2022 Via Degli Dei
My cousin and her two daughters decided to join me in Italy for a walk from Bologna to Florence known as the Via Degli Dei. Like the Camino del Anillo, I didn’t do any planning or research for this trail. It only caused a couple of emotional breakdowns along the way, but we survived as a family and learned a lot along the way.
2022 Camino del Anillo
After the Azores, I decided to head to Madrid. Bear and I had talked about a “Lord of the Rings” based trail near Madrid, but we hadn’t been able to find any information about it. While in Madrid, I was able to track down the creators of the Camino del Anillo (walk of the ring). They hurriedly put together a plan for me and I was off. Like “the Lord of the Ring” this journey was all about fellowship. I was the only person hiking the Camino at the time and I was the first non-Spanish speaker to walk the trail. These people became my family and provided a truly magical experience for me.
2022 Azores
After the Camino, I still had no idea what I was going to do. I was determined to stay in Europe until my original return date in 2 months. My cousin from Peoria had told me about a friend of theirs that had a place in the Azores. I didn’t know anything about the Azores so this sounded good to me. I booked a ticket without any real plans and headed to the island of Soa Miguel for 2 weeks. I camped in a couple different volcanoes during my stay and had a great time just wondering around aimlessly.
2022 Portuguese Camino
The Portuguese Camino was the second Camino we hiked. This one was particularly hard for me and maybe someday I’ll actually post about it. This was the end of Bunny’s and my marriage. As a result, I had a series of Camino families which I included pictures of here. I originally started out with Bunny, Sassy, and Bear through Portugal. When we crossed into Spain, the simmering trouble Bunny and I had boiled over ending up with her returning to the US and me continuing alone.
I eventually got another Camino family consisting of mostly German women with a couple of members from Spain as well. We made it to Santiago together. As I was the only one of that family continuing to Finistere, I headed out solo but on the first day met another Spaniard who spoke very little English. Through Richar, I developed a new tramily made up of only Spanish friends. Richar and I became great friends and I ended up heading to his place in Burgos and spending time with him and his daughters.
2022 Kerry Way
This was our first trip to Ireland. There’s a reason Ireland is green–it rains a lot. Serious amounts. It’s green and lush. And wet. Did I mention the rain? It seems like I’m forgetting to mention something. Oh, yes, the trail! It was what you’d expect in Ireland–friendly people, lots of history, beautiful in different ways than England, and a tad bit on the wet side.
2022 Cotswold Way
I felt under-dressed the entire time I was on trail. The countryside was beautiful and the people were friendly, but there’s no mistaking that this is a trail through some of the most expensive real estate in England. It was stunning. I enjoyed it. I didn’t know what to expect, but I didn’t quite expect this trail. It was walking on top of the escarpment most of the way so the hiking was easy.
2022 South Downs Way
Bear and Sassy talked us into hiking this trail in Southern England. They chose to stay in Pubs and B&Bs the whole way, while the peasants (aka Bunny and Easy) chose to camp most of the way. This was a very pleasant surprise of a trail. Hiking in the UK is not cheap, but it is always fun and awe-inspiring between the natural beauty and history.
2020 Tahoe Rim Trail
After being forced off the PCT because of fires, we decided that we didm’t have enough time to finish the Sierra before the onset of bad weather. We chose to spend a couple weeks hiking the TRT to keep from going back home to off-trail Covid living. This trail is fun and passes through Desolation Wilderness (which is also on the PCT). The east side of the trail can have some dry days and long water carries, but very manageable. I would be willing to hike this one again.
2020 Land Between the Lakes N/S Trail
Stir craziness was the motivator for hiking this trail. It’s a short 60 miles running from Tennessee to the Kentucky Dam Canal. There is nothing spectacular or challenging about the trail. It really is a very pleasant walk in the woods.
2019 Oregon Coast Trail
In an effort to avoid snow in the Sierra and NorCal, we opted to pick up another trail to allow for melt time. We should have investigated our choice a bit better as we made a lot of bad decisions. We thought we were smart hiking Nobo, but we ended up hiking into the prevailing wind. Also of note, walking in loose sand is not much different than walking in snow (except you don’t posthole). There was also more road walking than we were wanting. It was still a good experience, but I will probably never hike this one again.
