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Best Power Bank For Thru-Hiking?
I Think I’ve Found The Best Thru-Hiker Power Bank!
Cinematically Vlogging A Thru-Hike With Just A Smartphone?
Cheap ultralight gear to improve you videos when out hiking.
Recent Articles
Pooping. We all we do it. When out hiking or climbing mountains or even just out camping for a night taking a dump comes with some extra steps. For years my poop kit just included a ultralight trowel, some TP and hand sanitizer. However, on some my recent hikes (the Colorado Trail for example) I …
Best Ultralight Bidets for Hiking, Camping & Mountaineering Read More »
Hiiker is a mobile app and website that allows hikers to discover, plan and navigate over 25,000 hiking trails worldwide. Since 2020, its community of hikers has grown to over 600,000 and continues to expand. It was founded in Ireland in 2020 and is now extensively used across the world by hikers and mountain rescue …
The Hiiker app makes offline downloads free for everyone Read More »
Day 1 Date: 15/7/21 Miles: 11.2 Miles to date: 11.2 Had a late start, due to having to call up AT&T to fix my SIM. Walked to line D tram, to mineral station (isn’t that in pokemon?) and a quick uber to Wateron Canyon. I rearranged my gear, sunscreen water, all that good stuff. When …
Colorado Trail Thru-Hike: My Complete Trail Journal Read More »
Date Daily Mileage Miles to Date Resupply 7/15/2021 11.2 11.2 Denver 7/16/2021 16.1 27.3 7/17/2021 13 40.3 7/18/2021 16.9 57.2 7/19/2021 14.7 71.9 7/20/2021 17.1 89 7/21/2021 16.6 105.6 7/22/2021 0 105.6 Frisco (free bus) 7/23/2021 16.1 121.7 7/24/2021 18.1 139.8 7/25/2021 19.6 159.4 7/26/2021 18.8 178.2 7/27/2021 2.1 180.3 7/28/2021 0 180.3 Leadville,exiting at …
My Colorado Trail Thru-Hike Itinerary (Via the Collegiate West)- SOBO Read More »
If you’re planning on thru-hiking or section hiking the Colorado Trail, you may be wondering what gear you need to protect yourself against bears. I thru-hiked the Colorado Trail in July 2021 and I brought a bear canister with me, specifically the BV450 bear canister. Not to bury the lead I would say you don’t …
Do I Need A Bear Canister On The Colorado Trail? Read More »
I love Darn Tough socks. Simple as that. I first used them on my section hike of the Appalachian Trail in 2019 (400 miles). Then my coast to coast hike across Ireland (400 miles) and most recently my thru-hike of the Colorado Trail (500 miles). As well as a bunch of day hikes and everyday …
Putting Darn Toughs Lifetime Guarantee To The Test (Outside USA) Read More »
1897 to 1921 is often referred to as the Heroic age of Antarctic Exploration. Antarctica was just empty outline on the map To fill in the map and discover Antarctica’s interior, humanities physical and mental limits would be tested to their breaking points with 100s of remarkable stories of survival and heroism. Today we remember …
Tom Crean: The Badass Irish Antarctic Explorer You’ve Never Heard Of Read More »
I climbed Kilimanjaro successfully back in 2016. It was an amazingexperience and would recommend it for anyone. If you’re planning on climbing Kilimanjaro one of the questions you’ll have(I certainly did) was do I need to take Diamox when climbing Kilimanjaro? What Is Diamox? Diamox, also known as Acetazolamide, is used to prevent and/or reducealtitude …
I summited Kilimanjaro back in 2016. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life and there are a few hard earned tips I’d like to share with any future climbers. Hopefully these will increase your chances of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro all the way to Uhuru Peak. Approximately 50,000 people attempt to climb Kilimanjaro …
5 Tips On How To Summit Kilimanjaro Successfully Read More »
On a recent day hike in Sicily I arrived back into Palermo and realized my fingers and hands were swollen. I had spent the day cleaning up trash on a local mountain. It was a hot day, at least a hot day for my Irish head. The above photo is a quick example of how …
