This has been pinned.

That's awesome! But not as awesome as you are Dixie, thank you for taking us on your adventures. You're an inspiration

I remember that game. It was classic.

LMFAO

I don't get it. I am new to this channel; is it an inside joke? (I also know nothing about sports.)

Well, u need more friends. I’d love to hear your hiking stories, and I hope u wrote them up. (I miss being outside.)

Honestly, that's true of nearly everyone. It's just the way if things that people largely want to live their own lives and if something is completely outside of their experience, they aren't likely to be interested. I have similar when I bring up that I was a UN Peacekeeper in Africa. Even though very few in the US can say that, I just get blank looks.

Yeah this was one of the hardest parts of post thru hike life for me. My family didn’t give a shit. To be fair I have an exceptionally awful family but still. It was really sad and hard for me to realize no one cared about the life changing adventure I had just been through.

@@JazzFlop212 Epic adventure is always a means to measure oneself against the greatness of creation. The reward we get is internal. Only those old hands who weathered the trials with you will appreciate them in the same way that you do. But many kindred souls will listen to the recounting with a twinkle in their eye. Seek them out. They are your true friends.

They're too busy with their march

Since hiking on the AT I never wear makeup. It feels horrible on my face now. Like muck.

Appalachian Girl UK What a girl. 😉

Was hiking the CDT this year and dropped off the trail because of a ligament problem in my foot. But while hiking down Hope Pass I encountered several women wearing makeup. After thru hiking I do not find women as beautiful or attractive when they are "dolled" up, compared to their natural beauty.

What a beautiful quote, thank you.

Beautiful quote! “In the woods, we return to reason and faith. There I feel that nothing can befall me in life, - no disgrace, no calamity, (leaving me my eyes,) which nature cannot repair.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

Love this!

Or there’s my method, when in doubt add more cayenne. 🤣

We coined it “seasoned with hunger”

Oh yeah, hunger is the best sauce!

Fully agree! The most humble meal tastes like a dish fit for a king.

So true!!!!

good for you! Hike more ;)

CL XK : That’s great... I have the opposite issue ...I’m too capable, can the woods fix it?

Great job ! More people should be on the trail, away from "civilization" so they can learn what freedom really means.

totally! Don't you feel like you have super powers? (Although I'm always massively disappointed by how quickly that feeling can fade after coming home)

I came to the same conclusion while I was homeless.

There is also the "sweat out the toxins thing". Desert construction workers that drink two or more gallons/day after a few showers and a couple weeks don't develop much body odor. I slept in a tent (actually two or three due to wind) for a year and a half while building a house and when a close local house came up for rent I felt creepy inside and had an adjustment period. I've never done through hikes like Dixie but have hiked like a weekend warrior for a string of years. She really nailed it on so many topics, just for the record; Dixie's mom is younger than one of my daughters. Ha!

So tru

Peter McPherson even after a weekend camping my sense of smell heightens and I get headaches from the any scent

Exactly Peter!!

"These are the ties that bind..." 🤘🙂

I’ve experienced this too! Blew my mind

Perk always told me that a lot of thru-hiking experiences reminded him of being in the military. He said it was the closest thing he had experienced to it and seemed excited to have others be able to kinda sorta relate.

Thank you for your service! ♥️

thank you for your service! Semper Fi. God bless!

@@boromirofmiddleearth557...Thank you and Semper Fi!

On a navy ship it’s rough- one cruise I went three whole days without clean sheets- same cruise they served hotdogs and Mac and cheese ! How vulgar! And the ships store ran out of Ben and Jerry’s chunky monkey ice cream- the bums

Enjoyable comment, Mr. Polk. Your 890 miles is an amazing accomplishment. A few years ago, I really longed to hike the AT. It never happened, unfortunately. However, for several years, I lived near the AT and at least got to walk on a few hundred feet of it. 😊 I'll take that over nothing. Wishing you well.

Some of those experiences of knowing or communicating with a “higher power” may have been veridical. Our senses scream into our consciousness but I have heard it said that those who experience what they consider the “voice” of God experience it as a still, small voice… if it is, it would seem hard to hear it in the midst of endless distraction, busyness, anxiety etc. but easier to hear it when our hearts and minds are quiet. Some noteworthy philosophers have opined that possibly we possess a sense of the divine that, under the right circumstances, we can experience that higher power. Thank you for sharing!

Thats why Christian monks have always gone out into the wilderness or remote places to seek God.

I thought the same thing. Now I know what all the bear smell.

Yes! I've thought the same thing. I just do day hikes and am always outside, but when someone passes me and I can smell their fabric softener, etc, it's so jarring. To wild animals, we must reek.

@@MaterialWhirl When I walk my dog around the neighborhood, I can smell when someone is doing laundry. I can smell the fabric softeners. To me, it's very cloying.

@@travisadams4470 Same here. I am soooo sensitive to artificial smells and it causes many headaches.

