Day 47: Chaco Scars and Aqua Blazing
Rough Morning I did a lot of moaning and groaning as I forced myself up. All was quiet until Fine Young Buck began to rapidly move and pack. That woke...
Here I Go Again (On My Own)
AT day 32 Intermission is over. I was off trail for 12 days. The quest is on to catch Caroline, who is roughly 100 miles ahead. She is zeroing in...
Weeks 3 & 4 – Brown Blazing & Mountain Climbing
Mile: 179.4 - 374 Weeks 3 & 4 on the trail definitely felt like a level up from the previous fortnight. Our warm up was over and it was...
Lessons From the PCT
It’s been 184 miles since I started in Campo, and although that isn’t even one tenth of the distance that I hope to be going, a fellow hiker put it...
Day 29 – Does Fog Always Mean Rain in the Smokies?
Day 29 Start: Newfound Gap End: Peck’s Corner Shelter Miles Hiked: 10.5 Miles on AT: 218.4 I had a hectic start to this morning. I woke up early to...
The Fall and The Goodbye
The Epic Fall We fall. Thru hiking is one big series of falls or near falls! Tree roots, rocks, mossy wet rocks, sticks that grab your shoe laces, forest floor...
A Balancing Act- Part 1 of the Gila: Days 10-12 on the CDT
To reconnect with the CDT the next morning, we bushwhacked up a spiky drainage to the ridge line. Although I’ve never done a thru hike, I’ve done plenty of bushwhacking,...
UGQ Bandit Backpacking Quilt Review
As a tossing-and-turning side sleeper, I've struggled to dial in a sleep system that caters to my body's wild temperature swings throughout an entire thru-hike. Despite starting with my share...
The Next Step
Nearing graduation, I get asked daily: “What’s the next step?" To the surprise of most, I have quite a few steps planned, all of them one in front of the...
Days 39 and 40
Day 39 Pine Swamp Branch Shelter to Angels Rest Shelter in Pearisburg, Virginia Hiked today 19.7 total hiked 660 today's ascent 3450 feet It rained last night, so my tent...