The Complete Backpacking Checklist
Before you head into the wilderness, it’s important to have a backpacking checklist so you know you have everything you need. It’s no fun finding out in a downpour that you forgot the rain fly at home or try to set up your tent and realize that you didn’t actually bring the tent poles. (True…
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Sparks goes home
“I almost passed out two miles ago,” I said, walking into camp. Catch-up was ahead of me and was already setting up his tent. I dropped my poles next to a tree and gasped in pain as I clumsily dropped my backpack to the ground. There was a cold…
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Reaching the halfway mark
“Do we just send it?” Catch-up asked. Just the day before, we’d been at this pit toilet shivering from the rain. Today, the sun was shining through broken clouds, and though the wind had a cold tinge to it, it was much warmer than before. Currently, it was 1…
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The Great Basin of Wyoming
My ride out of Lander dropped me off on the side of the highway, next to a barbed wire gate, and wished me good luck. Behind me, the truck with Solemate and Catch-up also stopped and they pulled out their gear. “Welcome to the Basin,” Catch-up said. I knew…
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Wandering through the Wind River Reservation
“How were the Winds?” I asked a NOBO hiker before we entered Yellowstone. There were a couple of alts coming up there–Knapsack Col and the Cirque of the Towers–and I wanted to know if they were worth the extra mileage and elevation. “Like church,” he said, excitement lighting up…
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Hiking the CDT through Yellowstone National Park
“Exploding water, exploding water, exploding water,” I chanted in beat to my footsteps. We were entering Yellowstone National Park, and I couldn’t hide my childish glee. A year ago, after hiking the Teton Crest Trail, we had an opportunity to spend two days driving through Yellowstone. I was just…
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Walking the border
“How did you catch us?” Sarah’s eyes shone teasingly from inside her tent. Ever since Augusta, she and Oracle had been half a day ahead of me and I hadn’t been able to catch up any closer than reaching town as they were leaving. But now here I was,…
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Reaching Anaconda
Helena was a welcome break. I spent the night in a hostel only a mile from the outfitters. There, I got new shoes and new socks, which is always a wonderful day for a thru hiker. The day I headed out was a Sunday, and so I visited a…
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On Wilderness
I’m sitting on a ridgeline after a hard climb, catching my breath. There’s a bee, pollen clumped up on his legs, landing on me to gather salt. The wind is steady and I’m learning to tune it out. I look out over the valley I just climbed out of,…
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Walking through the Bob Marshall Wilderness
My shoes and my heels are currently at war with each other, and both sides are losing. It’s been a couple of long days walking through the Bob Marshall Wilderness, as my feet continue to collect blisters and the heels of my shoes disintegrate. However, even with those challenges,…
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