@@MaterialWhirl I imagine that manufactured scents smell like food and something good to eat to an animal, especially bears. They tell you to hang your toiletries with your food. Bears will eat toothpaste, handcream, sunscreen, chapstick, and probably even soap. If it doesn't smell like something Mother Nature created then it has to be good !

Day hikers am I right

yes that happens to me too

Jeff Martin .....Unfortunately, there are lots of chemicals in fabric softener.

I hope Hanks okay. Sorry ❤️

I hope Hank is okay! Please update us

That's too bad, hope it's not too serious.

Hope Hank is okay. I remember your heartbreak on your AT hike. Thoughts your way.

Wishing the best for your dog. I hike with a huge Maine Coon cat on shorter hikes and have had to depart early to get him seen. Who knew cats can get swimmers ear.

#6. Enjoy her accent and they way she says HIGHkers and Raymon noodles

@@travisadams4470 Accent? I'm from Tennessee I aint heard no accent. :-)

Also how she says "night hike" and "ice axe".

@@travisadams4470 Yes, she has a very pronounced "i" like liiiight

I kind of think I am in love with her. But being old as the dirt, O well.

Right there with you. I should sell everything and through hike for the rest of my life 🤣

I struggle with the same thing, I'm lucky enough to live out in the woods, but when I go to town I get very overwhelmed.

The outdoors aren't a solution for me. Some people like the sound of waves or the sound of water flowing over rocks in a stream, but not me. Same with the roar of a breaze blowing through trees. It's too much constant noise. I have to get away from water sources and unsheltered places.

Yes, the simplicity of hiking is just so good.

It's why I call it my therapy, wellness, and preventative medicine all in one.

I call it “going to church”

Yes to all of this! I have a friend who walks her yard daily, and takes pictures of all things. On Sundays she posts pictures from “Morning services at Our Lady of the Yard”!!

I find the calm of hiking bores the crap out of me. That's why I wear a single earbud and listen to podcasts while I walk. The most frequent emotion it evokes in me is the anxiety of knowing I could be doing something useful rather than wasting my life in the woods. Then again I spent waaay too much of my adult professional life lying on my belly in the forest/jungle/desert/mountains watching grass grow.

It's amazing what even two or three days camping and hiking can do for your mental clarity. It doesn't cure ADHD, depression, anxiety or bipolarity, but it still helps you find balance within.

Amen to that, Lauren.

I was thinking the same. I would love to do a thru hike some day, but now I'm a little nervous that that my sensory sensitivities would get worse

​@Barry H being on the spectrum, I am only free to be my authentic self in the wild. It's the only place where I'm not overwhelmed but feel spiritually fed.

🤣🤣🤣 relatable

😂

a wild beast fighting the processed food addiction

I must have been an animal before. If I go to the chippy it's a spam special all the way. (Deep fried battered spam, chips and chipshop curry sauce) It's the simple things in life.

Yep. Nothing tastes better than Spam at the tree line!

I have noticed that being on the trail makes chicks a lot more frisky. Same for being on a sailboat for a long time. I'd like to see a serious sexology study on this. This video reminds me of Ranger school. After a few weeks of being out there living in the woods on one (or fewer) meals a day your sense of smell becomes ferocious. The sadistic instructors would come into the field with a hot cheeseburger or pizza slice just to drive you wild. Sometimes they'd pass the wrapper around the patrol base just to torture the "candidates" even more...

After a month out to sea on the Kitty Hawk we hit the Burger King in Coronado,best Whopper ever!

Yes and, sometimes, that ingredient is fat 😉

hey that would actually make sense, like if she was craving chocolate milk, maybe she needed magnesium??

