Walking 5,450 Miles Across The USA!

I am planing a walk across America through the southern states from New York City to Astoria Oregon. It will be about 5,450 miles and should take a little over a year. I will be releasing weekly videos in episode format throughout the entire walk. After the walk I will edit together a documentary from all the footage.

The hike starts March 1st, 2011!





I have a website for the walk but I dont know the rules for link dropping here so if you want the link just ask for it.

Are you going to be in the hot humid south in summer? I am not fond of humid heat (we in the west are really wimps about humid heat). I think I would have headed north! Good Luck! Have a great time.

Had you thought about the American Discovery Trail instead?

I can't say that I would relish walking that far on roads, regardless of the weather. But, as we all know from watching Forrest Gump, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. I won't be following your progress, but good luck and I hope you get out of it what you hope to get out of it.

i dont want this to be taken the wrong way but the purpose of walking from one destination to another is kind of lost on me. People do these walks to find something in themselves.... shouldnt they just do them to the point where they've found what theyre looking for?

Having a destination as a goal makes it easier to explain to others (and oftentimes to oneself) what you are doing. It helps with planning, too. But, I think you are right about the inner goal being the important one, and it can be achieved without reference to the outer goal.

That's awesome! Are you doing it for a cause? Maybe you'll get on CNN or something like that.

8 just started the planning phase of a very similar trip for myself. My end point is Berkley CA however on paper at least. I don't plan on keeping any sort of real schedule so whatever happens happens.

I've had a very difficult time finding any gear reviews for gear going on very very very long trips like this. So I will certainly be following your progress. If you could include some sort of gear list/review that would be awesome. youguysarestupid doesn't have any sort of list and imjustwalking used a push cart which is cheating IMHO.

I'm really interested in tent durability, I'm thinking of getting a Kelty Gunnison 2.1.

So have fun on

Some more conventional long distance hikers have used their gear on multiple trips and so can probably give a good idea about gear durability, but after two such myself my sense is that for the most part durability is less of an issue than you might think. Stuff will happen to gear, but more typically not durability type of "failures", something else has happened along the way to tear up or otherwise damage/compromise gear.

For example, my tarptent contrail was carried on most of two thru-hikes, and is still doing fine, and it's not something selected for durability.

My Gossamer Gear Mariposa Plus packs did indeed seem to me to be good for no more than about one standard thru-hike each, i.e., 2000 - 3000 miles, whereas my hiking partner for much of the AT this year replaced his ULA Catalyst (with a ULA Circuit) after he had 5000 miles on the Catalyst, and it was still entirely functional when he replaced it. Not primarily designed as a super "durable" pack, I think that the ULAs are nevertheless noticeably more durable than the more extreme ultralight options.

Recognize also that you might be swapping out some of your gear along the way, so you won't necessarily be carrying every item for all of any given many-thousand mile trip.

Those are some awesome points Brian, much appreciated. It most certainly puts a whole new perspective on shopping out gear.