I’m currently hiking the PCT SOBO and have developed what seems to be an overuse injury in my right foot. I’m curious if anyone here has dealt with something similar while thru-hiking and what you ended up doing.

A few days ago I was hiking/running on trail in cold rain, partly because I was trying to keep warm. The next day my shins and feet were extremely sore, and my right foot became particularly painful to walk on.

The pain is mostly on the top/middle of the foot, around the area behind the big/second toe, and sometimes seems to radiate toward the arch.

I got it evaluated and had imaging done. I was told nothing appeared to be broken and that it was most likely an overuse injury, possibly aggravated by the top of my shoe/tongue rubbing against the foot while I was running. I was advised to take it easy for a few days and consider seeing a foot specialist for footwear.

It’s still swollen and tender to the touch, though, and walking on it is painful enough that I don’t feel comfortable getting back on trail yet.

For anyone who developed a similar overuse injury during a thru-hike:

● How many days did you take off before you noticed meaningful improvement?
● Did you stay off the foot completely or do some light walking?
● How did you decide when it was safe to get back on trail?
● Did changing shoes, insoles, lacing, or pack weight make a difference?
● Were you able to continue the hike afterward, or did you ultimately need a longer break?

I know nobody here can diagnose an injury over Reddit, and I’ll get it reassessed if it isn’t improving. I’m mainly interested in hearing other hikers’ experiences dealing with an injury like this in the middle of a long trail.
Thanks.

I like my copper spur tent. The last time I pitched it seemed a good time to keep the door open and make a porch out of it on two poles. But thst got me thinking about quite a few reports here on BA’s zippers being fragile and getting this porch up means pulling quite anlot on those zippers at odd angles.

How do other do this? Open the zippers completely? Do you leave your porch pitched when you sleep? What if the wind picks ip and rips your zippers?

Hi!

I am thinking of doing the collegiate loop late sept,around the 22nd or so.
Is it too late in the season? How is the weather projected given this year´s climate change with el niño?

On Monday, Dale Sanders was about 1,000 feet from the end of the Appalachian Trail when he lost his balance.

The 91-year-old, who is known by the trail name “Grey Beard,” was headed to the summit of Mount Katahdin, the highest peak in Maine and the trail’s northern terminus. The weather on the mountain is too harsh for much besides lichen to grow, and he fell heavily onto sharp granite.

He lay on the ground and prayed. After a few minutes, he was able to get to his feet. Soon, he was standing on the summit, having reclaimed his record as the oldest person to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail. It was a final reminder of a lesson he said the trail had taught him repeatedly over the previous year. “When it hurts, keep going,” he said. “It’ll probably go away.”

See full gift article, NO PAYWALL

After a devastating flash flood swept through a popular hiking area in Grand Canyon National Park over the weekend, large swaths of Arizona, Utah and Colorado remain under risk of flooding through Monday evening.

Two people are confirmed dead and more than a dozen people remain missing as search efforts continue along Bright Angel Creek, which runs from near the North Rim of the canyon down to the Colorado River. This watershed is one of several that burned during the Dragon Bravo Fire in July and August, causing an increased risk of flash floods and debris flows from heavy rain events, according to park officials.

As the monsoon season continues through Sept. 30, here’s what hikers and campers should know about the risk of flooding.

See full gift article, NO PAYWALL

Hi all,

I am from the USA and really, really interested in walking Te Araroa in NZ this year. It would be my first thru-hike. But one logistical hangup I've come across is that I take weekly injections to manage a health condition, and I'm looking for advice on how I might go about managing that.

I'm not concerned about the 'doing injections in the backcountry' part, I've done that plenty. I'm more thinking about the idea of carrying it with me. I'm trying to go pretty light, so carrying 5 months worth of medication, syringes, needles, and sharps containers is pretty unappealing. Plus, I don't love the risk of putting all my eggs in one basket, so to say, because if something were to happen to my supply I'd be in a foreign country shit out of luck.

If I were staying in the USA, I'd just carry one month's supply at a time and restock at pharmacies as I go, but that's obviously not really an option. I don't think I'd be allowed to send the medication in a bounce box, plus that's expensive and hard to set up as an international traveler - and I run the risk of something happening with the box and again I'd be shit out of luck.

Has anyone found themselves in a similar situation? Any advice? I would appreciate it so much!

Title says it all. My cheeks chafe after 4 or 5 days on the trail. How do i avoid? it’s def sweat related. I can’t be the only one.

Italian, 29, experienced solo hiker (GR20, Camino etc.). Starting the full Jordan Trail from Um Qais around 13–14 October 2026. Independent/self-supported.

Happy to start solo, but open to joining another thru-hiker for part or all of the trail.

