Hiking Posts

To the Ends of the Earth- Cabo Froward, Patagonia

Posted on: Monday January 15, 2018 patagonia Hiking

The sea surges to my knees as I wade around the slippery rocks. The salt stings a thousand tiny cuts on my legs. The wind throws fistfulls of rain in my face. You are made up of mostly water, I remind myself. This is your element.

Ushuaia

Posted on: Thursday January 18, 2018 patagonia Hiking

We score a deal on car rental in Punta Arenas from our waiter, so we drive south. Flat plains are filled with guanaco, which look like skinny llama. We hop a ferry and then we are on Isla de tierra del fuego. A few more hours and we have an uneventful border crossing into Argentina.

The Huemul Circuit

Posted on: Friday January 26, 2018 patagonia Hiking

The Huemul Circuit may be the best short hike I’ve ever done. Featuring zip line river crossings, a glacial traverse, high passes and a commanding view of the southern Patagonia ice field, it’s just challenging enough to be fun.

How I got my trail name - Fun Size

Posted on: Sunday January 24, 2021 Hiking Pacific Crest Trail Stories

Almost every thru-hiker ends up with a trail name. Trail names are little nicknames, normally based on something unique about each hiker. Do something stupid and you’ll find it quickly becomes your trail name. It took me two hundred miles to get mine, but it was worth waiting for. I’ve kept my trail name for all of my thru-hikes, and it’s become as much a part of me as my real name.

Solo Thru-Hiking Gear List

Posted on: Wednesday January 27, 2021 Pacific Crest Trail Continental Divide Trail Appalachian Trail Long Trail Gear Lists Hiking

This is my go-to thru-hiking gear. I carried a lot of this gear on the Long Trail, Appalachian Trail and Continental Divide Trail. I did use different gear on the Pacific Crest Trail, but the gear I carry now is definitely an upgrade.

Want to Go for a Walk? Tips for Thru-Hiking with Dogs

Posted on: Saturday February 6, 2021 Tips Long Trail Hiking

Chester and I thru-hiked Vermont’s Long Trail in 2019. Chester is a nine pound Biewer Terrier: hardly your typical trail dog. But every day on the trail was the best day of his life.

Minus 22 Degrees: Crown Land Winter Camping

Posted on: Wednesday February 24, 2021 Hiking Winter

About an hour after we leave the car, my jaw unclenches and my shoulders drop. I feel the tension start to burn away, like early morning mist. It’s been a long month and a half stuck in lockdown, unable to leave the house. But now we can camp again. It doesn’t matter that the forecast is bitterly cold, or that no one has packed down the trails. We’re finally outside, where we belong.

Don't Be a Dummy: Do a Dummy Check!

Posted on: Wednesday March 3, 2021 Hiking Tips Stories

It may sound obvious to check behind you for forgotten items, but so many hikers learn the importance of the dummy check the hard way. Learn from our mistakes, and you’ll never have to replace lost gear.

Training Levels

Posted on: Tuesday March 9, 2021 Hiking Stories Winter

It’s dark when we reach the crown land at the edge of Algonquin Park. No worries, we have headlamps. We strap on our snowshoes and head to our summer spot on the edge of a gravel pit. Wind whips the treetops above, and the snow blows up, powder glittering in the beam of my headlamp. It’s only -10c, but the windchill bites through every layer I own. By the time we’ve stamped down our sleeping area, my fingers are numb.

Frontenac

Posted on: Wednesday March 24, 2021 Hiking Stories Winter

It’s a different world in Frontenac from our hike two weeks ago. The snow has melted, leaving a thin sliver of ice running down the trail. Shake’nBake and I swap our snowshoes for microspikes. My bag is full and heavy- not with food for once, but instead with all the layers I’d normally wear over my t-shirt. It’s too warm for even a sweater.

