At the end of 2019, I found myself in Tennessee visiting with friends from the Continental Divide Trail. They had just returned from a 23-day rafting trip through the Grand Canyon on the Colorado River; their stoke level at an all-time high. "It was incredible. You have to get out there. It takes
Arizona Trail (AZT) Bikepacking Gear List
The gear required to bikepack the Arizona Trail is somewhat familiar to me - that is, anything that doesn't specifically have to do with the fact that I'm riding a bicycle. Putting together my Arizona Trail bikepacking gear list has been an exercise in not knowing quite what I'm doing and a reminder
Bikepacking the Arizona Trail (AZT)
The Arizona Trail (AZT) spans 800 mi / 1,287 km from the US-Mexico Border (in Arizona) to the Arizona-Utah border. It's one of the few long-distance trails in the United States that, in addition to being welcoming (and intended for) backpackers, is also open to bikepackers. Despite, for some
The Sierra High Route (+ the Southern SHR)
I've spent a lot of time in California's Sierra Nevada Mountains - hiking through them twice on the Pacific Crest Trail (in both snow-free and snow-covered conditions) and making countless other (shorter) trips in via both the eastern and western slopes. The 400 mi / 640 km long range is home to
2020: What’s On The Agenda
Over the past few years, my yearly predicted agendas have grown in both their detail and their accuracy (2017, 2018, 2019). I'm sure some version of me considers this to be a bad thing, but I've come to terms with the fact that having an idea of what I would like to do and accomplish each year
Thirty Year Updates
Five years ago, I celebrated my first (and possibly only) quarter-century of life by writing up a bucket list (despite my disdain for this term and said lists). Most of the things on this list are quite arbitrary as I was just trying to imagine things I thought would be cool to do. I've since come
2019: What’s On The Agenda
I am a huge proponent of using the "no plan is the best plan" life strategy as a means of lazily masking my unwillingness to engage in thinking about the future. So far so good. That said, I find predicting my plan for the year less an exercise in preparation and more a tool for me to look back
Japan Alps Traverse: Route Expectations
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
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,