2026
What do you have in store for me?
Jan shake down hike for the NPT, low temp 0F and high of 9F on second day
New year, new plans
One week into the new year and already all my plans have gone out the window and have been completely revised. In 2024 when I realized I’d actually be able to hike the PCT in 2025, an idea took hold, sinking its teeth in deep, so deep it’s going to be pretty hard to let it go. I would hike the triple crown in three years, Pacific Crest Trail in 2025, Appalachian Trail in 2026, and Continental Divide Trail in 2027. After the PCT, all that changed, not because I didn’t want to anymore, but because I made friends. Those friends wanted to hike in the Alps and I don’t want to be left behind.
At first, I thought “it wouldn’t be too difficult to start the AT in Jan as a flip flop.” As I actually dove deeper, I realized I wouldn’t be able to finish the trail before the end of May like I wanted. Sure I could do the miles in that time frame, but I also had other plans throughout the winter/spring that would take me off trail here and there. The biggest deciding factor though was Baxter State Park. Katahdin would be closed when I would arrive. It typically closes before spring and opens again sometime after Memorial Day. So what to hike now?
Winter on the Northville-Placid Trail
As more and more of the things I wanted to do this winter were canceled, RIP winter mountaineering school (they’re working on becoming a separate 5013c) and goodbye dream of WFR (NOLS canceled the class I signed up for the day after I paid the remaining balance), it came into my head to use all the winter gear I own anyway. That makes sense. I spent a lot of money on it. I should use it. Why not attempt the Northville-Placid Trail as a winter thru hike? There are plenty of reasons this could be a bad idea, but that’s for another post. Very few people have actually done this in winter. I think more from not wanting to be uncomfortable for so long and the difficulty of traveling through deep snow, but I could be wrong.
The trail is 138 miles from Northville, NY to Lake Placid, NY with around 13,000’ of gain. Not too crazy until you add in the fact that it can often be below 0 degrees Fahrenheit, 3 feet of snow with no boot pack, and there are water crossings. With running water. Not frozen. It can be a little dangerous. Or a lot dangerous depending on the preparation and if you plan to fly solo. Hopefully that won’t be the case as I have 2 people interested in joining me, but I’ll have to wait and see.
Arizona Trail
My next big plan is to start (and finish) the Arizona Trail. I actually have dates picked out and transportation booked. This trail travels just shy of 800 miles across the length of, you guessed it, Arizona! From the Mexico border to the Utah border there’s about 108,500 feet of gain. If I can keep up my normal hiking pace that I have consistently had across a 500 mile PCT lash, Colorado trail thru, and a PCT thru, I should be able to finish this well within the timeline before galivanting around in Europe. I’m thinking 45-50 days depending on what I do about that small detail of the Grand Canyon North rim being closed. There’s a 10ish mile chunk still affected by the Dragon Bravo fire that destroyed so much area after an extremely dry winter.
I have a couple options in regards to the closure.
Nothing and hope the area opens before I get to it. It’ll be re-evaluated in April
Attempt a continuous footpath by doing a 60-100 mile alternate using part of the Hermit Loop, likely Tonto west, with the South and North Bass trails. Some of this is reliant on permits in GCNP and how comfortable I am with either swimming across the Colorado River or trying to get a raft hitch.
Take a 5 hour shuttle from the South Rim to the North
End the hike at the South Rim.
Option 1 would be ideal, but as of now I’m planning on 2. I have an idea how to make it work, but it’ll be a waiting game until I get physically closer.
Via Alpina
The big event of the year will likely be the Via Alpina, or a LASH of it, in Europe. This plan is even more tumultuous than the NPT. The AZT is acting as the only current concrete plan and I use it to center myself in the chaos of my ever changing calendar. The problem with the Via Alpina and why nothing is decided is because of visas. The red route of the Via Alpina, which is the trail my friends and I would prefer, is about 1600 miles with over 450,000’ of gain. Not a walk in the park, well technically it is, but it’s not a flat city park. To do this comfortably and enjoyably it would take longer than the 90 days allotted to US citizens visiting Schengen countries. We’re really struggling to find a visa for tourism that would allow us to be there longer. Everything seems to require some sort of residency agreement or job offer. We’ll have to reach out to some embassies to see if they can help, but I’m not willing to bend rules if there are no options. If everyone is in agreement, we may do a mix match of the red and green routes to finish early or jump over to Croatia and do the long trail there with some beach time on the end.
As a pretty anxious person that is risk adverse, doesn’t like conflict or talking on the phone, and must follow rules, those options are easier for me to handle. But, the Via Alpina wasn’t my plan originally and I don’t want to try and pressure the others into doing something else. I’ll just leave early or start later if I have to if they’re committed to that route and I decide not to get a visa. Again, I’ll be waiting to see if anything changes, while being bold and emailing or calling different countries to find visa options that don’t require a rental agreement and a job.
The Nebulous Fall/Winter Plans
This is where things get really fuzzy, as you can imagine with trying to see too far out on the horizon without binoculars. I have a few ideas on my adventure plans note in my notes app. These are ideas and vague thoughts about things I can possibly do when I’ve recovered from a busy year of travel and am ready to get back out there. Some ideas are the Long Trail in October, Tuscarora Trail in November, and the Florida trail Dec-Feb. It’s very unlikely I’ll do all of these. I’ll probably only do one, but I like having things out there to look forward to and plan for.