2019-21 Pacific Crest Trail
When it comes to the big trails, it’s either 1 or 3. The second leg of out Triple Crown was met with a lot of obstacles which caused us to convert out thru-hike to a series LASHes (Long Ass Section Hikes). We should have realized we were in trouble when we had to delay the start of our hike in 2019 because the interstate to Campo was closed because of snow. 2019 was a big snow year which caused us to flip a couple of times. Before we could finish, my mom died which ended our year.
We returned in 2020 to finish, but there was this little thing called Covid which delayed our start and then forest fires which ended it prematurely. In 2021, we did manage to make it through the Sierra and mark this one off the list, but it still bothers me that I didn’t thru-hike the PCT…
2018 Appalachian Trail
What hiker doesn’t dream of hiking the Appalachian Trail? This is the most recognized of the US long distance trails outside of the US. The only trail that might get more recognition word-wide would be the Camino Francais, but more people step foot on the AT every year (close to 5 million). This trail is no joke. Widely considered to be the toughest of the three trails that make up the Triple Crown. I am more proud of hiking this trail in a single go than any of the other trails we have hiked.
2017 Tour du Mont Blanc
This is a “must do” for every hiker. This was our first exposure to the Alps and it was, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful trails in the world. Word of caution, this is a very crowded trail from mid-June to mid-September. If you attempt it outside of those times, you are likely to run into snow, (but on the back side from mid-September to early October you run a very good chance of having gorgeous weather and almost no one else on the trail). The traditional starting point is in Chamonix, France and hiking couter-clockwise (which is what we did). I think another great way would be to start in Courmayeur, Italy and get Switzerland out of the way early on (I felt ripped off while in Switzerland and it put a damper on my spirits until I got back into France).
2017 GR10 — France
The GR10 is an approximately 560 mile trail running through the Pyrenees Mountains from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea along the French/Spanish border. There is a lot of elevation changes giving you the equivalent experience of climbing Mt Everest from sea level to summit almost 8 times–in other words, you had better like climbing steep trails if you are going to tackle this one. The trail runs through at least one mountain village or settlement almost every day where you can sometimes even find food. We found ourselves “food uncertain” many times thru-hiking this trail because the French do not necessarily hike and camp like we do along the big trails in the USA. This is a magnificent trail, but I would recommend section hiking it rather than thru hiking it.
2017 El Camino de Santiago
There are dozens of Caminos all over Europe that end in Santiago de Compostela to visit the remains of St James (Jesus’ #2 man while he was running around resurrecting people his first visit). We chose to hike the Camino Francais which was featured in “The Way” written by Emilio Estevez featuring his father Martin Sheen in the main role. Our route started in St Jean Pied de Port just on the north side of the Pyrenees mountains. We crossed over the mountains and into Spain on day one. The Camino officially ends in Santiago de Compostella, but we chose to venture all the way to the coast to Muxia and Finesterre which the Romans regarded as the end of the earth (Finesterra) and where the souls of the dead departed the earth (Muxia).
2017 Pembrokeshire Coastal Path — Wales, UK
The Pembrokeshire Coastal Path is an approximately 200 mile long trail running around the Pembrokeshire Peninsula in southwest Wales. This trail was established in 1970, but don’t let is relatively young age let you believe that there isn’t well over 2200 years of history along the path. On this trail are Pembroke Castle built in the 11th century and St David’s Cathederal which was established in the 6th centrury. Today, there is a NATO firing range along the trail–you might want to skip this section if the flags are flying indicating live ordinance.
2016 Mt Rainier NP — Wonder Land Trail
The Wonderland Trail is a 93 mile trail that circumnavigates Mt Rainier. It was originally proposed to be a road to drive around the mountain but was instead used by rangers as a quick route to monitor the back country. Horse riders eventually commandeered the trail and then the National Park Service realized they had an attraction in the trail itself. It was selected by Backpacker Magazine as the best loop hike in the nation in 2016. We finally got a permit to hike this trail in the late summer of 2016. This is a spectacular trail and should be on every backpacker’s bucket list.
