The mud-riddled, wet swamp walk put us at 30 miles into the 1100 mile trail. Challenge 1 - done! The next part was a whole new obstacle to most trail dwellers. Out of the 11 National Scenic Trails in the United States, only 2 are complete trails on designated 'trail land' (public lands, easements, or [...]
The Florida Trail not only offers a winter hiking option for non-snow inclined outdoor enthusiasts, but a unique chance to traverse a new ecosystem not found too often in the US - a true swamp. We rung in our 2020 checking our lists twice (and 3 and 4 times) to make sure we were set [...]
A few days after sleeping through yet another New Year's ball drop, we were on our way to the Great White North for a lovely little foray into backcountry Alaska to get the Winterlake Lodge & their dogs ready for the winter tour season. We packed some Army duffels, which fit our snowshoes quite well, [...]
The Florida Trail, 1,300 miles starting in the Everglades and ending in the panhandle by the Gulf of Mexico. We sat up one night talking about what would be next for us during our winter hiatus from Key West. We started our research the next day learning what we could before we committed to it. [...]
As we started to mull around the idea of doing a thru-hike of the Florida Trail (FT), Sierra and I debated on whether or not to try hammocking for a change. This of course led us down the rabbit hole: What would we need to hammock? How much does that weigh? How light can we [...]
I have written this post at least 174 times since departing trail, mostly during the beginning of my shift at the warehouse when I'd daze off to transport myself to a more open field of view in a much more natural environment, only to be zapped back to reality when I'd start to second guess [...]
Monday morning came, which meant lounging at McDonald's until the post office opened. We played pine cone baseball and pine cone golf in the parking lot until 9 o'clock rolled around. We acquired our new cell phone holders for our Z-packs backpacks, which will make our life so much better. Plus, we get to support [...]
We woke up on Memorial Day with just a short walk to the highway and a 7 mile hitch to town. Some may think, 'Oh, 7 miles, just walk there'. But those people don't realize 7 miles will take me 3 hours to walk there but takes you 10 minutes to drive us there. Plus, [...]
Our short stint down the hill brought us to Gold Lake, where we met a young couple from Yosemite out for the weekend. They offered to drive us to Graeagle, which was the closest town to where we were. From Graeagle, we got a hitch to the next town 10 miles up, then from there [...]
Kennedy Meadows is a small mountain town with a population of about 200 people, though year-round population drops down into the twenties range. But Kennedy Meadows is a very big milestone for PCT hikers as it signifies the end of the desert section and the beginning of the Sierras for Northbound hikers. In normal snow [...]
