Title: Vortex
General Information about Item:
- Verbal folklore
- Informant: Sam Lincoln
- Date Collected: 9 November 2019
Informant Data:
- Sam Lincoln is a 21 year old college student studying mechanical engineering at Arizona State University. He was born in Wisconsin and raised in Arizona. He began overnight backpacking when he was 15 and hiked the Colorado Trail after he graduated from high school in 2016. He enjoys archery and playing video games. Sam is the twin brother of Rachel Lincoln, who collected this item.
Contextual Data:
- Thru hikers typically only leave the trail for a few days at a time to resupply food or gear. Otherwise they follow the same rituals each day to cover as much ground as possible. Disturbance of their normal pace can throw hikers out of their “just keep walking” mindset.
Item:
- “Vortex” is a slang term for the psychological experience of pausing a thru hike to return to civilization for a few days. Hikers don’t realize just how grueling their journey has been until they stop, and returning to the trail becomes a mental obstacle that looms larger with each day spent away. Sam experienced the vortex when he stopped in town for five days after 80 miles so his friend could rest an injured foot.
Associated file:
Transcript:
- “When you’re thru hiking, if you stop thru hiking, you realize how difficult it is and how easy it is to just stop. It’s a mental obstacle you have to overcome to get back on the trail.”
Informant’s comments:
- Sam’s friend decided to leave the trail altogether quickly after the group stopped to let him rest, which annoyed Sam because their entire rhythm and pace had been thrown off to accommodate Teddy.
Collector’s comments:
- This term supports the theme of immersion that runs throughout our collection. Thru hiker folklore reinforces the deep thrall that the trail holds and emphasizes the separation from regular life.
Collector: Rachel Lincoln
Tags/Keywords:
- Vortex, Colorado Trail, Verbal folklore