This will be a mixture of gear list, gear reviews, and the thought process behind why I chose each piece of gear. To re-cap, in 2022 I thru-hiked the Appalachian, Pacific Crest, and Continental Divide Trails. In total this took 290 days. I started northbound on the Appalachian Trail on Feb 16th. After the Appalachian Trail I hiked the Pacific …
Mastering the Mind: Combining Mental Toughness Techniques with Thru-Hikes
I wrote this as a reply to a person in the Muay Thai subreddit but think it would be helpful here. “It’s mostly mental.” I don’t think there’s much debating this subject when it comes to thru-hiking. But what can you actually do about it? We know that our success or failure on trail depends on the mind, but knowing …
7 Mistakes That Could Ruin Your Thru-Hike!
This probably won’t be new information to you if you’ve been doing a good bit of research, but I hope that I can relay this information to you in a way that truly makes the ideas stick home. I’ve hiked about 14,000 miles now and seen first hand how important it is to not commit these mistakes. They’re such simple …
Continental Divide Trail Thru-Hike Day 1-41 from Glacier NP, Bob Marshall, Scapegoat, Big Sky Cutoff, Yellowstone, and Tetons!
Hi! I’m writing to you from Teton Village, Wyoming. It’s a small ski-resort near Jackson, Wyoming. First, thanks for following along and sorry for the lack of blog updates. I’ve been mostly posting to Instagram – www.instagram.com/jackjoneshg and YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOVv1zGOyziaydXRuaEpjWF60Dsjo4Z2k I’ll catch you up in this post about everything that’s happened in the first month and a half of the hike. Patrons …
Stories From the Pacific Coast Highway, My Favorite Scenic Places, and a Very Creepy Warm Showers Encounter.
Hi! I’m writing to you from home. I am still planning to thru-hike the Continental Divide Trail but it’s been a high snow year and the passes in Montana are currently full of snow. So rather than trudging through it with ice-axe and microspikes and fording raging snow-melt rivers I’m spending a few weeks at home resting and wait for …
Finished the Arizona Trail Bikepacking Thru after 33 days. Now on to California and the Pacific Coast Highway!
Hi! I’m writing from Las Vegas, NV. With this post I’ll briefly catch you up on my last weeks on the Arizona Trail and my new plans for how to ride up to Canada. Before I do that I want to tell you about my Patreon page. If you enjoy the photos, videos, and blogs from my trip and want …
Arizona Trail Day 27 – Thru Hiking is an Initiation into the Mysteries of Life. Mile 610, Flagstaff Arizona
Hello! I’m writing from Flagstaff, Arizona. The last two weeks have been really busy as I haven’t taken any zeros and have just been pushing miles to get up north. Toward the end of this post I’ll copy and paste all of my daily updates that I wrote on Instagram incase you haven’t seen those and want to get a …
Arizona Trail Day 1-7 Bikepacking from Mexico to Canada
Hi! I’m writing from Tucson, Arizona. Mile 140 of the Arizona Trail. It’s been a while and I’m going to keep this post fairly short. Between updating daily on Instagram and putting together a 10 minute video when I get to a town I find myself stretched too thin to do much blogging. I’ll just give you some highlights and …
Improvise and Adapt – Bikepacking and Thru-hiking the Continental Divide Day 1-7
I’m writing from Scottsdale, AZ. I’m staying with Gerald and his wife Kat. I’ve known Gerald since I was a little kid and we roomed together in College. I know, I’m supposed to be in New Mexico. So – how did we end up in Scottsdale? Day 1-3 Jillian dropped me off at the Amtrak in Kansas City on the …
Healthy Hiking, Backpacking, and Bikepacking Chia, Coconut, and Flax Breakfast(Sugar free, Omega-3’s, High calorie and Nutritious)
This is the first installment of what should be a regular series on healthier options for hiking and backpacking. When I thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail I ate all the regular hiker fare: ramen, spam, snickers, tortillas, chips, pizza, and candy. I even made it a point to down a pint of ice-cream before leaving each town. My rationale was that …