“Trail magic.” Nothing so stirs the heart of a thruhiker. Or the stomach. (What’s the difference?) You stumble through the desert heat to get to the shade of an overpass, or you barrel down the mountainside to get to a little pass. You’re exhausted. You’re going to take off you pack and sit and lie… Read More Silver’s Guide to Tmaj
I have thruhiked the Cheryl Strayed Highway – from Mexico to Canada – three states – five national monuments, six national parks, five state parks, seven BLM field offices, twenty-five national forests, forty-eight federal wilderness areas – 4270km – hikertrash for life. Eighteen days of rain in the desert. Thirty in the PNW. Snowstorms in… Read More Tumanguya
The mountains are calling, but the rangers are checking permits. The mountains are calling, and if it turns out that there’s an autoroad to the top I am going to friggin’ scream. The mountains are calling, but this is the AT, so, “mountains.” The mountains are calling, and since this is Te Araroa, climbing them… Read More Nüümü Poyo
Six month ago, I posted a comparison of Te Araroa and the Appalachian Trail. Then I went off to Campo. Now here’s my comparison of Te Araroa and the Pacific Crest Trail. I hope it’s of use to future trampers and thru-hikers. -Silver (IG: @daxelkurtz if you want the gag reel) >OVERVIEW The Pacific Crest… Read More The PCT and the TA Compared
A lot of people have asked me what I’m (always) listening to while I’m hiking. Here are some favorites: PODCASTS: Behind the Bastards (Robert Evans) History of Rome (Mike Duncan) Revolutions (also Mike Duncan) Hardcore History (Dan Carlin) Slow Burn (Leon Neyfakh) More Perfect (Jad Abumrad) All The President’s Lawyers (Josh Barro and Ken… Read More Thru Music
Te Araroa is New Zealand’s long trail. It is 3000km (1860mi) long. It can be thru-hiked. I thru-hiked it. It was fucking wonderful. Te Araroa is a new trail. There isn’t the wealth of information available about it that there is for (say) the AT, the PCT, the Camino, or an E-path or GR. Most… Read More Silver’s Guide to Te Araroa
The following is from an email I sent to the Te Araroa Trust. The rest of the email was me saying THANK YOU. Here’s the other part. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here are a few suggestions I’ve thought of, on how to make the TA even better. But please know that the Trail is truly smashing and these… Read More Suggestions to the TA Trust
I have thru-hiked Te Araroa – from Cape Reinga to Bluff – the length of New Zealand – 3000km – 4 months – tama tu, tama ora; tama noho, tama mate kai – hikertrash for life. Longest day: 15h45 (Mt Crawford traverse in the Tararuas). Shortest day: that zero I took at Upper Wairoa Hut… Read More Bluff
I am an Appalachian Trail thru-hiker (left Springer on March 7th 2018). I am currently in Invercargill, New Zealand, a mere 30km away from completing Te Araroa (left Cape Reinga on November 14th). I’ve decided to take a few zeroes and wait for tramily to catch up so that we can finish together. So I’m… Read More The AT and the TA compared
There’s a lot of “go big or go home” thinking in wristwatches now. And I think it’s an economically rational decision. Either get something expensive and fuck-you, or wear something that costs $30 and is basically disposable. The middle-market is a study in irrelevance. You can see this by looking at TAG Heuer. As little… Read More Daxel Contra Wristwatches
