Why am I hiking the AT?

Today I was asked why I was hiking the AT, and I realized that I have not addressed this in “typing” thus far, so here goes:

Over the summer a moth infestation erupted in my closet due to a stocking filled with cashews from last Christmas. I opened the door to two dozen luminescent bodies shimmering in the light of my closet. I am a proponent of “catch and release” so I took the time to collect the fluttering adults in a jar and returned them to their natural environment (Job done, or so I thought). At closer look I discovered an up and coming generation: larva, their tubular wriggling bodies following invisible trails on my ceiling. So I collected and tossed outside where they belong. Then, much to my despair, I noticed a third generation of these ballsy beasts Velcroed to my clothes by a sticky cocoon of silk-like threads.

I did not realize how many clothes I had until I had to clean them all including 6 sweatshirts, 20 shirts, 12 pairs of pants, 11 dresses, etc.  And I’m not talking ball them up, toss in washer, add detergent and press button. Oh no, I’m talking prior to laundering I had to inspect every square inch of material including pockets, folds, pleats, insides, outsides, back sides and front sides for the pupae housed in fuzzy white burs. I experienced cold sweats and nausea as I reached my hand blindly into a pocket or pant leg to turn inside out wondering if I was going to contact a tubular body; or worse, reaching my arm inside a pant leg, turning it inside out and discovering some pupae that my skin had just brushed across. The Buddhists believe that our possessions are our enemy because they create worry. I now know what is meant by this.

Sure I will be living with bugs on the trail, however, come June I will be the moths infestation. It seems that tables will have turned. Ha ha! But I am just joking, I am not hiking the AT to get back at the flitting fluts that took up vacancy in my closet. Long story short, my life is filled with extras, excess, clutter, and waste and I have a desire to experience living off of necessity for a while; The events that unfolded this summer amplified this want.

So, I responded that living out of a backpack for six months is appealing because I would be getting back to basics. “That is not typical for a girl,” she said. I like not being typical. 

Adult pantry moth

Larva

Pupa