Blog

The Great Divide Route

Posted on: Wednesday October 9, 2024 Great Divide Trail

There are some trips, like the Great Divide Route, that are so challenging and beautiful and sublime that you can’t not be changed by them. My relationship with bears will always be different. I will never look at a map again and be confined only to trails. But most of all, I learned that this is what I love the most. Pure, raw wilderness, where it’s easy to imagine that no one has ever walked before. Just me, Steve, and glaciers tumbling down from high mountain peaks.

There and Back Again: A Section H Tale

Posted on: Wednesday September 20, 2023 Great Divide Trail Hiking

We set up camp on the lake, and it’s one of the most beautiful spots I’ve ever spent the night. We haven’t seen a person in 48 hours, or any sign of other humans at all in over 24 hours- not even a cairn. It’s rough not to achieve our goals, but this landscape is unlike anything else I’ve ever hiked through.

H is for Hard: Misadventure on the GDT's Section H

Posted on: Friday August 11, 2023 Hiking Great Divide Trail

There’s a trail that runs for over four thousand kilometers from the Mexican-US border in New Mexico to Kakwa Lake in BC. It follows the greatest watershed divide in North America, which splits the Pacific and Atlantic oceans at first, and then later divides the Pacific from the Arctic. The trail ends in the middle of nowhere, at a tiny provincial park that no one has ever heard of. But the divide continues.

How to Plan a Really Big Hike

Posted on: Monday June 26, 2023 hiking, Great Divide Trail

I’ve walked all the way along the continental divide from the US-Mexico border to Kakwa Lake, BC (where the BC-Alberta border line goes from squiggly to straight). This year, the plan is to walk another 400km north.

The West Highland Way

Posted on: Thursday March 30, 2023 Hiking

I grew up in Scotland. I spent the first nineteen years of my life there, until I started splitting my time between the UK, Alaska, and now Canada. I learned to backpack in the shadow of Munros, hauling a heavy backpack half my size through Scottish glens and forests. Now, after walking almost ten thousand miles, it’s time to hike my first Scottish long distance trail.

GDMBR: The Last Day

Posted on: Thursday September 29, 2022 GDMBR, Bikepacking

The cows are still angry in the morning, bellowing just around the corner from our campsite in the aspen grove. Soon, the coyotes join in and we howl back. This is one of the more remote sections on the GDMBR and it feels desolate: just us and the cows and the coyotes out here.

GDMBR: Brush Mountain to New Mexico

Posted on: Wednesday September 21, 2022 GDMBR, Bikepacking

We hike up towards the pass, pushing our bikes on the steep uphill. It’s no better on the way down: large rocks twist underfoot, almost as difficult to traverse off of our bikes as on them.

GDMBR: The Tetons to Colorado

Posted on: Thursday September 15, 2022 GDMBR, Bikepacking

We didn’t get to appreciate the mountains much last night. We were too caught up in town chores, like buying food and taking showers. So, we pack up our campsite and head down to the lake, where the Tetons dominate the skyline. We linger over coffee, watching fluffy clouds build on the peaks.

GDMBR: Helena to the Tetons

Posted on: Monday September 12, 2022 GDMBR Bikepacking

It’s already hot when we try to leave Helena in the morning. The heat sinks into the valley, soaking into the concrete and asphalt. We just need to get out of town, up into the cool pines and everything will be ok.

GDMBR: The Border to Helena

Posted on: Monday August 1, 2022 Bikepacking, GDMBR

It’s an easy five km to the border. The guard waves us across, letting us stop for water at their bathrooms. Then another twenty km to Eureka on easy paved roads. We make it in time for breakfast.