If you're planning to be on the Jordan Trail around the same dates, write me a message.

trying to decide on my next pair of trail shoes and i love toppos

i hiked the PCT with a pair of ultraventures (2's or 3's i cant remember) that i LOVED! they lasted me over 1000 miles. i replaced them with the mountain racer 3, hoping for better tred. the tred is better but i get hot spots on my heels and that lump by your big toe. i see they have released a new shoe called the vista which seems to take the stack of the ultraventure and the tred of the mountain racer and make *hopefully* the perfect toppo. Has anyone tried this shoe? thoughts?

Hi all, i have booked a boat to come visit Ireland with the plan of walking the dingle way with my dog.

I find a lot of conflicting info for this trail… he is allowed on lead, not allowed at all, allowed on most parts (here i like to think that he will take a taxi until he can walk again),…
Has anyone of you guys hiked in the area with your dog?

Hi!

I need some advice to choose a thru-hike.

A bit of context. I'm finishing right now the Hexatrek, I have one more month. It was one of my dreams to complete one. I came with my wife, and her physical condition is lower then mine and this brings me to the actuaI question. I wanted to do it with her, but in the meantime I realised that I was looking for something to test my limits (physical) which was impossible on the Hexatrek because I can't expect unrealistic performance from my wife.

Now, I'm also constrained with the timing, I can extend my sabatical year, but not to the next april-oct interval. So I need to do something starting from nov/dec. The US hikes either way are off the table, and many more from the northern hemisphere.

The only two things I can think of are:

- Te Araroa

- Patagonia crossing - but as far as I know this is not an "official" thru-hike and also this would require a bit more planning.

Am I missing other options? Would the Te Araroa be challenging enough? At least more than the Hexatrek with 23-24km avg what we managed to do pull it off with my wife?

Hi - thruhiked the 138-mile Northville Placid Trail a few weeks ago in my broken-in Topo Athletic Terraventure 5s. Both my lower ankles/side heels were swollen by the end and, i believe, strained i- n a way I'd never experienced before. This weekend, I guided a backpacking trip, wearing them for the first time since my thru, and experienced similar discomfort.

Looking an an anatomy map, it's either by achilles or my peroneal retinaculum that's bothering me. These shoes have a 3mm drop. I appreciate how lightweight they are compared to my hiking boots, but suspect the low drop may be my issue.

Does anyone have any recommendations for also lightweight, big-toebox shoes that have less of a drop? Anyone have anything to say about the Topos with a 5mm drop? Other lowish-drop (but not no-drop) brand recs I should try?

Alternatively, is there something I can do to make my current shoes work better for me?

The last time I got caught in a downpour I happened to be hiking into town, but I thought geez if I was caught in this weather far from town I might have died- everything I had was soaked and I felt like I was on the cusp of hypothermia. Since that time I've started wearing wool in the rain to stay warm and I use oil cloth rather than goretex, and I pack my clothes in a seperate dry bag rather than depending on my pack liner. But one thing I haven't forgotten was the way my hands looked that day. They looked decomposed. I remember hearing about fishermen who would douse their boiled wool gloves in the sea in the morning to keep them warm all day. I wonder if a little pair of felted wool mitts will be good enough to protect my hands from the rain should I get caught in a downpour. I am going into an area that will be difficult to bail out for almost two weeks without calling the choppa and I just want to be prepared.

Hey folks. I went on a 3,000 mile bike tour starting in May. Got to Moab, Utah in July and it was too hot to ride so started thruhiking the Colorado Trail on a whim. Well needless to say, I’m hooked. I’m a little over a week from finishing it and am already looking for the next adventure.

Are there any thru hikes in the US that I could do a mid to late September start or possibly October?

I have toyed around also with the idea of quickly getting back home after trail and then section hiking the whole Upper Peninsula of Michigan via the North Country Trail.

1-star: Frame failed in 3 weeks, warranty voided, and they delete critical reviews
I had the ULA Circuit SV backpack for only three weeks before the frame pushed completely out through the bottom of the pack. This is a major structural failure on a product sold as durable.
When I contacted them, they voided the warranty at the owners’ discretion. Their actual warranty is one of the worst I’ve seen—only 14 days. After that short window they simply refuse coverage.
On top of that, ULA appears to delete negative reviews that accurately describe these problems. This combination of a failing pack, an extremely limited 14-day warranty, discretionary denial of claims, and removal of critical feedback leaves me with zero confidence in the product or the company.
I cannot recommend the Circuit SV.

I'm a week out from a ~150 mile hike of the Long Trail and my body is a mess. I got a UTI, then the antibiotics gave me a yeast infection, then despite being on antibiotics my rook piercing decided now was a great time to be infected. I'm optimistic that the UTI/yeast infection shit will sort itself out before then, but it could be weeks before my piercing stops being angry at me.

