USA 2012

In 2012 I started my first bigger trip. And what better place to start than the land of the free. Aaaah well…
March first I flew over from Frankfurt to Miami and stayed in Miami Beach for a couple of days, mostly managing what I’d do next and how to get there. I was not having the best welcome considering I got spat on by a lady in the middle of the day at a crowded bus stop, while she was peeing through the steel seats mind you. That was something else!!

My plan was to go up the east coast any way possible and spent most of my time on the West Coast. Initially I thought about hiking out of Miami, but young me didn’t recognise the vast city landscape of Miami hence I took the greyhound to Ocala in the middle of the night to get to the Florida Trail and make my way up north. After only a couple of days I came across a nice couple who offered to take me close to the Appalachian Trail with some stops inbetween. I decided to take them up on their offer and so I spent 4 months on the East Coast hiking up north.
Meeting similar minded people I was lucky to have had the chance to visit Philadelphia, Washington, New York, New Haven, Boston and all the crazy towns in the South of the US inbetween.
Shorty after July 4th in New York I flew over to Portland where I had some acquaintances.

They brought me to the coast and all I had to do was walk, trek and hike down to San Francisco on the lovely Oregon and California Coast Trail. Safe to say “I had a blast”. The Pacific, Redwoods and the beaches and often times nice places to pitch a tent. It could get pretty lonely along the misty Oregon coast but the sound of the waves crushing down to my right and the calmness of the dunes to my left and me in the middle with my bagpack. That feeling is still with me today.
East and West together I probably hiked around 4200 km.
I could go into details but then this would go on forever. There were some bizarre people I came across and sketchy situations I had to maneuver.
The swamp in Florida, some guys in Tennessee who were looking to beat up Yankees, a rattlesnake in Virgina and not to mention a dude who wanted to rob me in northern California near Arcata grazing me with a knife on my arm while trying to do so… As I said I could go on but so far so good.
I hope you enjoy the trip. I know it’s a lot.

A lot is also my 3,5 months 3000km track on the E4 through Europe.

Enjoy the hike!