http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oLdnlWL7OQ
I just watched this Youtube video, "Six Month Journey in Five Minutes." It is a time-lapse film that goes through the whole coarse of the Appalachian Trail in under five minutes. While it's likely that the film does not include every part of the trial, it is amazing to see such an enormous, significant undertaking compressed into five minutes. While I see different aspects of the AT in the video, there is no way that it could give me a real sense of what a hiker endures on the trail without actually experiencing it myself. I would imagine that long distance hikers feel a lot like this video when they try to communicate their experience. There is simply no way a hiker could completely convey the depth of emotions, tragedy of hardships, or pride at victories to someone else. It must feel like trying to bottle all of the experience up into a couple minute story or explanation to a friend or loved one, knowing all along that it will not suffice. The experience, though shared by hikers, and the emotions, shared with people even outside of the hiking community, is ultimately a personal, subjective experience. A spiritual journey, while it can be "known" about, is only fully and truly understood by the individual making the pilgrimage.
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