A record high snow year,  an injury from being washed down a meltwater creek, a major life crisis.  What could be more fun, other than walking 2,653 miles at the same time?

This was sometimes painful, but also often fun.  And not as hard as it could have been – there is more trail spirit on this trail than any other I’ve done, with so many thru-hikers, and so many local people looking out for them.

I’ll have to admit to finding some of that a bit annoying at the beginning, a bit like undermining a wilderness experience, but as the crowds decreased and as my mental and physical trials increased, I appreciated it more.

If nothing else, it made this trail the clear leader on the important free beers per miles walked KPI – and, in the end, isn’t that what is most important? Loving your neighbour is great but, I think we can all accept, only when it is converted into the cold hard fact of a 7.2% IPA handed to a hiker in the middle of the desert. 

(Note: this trip took place in 2019, was written up in 2020 but in present tense, with retrospective comments written as if prospective, and then with occasional additional retrospective comments when put on this website in 2021.  I’m hoping this temporal mess is still somehow understandable because I can’t be bothered to fix it now)