WHERE?

America has a deep history of east to west migration - one that begins before European ancestors even set foot upon this soil. From Lewis and Clark to the Pony Express Trail, from the Mormon Trail to the Trail of Tears - over the past several centuries, this migration has solidified who we are as a people - a people driven by curiosity, adventure, manifest destiny and ultimately, freedom. We are the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. We are steeped in success and failure, pride and shame, misunderstandings and assumed truths.

I will begin my journey in the South to both accommodate changing seasons and to explore the part of the country that is most foreign to me. From the outskirts of Charleston, South Carolina, I will take advantage of the Palmetto Trail - the first of many long-distance hiking trails that are scattered about the US. I will continue on into the Southern Appalachians and link up with the Appalachian Trail for some time. Venturing up into Tennessee, I plan to purchase a canoe and take the Tennessee River down through Northern Alabama and back into Tennessee. From there I will return to the trails and back roads across the Mississippi River and on into Arkansas where I will link up with the Ozark Highlands Trail. Across Oklahoma and into Southern Colorado, I will venture towards the Colorado Trail. I will visit my home in Aspen, Colorado for a warm meal and good company before setting off for the desert. The Kokopelli Trail will take me from Grand Junction to Moab where I will undertake a second river section down the Colorado River. Across Utah and into the remote desert of Nevada. The Tahoe Rim Trail will take me to the Western States Course. I will follow this for the full 100-miles down into the Central Valley of California. The Bay Area Ridge Trail will take me from Sonoma, into Marin and finally across the Golden Gate Bridge where I will finish the approximately five-month, 4000-mile (6400km) journey across the country.