It’s been nearly 6 years since Paul and I completed our thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). In-between those years we have walked the Camino de Santiago, the Chilkoot Trail, the Trans Catalina Trail (TCT)…again, climbed Mount Whitney via a western approach and Half Dome starting from the Cathedral Lake trail head.

Toulumne River Canyon (2018)

Mt. Whitney (2016)

Aborted JMT hike (2018)

Half Dome (2017)

Chikoot Trail (2017)

Aravipa Canyon (2017)

Trans Catalaina Trail (2016)

Camino de Santiago (2015)

We’ve hiked the Aravipa Canyon and the Grand Canyon of the Tuolomne River. We even had an aborted attempt to hike from Mammoth Lakes to Tuolomne Meadows following a late season snow storm. With the exception of the Camino, which took 33 days, most of our hiking adventures have not lasted much more than a week. The longing for a “proper” thru-hike has been an itch that needs scratching. This year, it is getting scratched, and scratched so deep that it will probably need stitches.

Continental Divide Trail…here we come!

Weighing in at 3000 miles (+/- a few 100 miles for detours and/or alternates), it’s claim to fame is it rugggedness and “pick your adventure” kind of thru-hike. Somewhere between 100-300 people attempt to thru-hike the CDT each year.  For 80%, this is NOT their first thru-hike.  Two-thirds of the hikers are male and a little over 50% fall into the 25-34 age bracket.  Just under 12% fall into our age range. (stats courtesy of HalfwayAnywhere’s 2019 CDT hiker survey)

We reckon it will take us somewhere between 5-6 months to complete this trail. It is one of three National Scenic Trails that make up what it known as the Triple Crown of thru-hiking. Our direction will be NOBO (Northbound), and may (most likely based on snow conditions) include a bit of a “flip” here and there. We are up for a challenge, but we don’t want to kill ourselves.

Our shuttle tickets from Lordsburg NM to the border (Mexican) monument at Crazy Cook have been purchased. We are making the final preparation/selection of the gear we will be using (initially). Next is a plane ticket to El Paso Texas where my father will pick us up and then deliver us to Lordsburg NM.

Looking forward to “built-in” Trail Angels

We are looking forward to “built in” Trail Angels, seeing that my parents live in New Mexico and are hearty travelers. They have graciously agreed (so far) to mail out the four resupply packages we will be sending ourselves for New Mexico. If we are lucky they might even deliver them in person, or better yet meet us along the way for some “trail magic”. It will be nice to share this adventure with them…in person! They themselves are quite the campers, but in a glamping cabover camper sort of way…now.

Double duty blogging, and adventures in Social Media

In addition to keeping y’all updated on this adventure, I have expanded my Social Media platforms.

Instagram: 2moremilesadventures  (Only because this guy, H T Dolinka with 0 posts and 5 followers) still hasn’t responded to my request for him to release his Instagram URL  of 2moremiles… for my use)

YouTube: OneSpeed 2moremiles

And…wait for it…I have been selected to be a 2020 Blogger by The Trek, an online hiking “magazine” that covers ALL things related to long distance backpacking. I have already posted my first post, that you can see here, and follow as well. 

This site (2moremiles) will be a more day to day overview, and hopefully will include more than a few video posts from my YouTube channel as well.  The posts for The Trek will be content/subject, and “special feature” driven. As you can see, there are lots of platforms to keep up with, which keep my thumbs pretty busy.

I have no doubt that this CDT thru-hike will be filled with many a memorable moment, stunningly gorgeous sights, and of course a plethora of mis-adventure.  Join us as we push our bodies and make memories…even if it is out of morbid curiosity.  

In the meantime…we train.