Hiking across Florida was everything I’d hoped, good people, endless sky, and a life spent outside. But beneath the ease of it all, a nagging thought filled me with subtle dread. A goal left unfinished. Something that felt beyond my capabilities, beyond what I could take on while living out of a backpack. And yet, […]
Tag: hiking
Finishing the Pinhoti
I finished the Pinhoti Trail before the end of 2024, spending my last night in the shelter on Weogufka Creek, listening to the water slip over rocks, the sound as familiar as my own breath. At the base of Flagg Mountain, I contemplated my need for significant alone time in order to process emotions and […]
Heflin, Alabama
I woke to a cool morning fog at Laurel Shelter on the Pinhoti Trail, the kind that clings to everything and slows the world down. The plan for the day was an easy ten miles to Lower Shoals Shelter. But when a friend canceled our meet-up in Heflin the next day, I thought, “Why not […]
Dugger Mountain Wilderness
By the time I reached the Georgia-Alabama state line, all doubts about a life spent hiking had dissolved. The societal detox was complete, and the trail had me in awe once more. After leaving Cave Spring, I stopped at Spring Creek Shelter for the night, realizing there were far more shelters along the Pinhoti than […]
Poetry, Georgia
From Mack White Gap, the Pinhoti Trail stretches southward, a ten-mile ridge walk through the crisp fall leaves of the Chattahoochee National Forest, before spilling down to Georgia State Route 100. Not quite a road walk, though close enough, the trail clings to the roadside, occasionally meandering out of sight. I’d been told that this […]
Chatsworth, Georgia
There was a heaviness in me that went beyond exhaustion, a bone-deep weariness that no amount of rest could touch. I’d barely set foot on the Benton MacKaye Trail when I noticed the blister that wasn’t a blister. Squeezing the swollen lump on my foot, I watched in disbelief as a string of green and […]
Frisco, Colorado
Never quit a long-distance hike on a bad day. That’s the rule. From Kenosha Pass to Highway 9 on the Colorado Trail was thirty-two miles, and though I’d only done a little over a hundred miles altogether, I knew I was done. The sickness that had slowed me down had finally passed, but it felt […]
Jefferson, Colorado
From sea level to the Mile High City, somewhere along the way I’d picked up a head cold. Unable to breathe through my nose, with lung capacity diminished and lacking the energy to hike under a relentless sun, I passed out at Waterton Canyon Trailhead. Dizzy and nauseous, I slept for hours before summoning the […]
Olallie Lake Resort, Mount Hood, Oregon
Having worn significant holes in every pair of socks, my feet had seen better days. I found snow fields lingering in the shadow of Mount Jefferson, and walked across them barefoot. It was perfect sledding snow. Solid underneath, soft and wet at the surface. I sat down and let gravity take its course. Sledding until […]
Hitchhiking into Sisters, Oregon
Milk run into town. From Santiam Pass it’s an easy hitch into and out of the town of Sister’s… except for the news. Two people that I cared about had passed away. My Mom’s husband, Fred, and a good hiking friend named Spider. It will take a while to sink in, that they aren’t there […]