Here’s what I’ve been doing to physically recover after the end of my hike. This is what’s worked for me, and it may not work for you. My hope that you’ll find my experience helpful if you’ve just completed a thru, still out there hiking SOBO, or if you’re planning on thru-hiking next year.

t was strangely disorienting to go back to places I’d walked past only weeks or months ago. To see white blazes and, rather than following them deeper into the woods, turning from the trail to climb back into a car and drive south instead of walking north.

It took practice to become good at ignoring my own instincts, so I figured it would take the same amount of practice to trust myself again. So I walked into the woods, even when fear coiled in my stomach and every thought was filled with doubt. I remained in that place of discomfort, even when I set up my tent, climbed inside, and would lay awake the entire night, too afraid of my own solitude to sleep.