Heading back out on the American Discovery Trail in late June

[Dave]

I started walking the American Discovery Trail back in 2019. My plan was to walk the southern option between Cincinnati, Ohio and Denver, Colorado that fall, and then to fly to Delaware in February 2020 and make the full coast-to-coast walk, including the northern option between Ohio and Denver.

The first leg went great. It's harder walking in the US than in Europe--the downgrade from espresso in cafés to gas station coffee is (literally) a bitter one--but everything went generally according to plan.

The second leg started out equally well. I was blessed with great weather in that February/March chunk, especially when following the C&O through Maryland and then for the climb into West Virginia. And then... COVID happened. The walk abruptly ended in western West Virginia. I returned for short stints later on, to make it as far as Cincinnati. That allowed me to at least know that I had walked from the Atlantic Ocean to the Rockies, but it was also far from being finished.

Well, I'm finally getting back to it. On June 28, I'll fly from Portland back to Cincinnati. My plan is to follow the American Discovery Trail as far as western Nebraska, and then I'm going to shift over to the historic Oregon Trail and follow that home.

That leads me kind of through these places (among many others):

• Ohio: Cincinnati (sort of), Oxford
• Indiana: Richmond, Muncie, Peru, Rochester
• Illinois: south of Chicago, Joliet, Seneca, Ottawa
• Iowa: Davenport, Cedar Rapids, Cedar Falls, Des Moines, Atlantic
• Nebraska: Omaha, Lincoln, Stromsburg, Aurora, Kearney, North Platte, Gering
• Wyoming: Fort Laramie, Douglas, Casper, Jeffrey City, Atlantic City, Kemmerer
• Idaho: Cokeville, Soda Springs, Pocatello, Twin Falls, Boise
• Oregon: Ontario, La Grande, Pendleton, The Dalles, Hood River

I'll be posting a ton from the road, and probably some beforehand. Here are some of my earlier posts in the forum about this:

• Introductory overview of the ADT
• Through Delaware and Eastern Maryland
• Through Western Maryland
• Across West Virginia
• Through Ohio

I'll go back sometime and do similar write-ups for my previous walk through Southern Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, and Eastern Colorado, but most of those posts from the road are also on my site.

Anyway, I'm excited to get back on the road. Happy to connect with American pilgrims anywhere along the route if we overlap!

 

[Jarrad]

That sounds amazing! Any chance you'll have a podcast episode or three or four?

 

[Dave]

That sounds amazing! Any chance you'll have a podcast episode or three or four?

I started doing a separate podcast for this, back in the before-times. Got six episodes out and will definitely return to it, though I don't know if that will happen before departure in June:

https://soundcloud.com/seatoshiningsea

I'll definitely have more Camino Podcast episodes, though, including a Camino Primitivo series. Will start rolling that out this week, I hope.

 

[billandjothorne]

Are your podcasts available on Spotify. We are starting the Primitivo next week

 

[ChrisAP]

I started walking the American Discovery Trail back in 2019. My plan was to walk the southern option between Cincinnati, Ohio and Denver, Colorado that fall, and then to fly to Delaware in February 2020 and make the full coast-to-coast walk, including the northern option between Ohio and Denver.

The first leg went great. It's harder walking in the US than in Europe--the downgrade from espresso in cafés to gas station coffee is (literally) a bitter one--but everything went generally according to plan.

The second leg started out equally well. I was blessed with great weather in that February/March chunk, especially when following the C&O through Maryland and then for the climb into West Virginia. And then... COVID happened. The walk abruptly ended in western West Virginia. I returned for short stints later on, to make it as far as Cincinnati. That allowed me to at least know that I had walked from the Atlantic Ocean to the Rockies, but it was also far from being finished.

Well, I'm finally getting back to it. On June 28, I'll fly from Portland back to Cincinnati. My plan is to follow the American Discovery Trail as far as western Nebraska, and then I'm going to shift over to the historic Oregon Trail and follow that home.