Fat Fingers When Hiking? Easy Tip To Stop Hands Swelling On A Hike Read More »
If I was to mention Georgia and Hiking most people would probably think of the Appalachian Trail. However, nestled in the Caucasus mountains the countries of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan are quietly building a long distance trail that I’m confident will one day be a bucket list item for any long distance hiker. You can …
Transcaucasian Trail: Amazing New Long Distance Trail Under Construction Read More »
Many in the ultralight hiking community repurpose items from non-hiking communities for their hikes. The Showa Waterproof Glove was originally popular with Japanese fisherman then Andrew Skurka, a prominent hiker, talked about them on his blog. Now they are a popular glove for the ultralight hiker. I use them myself and love them. There are …
It’s the middle of the night, you’re snug in your sleeping bag or quilt, the rain is pouring, the wind blowing. You need to pee. Good god! This is when a pee bottle becomes a glorious luxury item to have when out hiking. But there are plenty of different pee bottles out depending on what …
Top 5 Best Pee Bottles For Hiking, Camping & Mountaineering Read More »
I’ve had to cancel my PCT thru-hike for 2 years in a row now. Thanks Covid! Back in 2019, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, I started researching the trail and what gear I would need. Should I send resupply boxes? Crampons or Microspikes? I went through the entire process, got my permit and was ready to go …
With the PCTA recently issuing PCT permits again for 2022 a long distance hike in the USA is beginning to look possible again for many international thru-hikers. Now, strictly speaking having insurance is not a requirement for doing a thru-hike. However, during a global pandemic it’s highly advised! Currently, a lot of the usual insurance …
Best Travel/Health Insurance for International Thru-Hikers Read More »
Today I wanted to talk about my cooking pot: the Vargo BOT HD 1L. The HD just means it has a handle. You can get it with or without the handles but for the extra 0.2oz/6g I think it’s worth it. This is a top of the line premium cooking pot that will serve any …
Vargo BOT HD Review: Is It Worth The Extra Weight & Money? Read More »
Today I wanted to talk about the Zpacks Duplex versus the Altaplex DCF tents. I’ve used both now. In 2019 I did 400 miles on the A.T. using the Duplex and recently I sold that and bought the Altaplex and used that for 400 miles when I did a coast to coast thru-hike across Ireland. …
In 2020 I thru-hiked across Ireland coast to coast. From Dublin to Cork along the E8 Long Distance Trail Route. I wild camped every night in my Zpacks Altaplex tent. The trail was 650km/400 miles and took around a month to complete. The E8 Long Distance Trail is part of a trail that stretches from …
A Complete Guide To Wild Camping In Ireland (With Maps) Read More »
In July & August 2020 I hiked across Ireland, coast to coast. It’s around 650km, 400 miles give or take. I started on the shores of the Irish sea, in Dun Laoghire, Dublin. Then I followed the Wicklow Way down over the Dublin and Wicklow mountains. Then the South Leinster Way and East Munster Way across …
Hiking Ireland Coast To Coast – E8 Long Distance Trail Read More »
I hope to be thruhiking next year in 2021. Either the AT or the PCT, I haven’t fully decided yet. So I wanted to talk about if can you vlog or cinematically document your thruhike with just a smartphone? Spoiler alert: Yes, you can. For example, you can see a video I made about my …
Thru Hiking Gear Lists
My own hiking gear lists:
Ultralight Ireland Thru-Hike Gear List
My ultralight hiking gear I used on my coast to coast hike across Ireland- includes video overview.
Lightweight A.T. Thru-Hike Gear List
My lightweight gear list I used on the A.T. back in 2019 – includes video overview.
Ultralight P.C.T. Thru-Hike Gear List
My cancelled 2020 PCT thru-hike gear list. Maybe I’ll use it some day!