
Hello! I'm Oz. As a proud Gen-Xer I'm enjoying my encore career as a backpacker. I thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail in 2022 and the Arizona Trail in 2023. I start my SOBO hike of the Continental Divide Trail in 2024. In the off season I enjoy playing video games, and dispensing unsolicited advice to my husband and adult children.
Posts
PCT: Final Exam in the Desert
I stepped off the bus with 13 other hikers in the predawn light. We had all ridden the 4:30 am bus out of Tehachipi. We stood silently by the
Early Steps and Big Insights on the PCT
With photos taken it was time to start hiking away from the terminus. The air was electric with excitement generated from all the hikers that had
Return to Oz – PCT 2025
Hi all, Oz here. Last year I blogged my journey hiking SOBO on the CDT. I finished the CDT at the southern terminus on 6 Nov. The CDT was a
CDT: Finishing Montana, Finally
I woke in Lima raring to go. I had less than 150 miles to the Wyoming border. The driver who shuttled us back to the trail head regaled
CDT: Finishing the “S” Through Montana and Idaho
The 300 miles of border trail stuck mostly to the Divide which took me to high peaks and rolling meadows. I didn’t hear much about this section
CDT: Border Hopping and Getting My Trail Legs
Leaving Chief Joseph Pass the trail begins the bottom part of the “S” it began around Butte. Strange how the Continental Divide turns back on
CDT:The Anaconda-Pintler: No, it’s not a snake
Butte was behind me. The trail was now going northwest which somehow made me think I was going backwards. I had a wonderful zero with the fam at the
CDT – Red line vs. Blue line vs. Make your own line
The six-mile highway walk brought me to the small town of Elliston where I scored one of the four rooms at the Last Chance Motel. Nothing else was
CDT – The In-Between Places
The CDT is a really long trail so we hikers generally break it down into major geographic milestones. In Montana and Wyoming these would be: Glacier
CDT – Braving the Bob Marshall Wilderness
Glacier National Park was behind me and I was now in the infamous Bob Marshall Wilderness, “the Bob” for short. I had heard so many stories about the