Between 1387 and 1400 Geoffrey Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales. The Pilgrims’ Way route traces the path that pilgrims, such as Chaucer’s fictional characters, historically took toward the Canterbury Cathedral to view the shrine of St. Thomas Becket. We crafted a 100-mile route from London, including a spur to the historic town of Rochester.
During the past few years our travels have evolved into alternating between wilderness backpacking treks and long distance hikes between villages and towns. While they may seem like totally different trips, they require similar planning and preparation.
We are always on the lookout for unique and lesser-known European treks. This year we plan to trek the Via Francigena route in England, Switzerland, and Italy, totaling 800 miles. The trail corresponds to the route of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who walked to St. Peter’s Basilica around 990 AD.
Since 2019 we have been working our way south on the 800-mile Arizona Trail, completing additional section hikes in 2020, 2021, and 2023. This year we decided to tackle a gap in our completed sections, starting in the Four Peaks Wilderness.
Now that we have completed the entire 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), we decided to summarize our trekking journey by creating two different videos.
Upon reaching the Canadian border, we had completed 98.4% of the 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail, with only 42.7 miles to go. However, we still felt a nagging urge to walk every mile. It was what we had intended when we first began our thru hiking attempt in 2016.
In July 2023 we began trekking our last major portion of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT): a 197-mile section in Northern Washington. We trekked through several wilderness areas and North Cascades National Park. When we reached the Canadian Border, it was the culmination of over 2,600 miles of hiking.
Prior to this trek, we had spent 164 days hiking the PCT. We made many memories as we trekked 2,419 miles in the desert, over mountain passes, and through beautiful forests. As we continued to hike toward the Canadian border, we couldn’t help but reminisce about our trail adventures.
This year, with just 231 miles left to complete the PCT, we planned to finally reach the Canadian border. Even though our focus was on our final destination, it would be the day-to-day journey that would make or break our trek.
On April 26, 2023 we set off from San Diego, California on a walking journey to the Alta California Spanish Missions. This video provides a visual summary of our 800-mile California Missions Trail trek. During 57 hiking stages we walked from San Diego to Sonoma, visiting all 21 missions in the process.
After 52 stages of trekking, we had just five more days to hike on the 800-mile California Missions Trail. We usually look forward to the end of a trek with relief that the physical effort of hiking is over. In this case we felt something different as we left San Francisco to head north.
When we planned our California Missions trek, we discussed how far we should hike on the 800-mile trail. We debated trekking just as far north as Santa Barbara or San Luis Obispo. But when I mentioned that the route crossed over the Golden Gate Bridge, Darren was sold on completing the entire trail.
