“I’m going to hike the Pacific Crest Trail this year.” This is my standard response when people ask what I’m training for as I walk for hours with an obviously overloaded and uncomfortable daypack on my back.
You may find it surprising, but the question I get asked most after telling someone I’m going to thru hike the PCT is not “why?” (Was it the first question that came to your mind?) Once I started telling people outside of close friends and family, the same two questions continued to pop up, but rarely was I asked why. I had expected this – I’d even watched a YouTube video on the subject, no joke. Still, it made me wonder why people didn’t ask why.
In a way, asking why someone wants to leave his/her family, home, job – essentially their life – for six months and walk 2,660 miles is a little personal and akin to opening a can of worms. Kind of like saying, “how are you” when you first see someone. In most situations it’s really just a greeting. Any response other than “good” or a “how are you” in return is not an expected part of the exchange. Rather, a truthful, thoughtful answer would be too revealing or philosophical and just too time consuming in our modern day.
On the other hand, a short, neat response can be very unsatisfactory. Kind of like the mountaineer George Mallory when asked why he wanted to climb Mount Everest – “Because it’s there.” He technically answered the question, yet……………. Aren’t you the one who winds up filling in the blank? — BTW, my equivalent answer (since you didn’t ask) is “I’ve wanted to for over 20 years.”
I think a lot of people innately understand why. I often hear “I want to do something like that” or “I hiked the _____ trail”. People, at least in the circles I travel and work, seem to get it. It’s actually a relief to not have to explain why. Mostly because it’s a long, personally revealing, philosophical and contradictory answer that would not satisfy anyone except myself. (Kind of like how this blog will probably turn out.) So rest assured, it’s a question I have asked, answered and will continue to answer as the challenges of the trail reveal themselves.
Anyways…..in case you’re still wondering and haven’t found the above mentioned YouTube video by Dixie yet, the most frequently asked questions I get are:
#1 Are you going by yourself?
#2 Are you taking a gun?
I find the questions themselves to be interesting. They’re pragmatic and practical if not revealing – of the poser, society, culture. Like the question why, I’m not going to answer them here, but I’m curious – if someone tells you they’re backpacking from Mexico to Canada, what question would you ask first?