Welcome!
I am an artist who hikes. A hiker who arts. A traveller who revels in the journey without undue devotion to the destination. I hike to be somewhere, not to get somewhere. Thanks for joining me on this journey.
Expect reflections on long distance hiking, art-making on trail and off, hiking culture, nature and my undying love for backrests.
Mostly wet all day today. I loved every second!
One of my favorite things to do on trail is to nearo into town and go splurge on a big breakfast, preferably with waffles, and some really good coffee.
Today, though, I woke up headachy and nauseous and wound up missing breakfast. No worries. I enjoyed my time in Marion, VA, a fine example of a trail town with all a hiker could need or want.
I’m at that awkward stage in my hike where I don’t know anyone and all the thru hikers ignore me, no doubt thinking I’m some lowly section hiker or, worse, just out for an overnight trip.
Today I started a 500 mile hike on the AT. I’ll hike from Grayson Highlands State Park, VA to Harper’s Ferry, WV. Just getting warmed up for something later on in the summer.
It’s been a very long time since I’ve done a gear post, so let’s do this!
All the things I’m carrying in my pack for the AT portion of my 2024 hiking mash up.
The plan was to hike south through Montana, Idaho, Wyoming. Then turn left on the Colorado Trail if it was late and I’d really been able to pull off slow hiking.
I could be happy with going halfsies on a 3,000 mile trail this year.
I promised myself I’d start slow. It was a sensible idea that was easier said than done. Turns out the desert offers a trifecta of disasters waiting to happen.
2023 was a year of disappointment, followed by redemption. It’s still hard for me to admit failure, but fail I did, not once, but twice, on both ends of the Continental Divide Trail. Maybe I “failed upward,” as they say, because I learned some things, put them into practice, and eventually took a long walk in October where everything finally worked.
By the time I hit the trail on May 11, I want to be able to hike twenty miles and still be able to get up off the ground the next morning. And then keep doing it. For days.
My plan is to train like a marathoner.
Part one of a series on how to train for a thru hike (and why even bother when everyone else seems to “hike themselves into shape.”