That leads me kind of through these places (among many others):

• Ohio: Cincinnati (sort of), Oxford
• Indiana: Richmond, Muncie, Peru, Rochester
• Illinois: south of Chicago, Joliet, Seneca, Ottawa
• Iowa: Davenport, Cedar Rapids, Cedar Falls, Des Moines, Atlantic
• Nebraska: Omaha, Lincoln, Stromsburg, Aurora, Kearney, North Platte, Gering
• Wyoming: Fort Laramie, Douglas, Casper, Jeffrey City, Atlantic City, Kemmerer
• Idaho: Cokeville, Soda Springs, Pocatello, Twin Falls, Boise
• Oregon: Ontario, La Grande, Pendleton, The Dalles, Hood River

I'll be posting a ton from the road, and probably some beforehand. Here are some of my earlier posts in the forum about this:

• Introductory overview of the ADT
• Through Delaware and Eastern Maryland
• Through Western Maryland
• Across West Virginia
• Through Ohio

I'll go back sometime and do similar write-ups for my previous walk through Southern Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, and Eastern Colorado, but most of those posts from the road are also on my site.

Anyway, I'm excited to get back on the road. Happy to connect with American pilgrims anywhere along the route if we overlap!

Check out the John Deere Pavilion in Moline IL prior to crossing the Mississippi River. Will you cross the river at the Moline I-74 bridge or the Rock Island Government bridge? And please let us know when you anticipate getting to Laramie WY, we’ll plan a Colorado Front Range Chapter roadtrip up to Laramie to see you…if possible! Safe travels. I’ll share your post site!

 

[JFG]

I started walking the American Discovery Trail back in 2019. My plan was to walk the southern option between Cincinnati, Ohio and Denver, Colorado that fall, and then to fly to Delaware in February 2020 and make the full coast-to-coast walk, including the northern option between Ohio and Denver.

The first leg went great. It's harder walking in the US than in Europe--the downgrade from espresso in cafés to gas station coffee is (literally) a bitter one--but everything went generally according to plan.

The second leg started out equally well. I was blessed with great weather in that February/March chunk, especially when following the C&O through Maryland and then for the climb into West Virginia. And then... COVID happened. The walk abruptly ended in western West Virginia. I returned for short stints later on, to make it as far as Cincinnati. That allowed me to at least know that I had walked from the Atlantic Ocean to the Rockies, but it was also far from being finished.

Well, I'm finally getting back to it. On June 28, I'll fly from Portland back to Cincinnati. My plan is to follow the American Discovery Trail as far as western Nebraska, and then I'm going to shift over to the historic Oregon Trail and follow that home.

That leads me kind of through these places (among many others):

• Ohio: Cincinnati (sort of), Oxford
• Indiana: Richmond, Muncie, Peru, Rochester
• Illinois: south of Chicago, Joliet, Seneca, Ottawa
• Iowa: Davenport, Cedar Rapids, Cedar Falls, Des Moines, Atlantic
• Nebraska: Omaha, Lincoln, Stromsburg, Aurora, Kearney, North Platte, Gering
• Wyoming: Fort Laramie, Douglas, Casper, Jeffrey City, Atlantic City, Kemmerer
• Idaho: Cokeville, Soda Springs, Pocatello, Twin Falls, Boise
• Oregon: Ontario, La Grande, Pendleton, The Dalles, Hood River

I'll be posting a ton from the road, and probably some beforehand. Here are some of my earlier posts in the forum about this:

• Introductory overview of the ADT
• Through Delaware and Eastern Maryland
• Through Western Maryland
• Across West Virginia
• Through Ohio

I'll go back sometime and do similar write-ups for my previous walk through Southern Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, and Eastern Colorado, but most of those posts from the road are also on my site.

Anyway, I'm excited to get back on the road. Happy to connect with American pilgrims anywhere along the route if we overlap!

Thanks for this information. I have wondered about the trail and will read your posts about it. If you need a place to stay in Cedar Rapids, I may have a spot for you (if we're not gone hiking!)

 

[Dave]

@billandjothorne - Yep, it's on Spotify and Apple, among others. No chance I'll finish the series in time for you, but I hope that the first two episodes might be useful!

@ChrisAP - Thanks for the tip! I definitely would have missed the pavilion. Laramie is way north of where I'll be crossing Wyoming unfortunately.