Across the Pyrenees

Hello, all! I realize it's been quite some time since I've posted anything on this blog.  The main reason for that is because I am not traveling quite as prolifically as before.  However, as some of you may know, I did just return from a month and a half trip to France which, predictably, involved …

India

Hello Again! So...just to make sure you saw, this is the second post I'm making in the same day, so if you missed my last post, you will notice a definite time lapse between my time around Everest and my flight into India. So I flew into India.  No plans, no ideas where to go, …

Nepal II

Hello, All! I know it's been some time since I've posted; I really don't have an excuse.  I could pull the whole it's-difficult-to-get-online bit, but even without a device, that would be an out-and-out lie.  So, as I prepare to go home, I will try to give you some idea of what my life has …

…and, I’m in Nepal.

In case I forgot to mention.  Yeah, after wandering around the lonely streets of Seattle for most of the winter, I thought it would be a good idea to spend a few months in Nepal, as a sort of postscript to my brilliant backpacking career.  After all, I do need to get a job at …

5 Trails. 8 Countries. 5700 km.

Hello, All! In my last post, I was enjoying a few hard-earned days of relaxation in Nice on the French Riviera drinking beer on the beach with new friends from a hostel after finishing the Red Trail, the longest of the Via Alpina network.  Shortly thereafter, I began the lengthy trek back north along the …

Red Trail: Victory!

Hello to all my readers from warm and sunny Nice! I know what you're thinking--Nice?  Weren't you going to Monaco?  Well.  After finally winding my way through Liguria, down through the hanging villages of southern France and at last arriving on the Mediterranean Sea, I arrived at the final destination of the Red Trail, Monaco, …

Continuing on the Red Trail

Hello, Friends! My last post saw me in Oberstdorf, waiting futilely for my shoes, which never arrived.  I have since given up on the European post office, and I am buying my shoes as I go along, which is very frustrating since shoes that will hold up to the kind of walking I am doing …

Return to Oberstdorf

Hello, Friends and Family! I have just completed what I, in a bold move, am calling the "Oberstdorf Eight."  This is because I have basically walked a huge loop through the eastern Alps and then walked a straight line down the middle of it, thereby creating a sort of figure eight.  I must say, this …

Two Down, Three to Go!

Hello friends! This morning, I finished walking the Via Alpina Yellow Trail in Muggia, just south of Trieste.  This trail has left me with many mixed feelings.  In some ways, it was everything a backpacker could wish for--stunning peaks, charming villages, and an incredible historical and cultural heritage.  On the other hand, it was also …

Via Purple: Victory!

Hello, all, and thank you for your patience!  As you know, my last post saw me taking a much-needed break after a difficult start.  The following day, I took a lovely breakfast followed by a virtually flat, totally painless walk through alpine fields and huts that served fresh alpine dairy products, in which I was …