This actually has been researched. I don't have the references anymore, but that research e.g. did an experiment with yeast cells on a substrate that was nutritionally complete, except for one essential nutrient. The yeast cells kept "eating" and became "obese". The human brain and underlying system inform us that we are "hungry" in the same way. If our food is complete, except it lacks magnesium - building block in 350 different enzymes that are essential in our biochemical reaction chains ("life" is the reaction chains between some 50,000 substances) - then we will be hungry. We also tend to confuse hunger and thirst. A couple essential nutrients are stored in buffers or caches. Compared with other primates, we lost the ability to synthesize vitamin B12. In our evolution we must have had a long time where B12 was always available (it is essential in our energy processes). Migrating to regions in the world where those food sources would be seasonal, we developed an ability to store a reserve in our livers. Iodine is used in the deepest innards of our cells in energy related processes and we carry protein bound reserves of iodine in our blood (in the form of T3 and T4). For the majority of "essential" nutrients we do not have a reserve and each and every deficiency translates into "hunger". If you have seen some farmers, they have a bunch of minerals on offer and their cows and sheep instinctively know which one is deficient. @Diedert Spijkerboer - a couple fatty acids - aka fat - are essential to us. If only to maintain our brains. Brains have a very high fat content and this may explain why certain carnivorous mammals (like killer whales) or omnivorous mammals (like chimpanzee) may only eat liver and brain of their prey animals. Looking at obesity, we have to hypothesize nutritionally incomplete diets and consequent overeating because the hunger does not go away. Paired with the economic wealth and cognitive abilities of yeast cells. @Ashley Leahy - or she has a copper deficiency. Note that research with lab animals suggests that a copper deficiency (rather imbalance) relative to zinc intake may cause the insulin glands to change their mode of operation from insulin gland into liver mode. I.e. this can cause diabetes 1 (inability to produce insulin). And no, a temporary high dose of copper does not revert this - copper is a heavy metal and at higher concentrations toxic, so in that case liver cells deal with copper as toxins, if they survive. Cacao or chocolate are a good source of copper. Or Italian espresso (and I wonder if it comes from the beans or the innards of the espresso machine ...) As the Mediterranean diet has a high level of diversity, in Europe, in that region, we find a relatively high life expectancy and low obesity. It's the diversity that mitigates the risk of deficiencies. A hamburger (red meat) costs you half an hour of life expectancy but organ meat or fatty fish may add an hour. Adopting a MacDonald's lifestyle, forgetting the knowledge of the cuisine of Ma Tante Marie or the cucina of Pellegrino Artusi quickly turns the life expectancy around though. Note that there is no trail specific in here, except the message that you need to maintain the diversity.

​@jpdj2715 Your comment on nutritional needs of the body is absolutely correct. Former farmer / world class authority / Natural pathic doctor / Certified Pathologist / Certified agriculturalist, Dr. Joel Wallach should be researched on the nutritional needs of the body. Much info on his work. Longevity and disease free life is a real science. Never listen to medical doctors that only push pharmaceutical demonic magic to kill you early in life. They have ZERO Interest in your long term well being / survival.

it is relaxing and there are so many man made stresses we must deal with at home

You crave it because of the iron in cacao.

Or maybe the nutrients in the milk 🥛

Last autumn, I did 5 days in northern California by myself. On day 4 I got a craving for Welch's grapes soda-something I never really drank. Day 5 was even worse. I got back to the trailhead, drove to a little country store and they actually had a six pack in an ice cold old style refrigerator. I sat outside and downed the entire six pack. Freaking delicious. Haven't wanted one since.

​@@dontbelievemebut7193 Nope. For sure the iron of the cacao, since as long you're no baby cow, there are no nutrients in a cows mother milk, that you need as a human. Most of you just don't even know, what you're craving really behind some products. But education on healthy food helps with that.

@@Lucky-nt7mg I'm usually not sure what it is I'm craving in any particular food, but I do know that if I'm craving it, it's because my body's lacking something and it associates that food with satisfying the lack. I think we all develop an unconscious database whereby - over the course of our lives - we associate foods/drinks with the effects they have on minor nutritional deficiencies and later, if we're *really* deficient in something, that unconscious knowledge manifests as "a strange craving for..."

I smelled shampoo for miles lol

I once read a book about what it was like in the Vietnamese tunnels during the war, and remember them saying that to them Americans smelt strongly of butter. (They wouldn't be eating any dairy, of course).

I can see that being a thing

Hi, you can smell toothpaste breath for what seems to be a mile away.

Lmfao

Whaaaaat

@Taylor Schiff Do you smoke weed? I wonder if that has something to do with it.

Me too.

American habits. - In Europe you would walk.

As soon as they say they want to take an uber or Lyft, start walking.

davincent98 I’ll give that a try. Haha I have a feeling I’ll be walking alone a lot. Usually I trick them into it by saying it’s close and after half a mile or so people start asking questions. I’ll convert them eventually!

Henning Rech Yeah, no joke. It drives me nuts. It doesn’t help that I’m in the midwest in a city that isn’t considered to be very walkable and the public transportation isn’t very good either. Anytime I visit people in other countries or even some larger cities here in the US, people are usually more accepting of walking. I feel like driving isn’t only more expensive and bad for the environment, but you miss so much when you zoom by in a vehicle.

@@kellyd6224 Yes. And it's about your health. If it is half a mile, I walk. If it's up to 10 miles I prefer to ride the bicycle when the weather is good and I do not have to transport much stuff. In the summer 2 out of 3 shopping trips are by bicycle - last year about 1500 miles total, just for daily traffic. - The car for the rest.

So true. I am only day hiking so it does not come from there for me, but as i started to wear less make up every day i realised i dont need it to feel beautiful.

When camping I eat 2-minute noodles as they're cheap and light to carry. Absolutely delicious after a day's hike up the mountain. Can't stand the bloody stuff when I'm at home, it's like chowing down on vaguely beef/chicken-flavoured cardboard.

Thats why you make home a camp

so true