2016 Buffalo River
We wanted to check out the Buffalo River for a longer weekend of hiking close to home. The Buffalo River is the Nation’s first designated Scenic River and is managed by the National Park Service. There are some longer trails in the area that run through the 3 units. I do believe that there are plans to include the Buffalo River in the Ozark Trail, but it has faced resistance by the NPS. We chose to go check out the area over Memorial Day weekend in 2016 with some friends of various hiking abilities. Since we were unsure of what to expect and what everyone was capable of, we chose to just hike in a few miles and day hike from our base camp.
2015 Maroon Bells — Four Pass Loop
Backpacker Magazine chose the Four Pass Loop Trail as the best hike in Colorado (After we had already planned to hike it). We have to agree with the selection. Although the trail is only a little over 32 miles, it is filled with a wide variety of sights. We got lucky and hit the prime time for wild mountain flowers. Pam and her family have been going to Crested Butte for over 35 years for the Wildflower Festival. The Four Pass Loop trail has also become a popular day run for the truly in shape (which we are not). As the name says, you go over 4 passes each right around the 12,500′ range. Being flatlanders from the Midwest, we took Diamox as a precaution. No part of the trail is less than 9,000′ in elevation.
2014 Olympic NP — Gray Wolf Loop
To complete our “visit 3 National Parks this year” challenge from Backpacker Magazine, we chose a recommended backdoor Olympic trail from them as well. We were afraid that this trail would be very crowded since it had been written up in the magazine just a few months before we visited. We only saw 12 people in the 6 days we were there and 3 of them were hiking out when we were heading in. Olympic is a beautiful park (as can be said for all National Parks). An avid backpacker could spend a lifetime exploring Washington State’s wilderness. Definitely check out Olympic–you won’t be disappointed.
2014 Isle Royale NP
Another challenge that Backpacker Magazine recommended was to take someone new to Backpacking on a overnight trip. We chose to invite my brother-in-law who hadn’t backpacked in over 40 years (I think after 25 years he should qualify). I had been to Isle Royale the year after I got divorced and fell in love with it’s remoteness. This is the least visited National Park just because of how hard it is to get to. There are no roads so this is a complete backcountry experience. The island is about 50 miles long 12 miles at its widest. It is home to only Moose and Wolves as far as large mammals go. Odds are pretty good of seeing a moose (definitely moose poop as they like to use the trails). Our goal was to hike the length of the island, but plans changed due to weather and other issues. We still had a great time.
2014 Grand Canyon NP — Corridor Trail
The Grand Canyon was the first of 3 national parks we went backpacking in this year. We also did take a virgin backpacker with us on this trip. Every view in this park looks like a movie backdrop. Since this was our first trip here, we stuck to the corridor trail. We went in late February which is the ideal time to go: no snakes, no crowds, pleasant temperatures in the canyon (70s to low 80s during the day). The corridor trails are almost highways being so wide and well maintained. We also discovered Phantom Ranch sells alcohol to the public.
2013 West Highland Way — Scotland, UK
This was the first long distance hike my girlfriend (now my wife) and I did together. When we started dating, she told me she would like to go backpacking. Romantic devil that I am, I bought her a backpack for Christmas and got plane tickets to Scotland. The WHW is a 96 mile walking path in Scotland that runs from Milngavie to Fort William. To save a little transportation cost, we chose to start in Glasgow and hike an additional 12 miles along the Kelvin Way to Milngavie. Adjacent to the trail is a highland distillery as well as a newly established national park. The trail can be day hiked with a luggage service carrying your belongings for you to your next bed and breakfast or hotel (if you so desire–we chose to camp and backpack the entire distance). We met people from all over the world including two of our best friends, Peter and Marcia, whom we have gone on several trips with since. This was a great first experience for us together and ignited our love of long distance hiking.