The Route
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June: Across the Brooklyn Bridge and along the Hudson River to the George Washington Bridge into New Jersey, then 100 miles west to link up with the Appalachian Trail in Pennsylvania
June - July: The AT for 260 miles southwest, into Maryland, til it links up with the American Discovery Trail, the only trail which runs east to west across the entire country
July - August: The ADT for 850 miles west to the Indiana border
August: 116 miles of Indiana country roads to reach the home of my dear friends' Sarah and Alex (and their new baby Frankie!) in Indianapolis
September: 300 miles of backroads across Indiana and southern Illinois to link back up with the ADT in St. Louis, Missouri
October - December: Back on the ADT for 990 miles, bisecting Missouri and Kansas—with a pitstop in Kansas City to see birth and chosen family—then a bit of southern Colorado before heading south
December -January: 268 miles walking away from the Rockies into New Mexican high desert, through Taos and into Santa Fe, mostly on empty two-lane roads
January - March: 967 miles through reservations in New Mexico and Arizona, dropping down to Phoenix to avoid freezing at high altitudes, slinking between Joshua Tree and the Mojave, and approaching Santa Barbara from the pass between Los Padres and the Angeles National Forests