectation. At this moment, you seriously reconsider the chance of having the next hike.
The worse thing is, you have to go through the “bush” again when you return! – Dammit, why me?
8. Appearance
Expectation
Ah, you look like a professional hiker. With a pair of stylish sunglasses, a trendy backpack, and wearing the glamorous hiking clothing.
In fact, you wish you look like a Terminator, which you could grab the attention of ALL the hikers you meet along the trail.
Or, you wish to look like a celebrity or superstar and imagine yourself shooting for an outdoor recreation commercial, while being the ambassador and promoting the hiking gears and equipment……
Reality
The weather is hot like hell, which you sweat like no tomorrow. As a result, your clothes are wet and smelly, of course……
It is a mess and you already don’t care how you look like. All you care about is to complete the hike ASAP, and get a nice bath or shower!
Or, the weather is freaking cold, and no matter how hard you hike, it seems like you couldn’t get warmth. Thus, you wish to get a thicker jacket to keep you warm, and you really don’t care if this makes you look like a DUMPLING.
But, you enjoy being the hot-mess with your hiking buddies because this is what hiking is about! – You really don’t have to worry about your appearance.
9. Sound
Expectation
You imagine yourself entering the jungle or forest and hiking along the trail with the QUIET and SOOTHING environment.
Sometimes, you can hear the birds chirping or the wind blowing. Besides, you even can hear the sound of the animals.
This is not terrifying at all. In fact, you feel extremely CALM as if the birds and the animals are embracing your visit.
You enjoy hearing the sound of the nature. Then, you close your eyes, and wish you could sit and meditate with the sound of the nature. – This is the PERFECT expectation of yours for a hike!
Reality
Sometimes, the jungle / forest is “polluted” with the man-made noise. Those hikers like to laugh and talk very loudly to each other as if they are lost and looking for somebody’s help.
Besides, some hikers even like to blast the music loudly. And, they even sing like having a singing competition. – WTF! C’mon! Are you kidding me?
You just want to enjoy the silent moment but you can’t because you can LITERALLY hear the noise 50 metres away from you. – Well, seriously they need a detailed check on their ears.
10. Ascending
Expectation
You have the perfect stamina. All the way up to the peak. – No problem. Easy-peasy!
So, you can hike all the way up without even taking a break and you don’t have to drink water as well.
You feel like you have infinite energy which you are not tired at all even if you trail run to the peak, and you don’t even break a sweat.
Take 3 hours to reach the peak? – Nah, 2 hours are just FINE!
Reality
“Why, why, why…….?” Just 20 minutes you ascend, you have this thought in your mind.
At this moment, you heart pounds like crazy; your sweat keeps dripping; and you start to gasp for air.
“Alright, I can do it. Juuuuuuuust keep going, and it will be fine.” After wiping your sweat and catching your breath, you start ascending again.
But, after some time, your legs start to turn jelly. Every step is like a torment. So, for every step you take, it is like an ACCOMPLISHMNT.
“Why do I need to suffer like this?”, “I really want to give up……” Inevitably, these thoughts cross your mind and you start to question your unrealistic expectation for your hike.
While continue to hike with your jelly legs, you wonder how long more to take to reach the peak……
To be continued in Part 2……