Thru-hiking. A hobby? A passion? An addiction? For us it falls somewhere on this continuum, probably towards the latter end.

Since the inception of this blog 3 years and 3 hikes ago, we have covered another 4400 miles (a stuttery start, to be generous, as evidenced by the singlular entry from the 200 mile mark of the PCT). We have reams of journal entries, hours of audio journals, and notated maps, scribbled scraps, and mish-mashed memories galore. Will they be coalesced into something pleasantly perusable someday? Maybe! I hope so. In fact, I had finally committed to a disciplined attempt this winter.

And then.

And then we had a T-bone collision with Luck at the intersection of According to Plan Ave and Transition Way. The aftermath looks like this: in less than 4 days we will be on a plane, bound for New Zealand.

Our first campsite on the way to our flight out of Texas- somewhere off the interstate in western New Mexico.

There’s a Long Pathway there called Te Araroa. It stretches something like 3000 km, or close to 2000 miles. We are headed there with a new hiking partner, and a new plan for the next 6 months.

‘Plan’ might also be generous, actually. We’ve come into the habit of prepping all of our food and postal resupply boxes, and the total itinerary (sometimes night by night) ahead of time. This trip is going to be a bit more shooting from the hip. Here’s what we have so far:

1) Land in Auckland.

2) Take a bus to Kaitaia

3) Hitchhike to the lighthouse on the northern tip of the island, where the Pacific and Indian oceans meet.

4) Walk south.

5) Eat lots of hand pies for the next 4-6 months.

Nice and simple. No places where anything could go wrong.