health
Maximal Miles in Minimal Footwear: My AT Thru-Hike in Barefoot Shoes
Over 2,190 miles of coiled roots, sharp rocks, loose gravel, thick mud, slick leaves, snow past my knees, sheets of ice, wobbly wooden boards, river fords, and seemingly never-ending climbs...
Three Strategies for Dealing with Heartburn while Thru-Hiking
My 2017 PCT thru-hike didn’t quite go as planned. Due to some medical issues, I went home from Lone Pine and took about five weeks off-trail. After sorting myself out,...
Ruck Review: Getting Ready for a Long Distance Hike
When I was preparing to hike the Pacific Crest Trail last year, I was looking for any information that I could get. It was my first long distance hike and...
Beyond Gear: A 36-Point Planning Checklist for Health, Home, and Finances
It’s easy to think that getting the right gear is the key to a successful thru-hike. Building the ideal kit for your hiking style certainly does make your hike more...
Why Western Medicine Misses the Mark on Lyme Disease: An Interview with Stephen Harrod Buhner
As it turns out, everything we've been told about Lyme disease is wrong. Conventional wisdom states that Lyme disease results from being bitten by a deer tick infected with a certain strain of
Health and Body: 5 Rarely Discussed Realities of Thru-Hiking the AT
Hiking is hard on the body. As a thru-hiker, you start this journey with the expectation of blisters, sore muscles, and fatigue. But are you aware of some of the other...
The Power of Feet
If I've learned anything from hiking, it is the power of feet. Since I do not wear anything as restrictive as hiking boots on my hands, I have my opposable...
Report: Tick-Transmitted Powassan Virus “Worse Than Lyme Disease”
If thoughts of Lyme Disease were enough to keep you up at night, you might want to hide under covers after hearing this: rose to double-digit numbers in 2011 and...
Getting your rows in a duck! short list of pre-trail reminders
Start getting comfortable with being uncomfortable Its crunch time! Saving money and working overtime might be your life at the moment, but in months or weeks (depending on when you...
Tiny Terrors of the AT: Dirty Details About Deer Ticks and Lyme Disease
Forget bears, forget thunderstorms, forget things that go bump in the night: the real terror on the Appalachian Trail is the size of a sesame seed—or smaller. The eastern deer...