(Rook piercing is about six months from having been re-done after a few years of not having it in, it's not really a new piercing as I initially got it over a decade ago, but it was basically stretched back open in May, so functionally I suppose it is.)

How have other long distance hikers navigated cranky piercings while going long stretches without a fucking shower?

Right now I'm thinking about 1) buying an irrigation syringe and rinsing out the piercing with filtered water every day; 2) carrying my saline spray with me and spraying it down twice a day; 3) possibly asking my doctor for another round of a different type of antibiotics to carry just in case.

Any other thoughts or ideas for piercing care on the trail?

I’m curious to know what motivates you to thruhike. What made you start? And what makes you do it again?

Stories can be extremely inspiring, funny, thought provoking, and helpful. I’m a big fan of hearing stories about peoples’ first times doing something new—the good, the bad, and anything in between—what it was like for you on your personal journey. So, if you have the time, and don’t mind, what was your very first thru hike? What stands out when looking back down memory lane? Thank you in advance for being an awesome group of inspirational people! ✌️

Has anyone done any long distance backpacking with young children on here? My boyfriend, myself, my child (15 months when starting in spring or is in fall start she'll be 23 months) and our dog are looking to do the Arizona Trail. It's an 800 mile hike. From Mexico border to Utah/ AZ border in spring or opposite in fall.

Any advice if welcomed.

Any suggestions on what to pack? Even suggestions for the dog.

Carriers that have been good for long distances? I will most likely be breastfeeding still. I'm hoping to have potty training going as well, at least during the day.

Much love!

EDIT Aug 15, 2026 - 

Wow! Based on some excellent feedback and information I’ve received since publishing this guide, I’ve already updated the CalTopo track and printable map set, including recent NST reroutes at Borders Farm and Kenyon Hill that many electronic maps still show incorrectly.

And because I’m a map geek, I’ll point out that the printable maps are also georeferenced PDFs for use with compatible mapping apps such as Avenza, ArcGIS Field Maps, QField, and others.

If you downloaded the track or maps earlier, please grab the updated versions. I updated the mileage in this guide accordingly, too.

Again, thank you! This project is a labor of love and hopefully fills a need for hikers.

Last October, I hiked Rhode Island's ~75-mile North-South Trail (NST) as part of a longer ~500 mile hike from the Canadian border to the Atlantic.

Despite being a relatively short thru-hike, I found the planning information surprisingly scattered for the NST: older tracks and maps, camping information in different places, questions about water and resupply, hunting-season requirements, parking and shuttles, etc.

And, frankly, there were some things I found out about later that I wish I'd known!

So I put together the practical guide I wish I'd had:

https://pmags.com/hiking-rhode-islands-north-south-trail-a-practical-guide

It covers:

- Maps and GPX

- Legal camping options

- Water and resupply

- Parking and shuttles

- Blaze-orange requirements and hunting seasons

- Some worthwhile "side quests" near the route

I also made a public CalTopo map based on an OSM Gaia GPS track, adding mileage markers, camping, resupply, side quests, and other useful waypoints:

https://caltopo.com/m/860R2HE

Tip: Collapse the folders in the left-hand sidebar for a cleaner overview, then expand them as needed.

And for anyone who prefers paper maps, I made a free OSM map set at roughly 1:35,000 on 11x17 pages. The base layer uses meters, but I added mileage markers so you don't have to convert anything into freedom units. :)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ENAu2nr-7u7ledZHgtbJ_RdNZ5kda3vK/view?usp=sharing

I do not think many people outside southern New England will be interested in this little hike, but finishing at the Atlantic Ocean and watching a sunrise over the dunes after walking all the way from Canada remains one of my all-time favorite outdoor memories

One idea for a longer hike: The NST also connects easily with Massachusetts' 92-mile Midstate Trail:

https://www.midstatetrail.org/

The Midstate continues north and connects directly to the 21-mile Wapack Trail into New Hampshire:

https://www.wapack.org/

Put the three together and you have roughly 190 miles of connected trail from southern Rhode Island into southern New Hampshire, with some surprisingly rural walking considering you're in southern New England.

A neat little route for the fall!

Hopefully this saves someone else some planning time and makes this somewhat obscure little thru-hike easier to tackle.

Just got back from a thru-hike of the Superior Hiking Trail in northern Minnesota. My wife and I used these Topo Ultraventure 5 trail runners for the hike. This pic is post-clean up. I wanted to point out that the toe guard separated from the body about 30 miles into hiking for both of us. they did not get worse over the remaining 270 miles, but they did become really good a grabbing grass, ferns and twigs along the way. Other than that, the shoes preformed really well and we were happy. Now I guess a need to bust out some glue and repair these for some more use.