The start of my Japanese Alps Traverse is less than a week away and I have been looking into the route a bit more since, you know, I should probably know where I'm going. My starting point will be Ichiburi Station (市振駅), a train station) in the south of Niigata Prefecture (新潟県). This station is
Packing Out Your Poo-covered Toilet Paper
Friends, there's something important we need to discuss and it has to do with your bowel movements in the great outdoors (no, not the blood, that you need to discuss with a medical professional). If you're someone who enjoys (or at least partakes in) using dry (or moist) paper products to clean
Bicycling Around Biwa-ko (琵琶湖), Japan’s Largest Lake
Name: Biwa-ko Japanese name: 琵琶湖 Location: Shiga Prefecture (滋賀県) Shore length: 146.1 mi / 235.2 km Area: 258.8 mi² / 670.3 km² Difficulty: Easy-Moderate Lake Biwa (琵琶湖) is the largest lake in Japan and is located in Shiga Prefecture. It's 8 mi / 13 km east of Kyoto (a city in Japan you've
How To Get Through Nepal Immigration, Quickly and Easily
Imagine you're playing a game where you need to name adjectives describing the immigration process for arriving in Nepal. You go first. Your answer? Efficient. Guess what? You lose. If you're flying into Nepal, you will be arriving at Tribhuvan International Airport, KTM, in Kathmandu (at
Continental Divide Trail In Photos: New Mexico
The southernmost 809 mi / 1,302 km of the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) covers the stats of New Mexico. New Mexico can (somewhat accurately) be described as the "desert section" of the trail and the entire New Mexico CDT is above 4,000 ft / 1,220 m and more than 75% is above 6,000 ft / 1,830 m
Thru-hiking The Japanese Alps
A lot of my hiking endeavors began with me thinking to myself, "Hmm, that thing would be cool to do," and last November, I thought to myself, "Hmm, traversing the entire Japanese Alps would be cool." I got super into planning a traverse of Japan's Alps for exactly two days before I gave up,
Continental Divide Trail In Photos: The Gila
Northbound thru-hikers of the Continental Divide Trail have a very important decision to make when they reach CDT Mile 173.1 (or for anyone who chooses to do the Columbus Alternate, where you begin the CDT from the town of Columbus, New Mexico instead of at Crazy Cook Monument south of Lordsburg,
Continental Divide Trail Week 7: Big Decisions
DAYS 43-45: Zero Days 4, 5, & 6 (Pagosa Springs, CO) Moist and I spend three entire days in Pagosa Springs, Colorado - our longest break from during these first seven weeks of hiking. Highlights of our time here include: Picking up a package from the post office with new underwear and
Fear And Sadness: Pacific Crest Trail Thru-hikers (2017)
Unfortunately, there's often a log of fearmongering that goes on surrounding a Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) thru-hike. Many would-be mongerers of fear have never hiked the PCT (or maybe at all) before and are largely afraid of irrational things (like murderers in the woods). As a former PCT thru-hiker,