by Paty | Oct 21, 2025 | Gear, Santa Fe to Taos, Southwest US
I thru-hiked the Santa Fe to Taos (SF2T) trail in early October. This made it my first autumn hike in a very, very long time. The last one was the Uinta Highline Trail in September 2020, when a polar vortex and blizzard nearly spelled catastrophe for my physical...
by Paty | Sep 13, 2025 | France, Gear, Italy, Switzerland, Tour du Mont Blanc
I hiked the Tour du Mont Blanc (or TMB) in early September 2025, which meant I was right at the tail end of the hiking season, when temperatures were cooling off and many days were at least partially rainy. Picking my gear for this 9-day Alpine adventure was similar...
by Paty | Aug 24, 2025 | Gear, Wallowas, West Coast
One of the biggest advantages of a shorter trip in the backcountry is that it’s the perfect opportunity to try out some new gear. I leveraged my recent 42-mile backpacking trip into the Eagle Cap Wilderness to slow down a bit, hike fewer miles, and bring a few...
by Paty | Jun 1, 2025 | Camino Primitivo, Gear, Spain
I hiked the Camino Primitivo immediately after my Italian Via Francigena pilgrimage in Spring 2025. In fact, I flew directly from Rome to Oviedo and began my fifth Camino route with almost all the same gear that I used in Italy. There were a few minor changes between...
by Paty | May 4, 2025 | Gear, Italy, Via Francigena
About a year ago, I decided to experiment with my inn-to-inn packing list. I’d just finished reading Glen Van Peski’s book, Take More, Do Less, which inspired me to pare down my gear to the essentials for the Camino Portugués. My overall assessment of this...
by Paty | Mar 11, 2025 | Arizona High Points, Gear
I recently talked about desert hiking gear with Lauren Toner on the Trail Talk Highpointing podcast. We both love hiking in the Southwest, and episode 69 of the podcast was all about my hiking and highpointing adventures throughout the Grand Canyon State. One of the...
