What do you do with a finish line when you’re not sure you want to cross it? I rehydrated with a Polar Pop in Oracle, keeping my cheeks tight, then followed the Cody Ridge Trail back to the AZT, back to the desert. Gentle miles. Sunset at my feet. Biosphere 2 below, sealed off from […]
Tag: sobo
Hiking into Tonto Basin
You make the plan. The plan doesn’t care. Cowboy camped off trail on the run to Tonto Basin, a hike I’d already lived once in my head. Moonlit miles. A mountain view of the town lights below. Chorizo and egg burritos in the morning. Only, the moon never showed. Clouds hid it. Google said the […]
Mormon Lake
I filtered water and brushed my teeth along the river below Double Springs, the current moving steady over rocks like it had somewhere else to be. The days stretched out in that easy range, seventeen to twenty-two miles, the kind of terrain that lets your body fall into a rhythm without asking too many questions. […]
In & Out Yo-Yo
I said goodbye to family and the homestead, catching the Greyhound west for In-N-Out and a little trail therapy. A burger and a run through the mountains was exactly what I needed. From In-N-Out in Flagstaff to In-N-Out in Oro Valley, 400 miles one way on the Arizona Trail, then yo-yo back. An In-N-Out Yo-Yo. […]
AZT Reroute into Patagonia
Sometimes the trail doesn’t go where you want and you have to add more miles than you’d like, only to end up not-so-wild camping in someone’s yard. #grateful #AZT #sobo
Pine, Arizona
After helping to prepare the homestead for winter, it was time to say goodbye to family and head back into the mountains. Southbound with no plans. #familytime #goodtimes #wandering #AZT
Timberline Lodge, PCT, Oregon
At first, he suspected the other hiker of dropping acid while they lounged at Timberline Lodge. But as the hiker unfolded their experience of the trail, their eyes wide with an almost ethereal glow, it all began to make sense. Long stretches on the trail have a way of recalibrating your perception, merging your senses […]
Ramona Falls, PCT, Oregon
Two days and 40 miles into this seemingly endless uphill hike, and the absence of his trail-hardened legs weighed heavily on him. Three weeks of languor on the Oregon coast had left his muscles feeble, their resilience usurped by layers of fat now sizzling away with every upward stride. This new level of perspiration was […]
Sobo Out of Patagonia, AZ
Water, you know it’s good when it’s growing green, horses, desert, a much needed foot soak, and no rain fly on the tent, because I fell asleep before I could put it on #AZT #sobo
Phone Battery Dead, No Food, Holes in My Shoes
Not enough cell phone battery to make it to Patagonia, backup battery is only giving one charge and it’s dead, time for the solar panel. Fingers crossed Shoes are breaking down too, inserts worn through and soles as thin as paper. Out of food because I have no portion control and ate everything the first […]