by Paty | Jan 15, 2024 | HP blogs, Southwest US
I never knew how much I adored Arizona until I thru-hiked the Arizona National Scenic Trail in 2022. Walking 800 miles from the state’s southern border with Mexico up to the Utah border opened my eyes to the state’s geographic diversity. And I...
by Paty | Dec 13, 2023 | Scotland, West Highland Way
Now that I’m mostly dry again after the torrential rain in Scotland rain, it’s time to take a look back at what I saw on that trail. The West Highland Way (WHW) wasn’t my first European long trail, but it was my first trail in the UK. So I probably...
by Paty | Oct 22, 2023 | Gear, Scotland, West Highland Way
The first thing you might notice is how this particular packing list looks very different from my the ones I’ve created for my backcountry hiking trips. The reason for this shift is because I didn’t intend to camping a single night on the West Highland Way...
by Paty | Oct 10, 2023 | Scotland, Trail Journals, West Highland Way
Monday 10/9/2023 Start: Fort William, Scotland End: London, England Distance Traveled: 629 miles (122 miles by bus + 400 miles by train + 7 miles by Tube) After two days of sitting around Fort William waiting for the record-breaking rainfall to end, I...
by Paty | Oct 9, 2023 | Scotland, Trail Journals, West Highland Way
Sunday 10/8/2023 Start: Fort William, Scotland End: Fort William, Scotland Distance Traveled: 0 miles After the unfortunate news from the CityLink bus driver at 7 pm last night, I had some work to do. Not only would I be unexpectedly...
by Paty | Oct 8, 2023 | Scotland, Trail Journals, West Highland Way
Saturday 10/7/2023 Start: Fort William, Scotland End: Fort William, Scotland Distance Traveled: 0 miles Two inches of rain fell in across Scotland over the past 24 hours and several more inches were expected to fall today. Despite...
by Paty | Oct 7, 2023 | Scotland, Trail Journals, West Highland Way
Friday Oct. 6, 2023 Start: Kinlochleven (mile 81.4) End: Fort William (mile 96.8) Distance Hiked: 16.4 miles (15.4 mile on the WHW + 1 mile detour to Dun Deardail) After seeing the weather forecast for today, with 1.72 inches of rain...
by Paty | Oct 6, 2023 | Scotland, Trail Journals, West Highland Way
Thursday Oct. 5, 2023 Start: Kingshouse (mile 72.4) End: Kinlochleven (mile 81.4) Distance Hiked: 9 miles After last night’s dinner, it time for me to head to the bunkroom, where I was sharing a room with three other hikers. The...
by Paty | Oct 5, 2023 | Scotland, Trail Journals, West Highland Way
Wednesday Oct. 4, 2023 Start: Bridge of Orchy (mile 60.3) End: Kingshouse (mile 72.4) Distance Hiked: 12.1 miles Bus Ride: 7.1 miles – from Tyndrum to Bridge of Orchy My naïveté with the CityLink bus yesterday was a major wake-up call. As soon as I...
by Paty | Oct 4, 2023 | Scotland, Trail Journals, West Highland Way
Tuesday Oct. 3, 2023 Start: Tydrum (mile 53.8) End: Bridge of Orchy (mile 60.3) Distance Hiked: 7.5 miles (6.5 miles on WHW + 1.1 miles to/from my B&B) Bus Ride: 7.1 miles – from Bridge of Orchy to Tyndrum I stayed at the Glengarry House...