My Least Favourite Thru-Hiking Chore

Posted on: Tuesday April 13, 2021 Hiking Great Divide Trail

In 2016, I applied for a PCT permit during the second round of applications. I didn’t bother with the first round, since I was sitting on a beach in Puerto Rico and I was reasonably sure that it wouldn’t fill up. I got my first choice of date. I would have been able to get my second choice too, and my third.

Five Year Anniversary

Posted on: Wednesday April 21, 2021 Hiking Stories Pacific Crest Trail

Five years ago today, I stood at the southern terminus of the Pacific Crest Trail, trying to choke down tears. Getting to a place in your life where you can thru-hike can be as much work as actually completing the trail, and this hike had involved years of dreaming. It didn’t hit me until I was actually at the monument that my dream was about to become a reality. Now all I had to do was walk to Canada. Hiking seemed easy in comparison to putting my life on hold for five months.

Dehydrated Dinner time

Posted on: Wednesday May 5, 2021 Hiking Great Divide Trail Tips

The entire house smells like onions. My eyes are watering while I write this. I just spent thirty minutes chopping as many onions as I could to fill the dehydrator. We have boxes of granola bars and trail mix piled up in the corner. Our cupboards are full of candy we’re not allowed to eat for two months. It’s resupply box prep time.

How to Train for a Thru-Hike

Posted on: Tuesday May 18, 2021 Hiking Great Divide Trail

Right before the Continental Divide Trail and the Appalachian Trail, I joked that I was on a strict training regimen, mostly consisting of eating ice cream and drinking beer. Skinny and tired from back-to-back thru-hikes, I was more worried about regaining lost pounds than maintaining my trail legs.

Great Divide Trail: Section B Beat Down and Section C Cruising

Posted on: Thursday July 29, 2021 Hiking Great Divide Trail

Safe haven B&B lives up to its name. Our hosts feed us and shuttle us around town, even to the brewery. Two other thru hikers are there for our first night and we’re excited to meet them. We’ve been following their Altra footprints for days. It’s nice to put a face to the tracks. We compare schedules and figure out we’ll share a few campsites after Banff. We’ll have friends for a section!

Great Divide Trail: Banff to Field

Posted on: Monday August 2, 2021 Great Divide Trail Hiking

I feel awful leaving Banff in the morning. Keith and Leslie have been amazing and have taken such good care of us, but I’ve lost the ability to sleep in town. Lack of sleep makes me nauseated and I gag my way up the trail. I can feel the smoke today too and my chest is tight. I struggle up to Egypt lake, where we’re distracted by a helicopter flying low. Jaded from Assiniboine, where tourists fly in, I make a comment that as much as I don’t want it to be a rescue, I hope it’s not a flight seeing trip.

Great Divide Trail: Section F and a Major Tent Mishap

Posted on: Monday September 6, 2021 Great Divide Trail Hiking

We wake up at 11pm, rain dripping on our faces. Which is a problem, considering we’re inside our tent. We investigate by flashlight. Rain is seeping through our rain fly, splashing on our bug net, then falling through to us. Our sleeping bags are already wet, but there’s not much we can do.

Great Divide Trail: Chown to the Snow

Posted on: Sunday September 12, 2021 Hiking Great Divide Trail

Mist hangs low over the river in the morning. We cross the Chown what feels like a hundred times. Our feet freeze to painful stumps in the cold water. There’s just enough time between fords for them to warm to pins and needles before freezing again. Chown Glacier hangs in the end of the valley, feeding the rushing water. It calves for us, sending down a spray of snow and ice.

AZT: Shake'nBake's injury

Posted on: Friday June 3, 2022 Hiking AZT

We may be sheltered on our little switchback, but the wind tosses the trees and howls through the canyon all night. I barely sleep: oh well. What’s a single bad night of sleep on such a long trail?

AZT: Mount Lemmon to Superior

Posted on: Friday June 10, 2022 AZT Hiking

It’s amazing how one simple encounter can change my day so completely. The trail transforms into a magical place. I skip along the ridgetop, climbing effortlessly, admiring the saguaro. Finally, elevation gain offers me a view, mountaintops rolling into the distance.

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.

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.

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.