2026: The sun rises in an epic year

I’m already back. If you’ve been following my blog, you probably received an email letting you know that a new post is available. Thanks for reading! I hope I find my voice faster this time and that you find it enjoyable. If you are new to my blog, please note that I am a little sarcastic at times, I can get moody while on the road, and I often find humor in dark places. Some of you may be inclined to leave a comment, let me know what you’re interested in and I’ll try to accommodate you.

We have big plans for 2026 and over the next few months I plan to share how those plans are developing. The hike at the top of our list will require a lot more planning and logistics than ever before. It will also require navigating some details we’ve never dealt with before. I plan to share those details with two things in mind. The first thing is to provide information to future hikers so that they have an easier time. Second, you’ll hopefully get feedback from people who are more familiar with the process. Keep reading and you will understand.

As soon as we got home from our 2025 JMT hike (and cross country adventure 2), we started planning our 2026 long distance hike. I wouldn’t consider the JMT to be a long distance hike, so we wanted to do something a little longer. Some more.

By the end of the summer, Meriwether was optimistic about returning to work. She was sure this would be a great year in the classroom and was worried that the hikes I was suggesting would take more than a couple of months. He got really excited about one of the hikes and then started backing off when he realized it would take him four to five months to complete.

Since then, classroom behavior and administrative apathy have changed his thinking. He began by saying, “the longer the better,” “we can decide to just stay on track,” and “there are plenty of opportunities south of the border that could keep us busy all year.” Looks like we’ll be covering over 1000 miles this summer!

Appalachian Trail, SOBO, something like that

We will definitely hike the Appalachian Trail again. In fact, hiking the Appalachian Trail in 2026 is our backup plan. A SOBO walk would allow us to leave at the end of the school year. However, I don’t like the idea of ​​climbing Katahdin on the first day. To solve this problem, I propose that we start at Shaw’s Lodge In Monson, ME, hike NOBO through a hundred miles of wilderness and reach the top of Katahdin with over 100 miles under our legs. Then I want to head back across the hundred mile desert to Shaw’s on our SOBO trip.

There are many very good reasons to do this hike in 2026. No permits, no difficult travel logistics, we know and love the AT. There are also some really good reasons not to raise the AT again in 2026, namely the PCT, CDT, BMT, AZT, CT, LT and many others. There are so many trails we haven’t done yet and time is ticking.

Long road, YoYo

At 270 miles, the long road It is not, in my opinion, what we have in mind for a long distance hike. If we do a YoYo, the LT starts to get closer. The northern terminus of the LT is in the middle of nowhere. Trying to get out of this remote location makes an LT YoYo a reasonable option. Park at Stop and Shop between North Adams and Williamstown. Walk the AT a short distance to the south end of the LT. And settle for several weeks in the forest.

That’s Vermont. I’m pretty sure the yellow line is the LT. I haven’t gotten a tattoo yet, let me know if I’m wrong.

During our AT hike, several Vermont landmarks were closed. Namely, the Yellow Deli and the Long Trail Inn. These two places are so close to each other that visiting both would really disrupt the flow of our hike. Another reason why a YoYo walk makes sense. Go to the Yellow Deli on the way north and the Long Trail Inn on the way back south.

We have been informed that fall is the best time to hike the LT. No rain, no black flies, beautiful fall colors. To get to the LT in the fall, we may have to leave our car at Kroger in Daleville, VA on June 1 and walk north on the AT from there. That may not be far enough south. It sounds like there are some logistics we need to work through for this to actually meet our 2026 goals.

Number one, Hexatrek

what is the Hexatrek And why did Pot Luck put some funny words in that title?

The Hexatrek wasn’t really on my radar when we returned from JMT. All of our discussions revolved around the OT and LT. One Saturday morning I found a list I keep of trails that might be interesting and the Hexatrek was on that list. I had no idea what the Hexatrek was or how it ended up on my list, so I did some research.

In case you don’t know as much as I do about the Hexatrek, it’s a 3000km trail in France. It winds along the border with Spain from the Atlantic Ocean, through the Pyrenees and the Alps, and ends at the German border in northern France. We have watched literally EVERY YouTube video about this trail. There aren’t many.

It was when I took the Hexatrek to Meriwether that she realized we wouldn’t finish in time for her to return for the 2026-2027 school year. At first she was upset. After only a couple of weeks of school, this adventure became the carrot needed to get through the current year. Come on!

Over the next few months I will share our planning activities and what we learn along the way. One of the biggest questions we have is the origin of Schengen and how do we get a visa for that area? Visas are not required for US citizens traveling to France if the visit is less than 90 days. I don’t think we’ll be able to enjoy the Hexatrek if we try to complete it so quickly, so we’ll need a visa. The second big question we have is truly a First World problem. What should we do to have a telephone service (smartphone service) at a reasonable cost for 4-5 months in France?

Thank you for coming this far with me. I hope you find the planning stage interesting enough to hold you over until the actual backpacking stage.

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