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 …
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 …
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 …
My 2018 Adventure Plans(Thru-hikes and thru-bikes)
It’s time for more adventures! I went through a long period of deconstruction in 2017 after my Appalachian Trail thru-hike and finally feel like I’m integrated and whole again. The AT hike made me question everything about life, down to the most basic fundamental question of “who am I?” In that process of discarding old beliefs and old patterns of …
Part 1 of my Appalachian Trail Documentary is Live
Here’s a link to part 1 of my Appalachian Trail documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2BkK_bHMA4 Pt. 1 covers Georgia, from Springer Mountain, up Blood Mountain, and finally to Neel Gap. Appalachian Trail Documentary Pt. 1 I’ve been keeping busy. I’ve picked up a couple of personal training clients at MKT CrossFit and I’m also training several people online. Healthy Gamer was one of just twenty …
Thru-Hiking the Appalachian Trail Gave Me Permission To Be Me
It’s been a while since I’ve updated this blog. Thanks for following along after all this time! May 8th, 10 days from the writing of this post, marks the one year anniversary of when I stepped off on the Appalachian Trail. I’ve been getting my life back in order. I’m working out at MKT CrossFit and I’m going to coach some …
Post Trail Depression and a Revelation
I’ve been struggling with post-trail depression. It’s a fairly well-known phenomenon that is experienced by a majority of thru-hikers after. I think it’s brought on by many factors, as depression generally is. There’s the physical side of your body being wrecked. There’s the aspect of leaving the trail community. You’ve left the structure and simplicity of following a set path. …
How thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail Changed Me
Nine weeks off-trail and I’m feeling much more like myself. My energy has come back and I’m excited to do things again. My feet have stopped hurting. I’ve cut down sleep from averaging eleven hours a night to nine. The trail continues to impart lessons. Nature can’t be rushed. When you throw a system off of its homeostatic set-point it …
Adjusting back to “real life.”
I’ve been off-trail for 20 days now. 20 days already!! Time is really strange. I remember stepping through the arches in Amicalola in May. I remember feeling a queer surreal feeling. It didn’t seem real at the time that I was embarking on a 2,189 mile hike. Even now after completing the thru-hike the idea of having hiked all the …
Day 205 – SUCCESS!!
I’m writing from Harper’s Ferry, WV. I’ve passed through four states since my last blog and we have a lot to catch up on! First, I finished my thru hike last night! I hiked into Harper’s Ferry at 9:45pm after a long 31.2 mile day(which ended up being closer to 34 miles because I hiked out to get beer and …