I had not logged into Blogger for over a year. I honestly thought that this blog would be forgotten about and that my views would fade away. Maybe I would post something, maybe not. But I'm on summer vacation so why not log in and check things out. I must admit I was shocked.
I check the stats out of habit and see that the last 12 months have been the most views that my blog has ever had. I've been blogging since 2011. 15 years. Now all of a sudden my views are higher than ever? In the past year I have over 150K views. It feels surreal.
There have been thousands of people that have read my blog. I really didn't think that would happen, yet here we are. So I just wanted to acknowledge this, and thank whoever reads this, and especially anyone that has followed my blog. And just know that this has made me happy. I've worked hard on this blog. It has been my labor of love. And to know that others seem to find this place useful and/or a nice way to kill time gives me a nice sense of purpose.
And I did it without ever selling anything or being sponsored or any of that. I never told anyone to like and subscribe, IIRC. There are still no adverts here, of course. Never had them, likely never will. Maybe Google (the owners of Blogspot) will force me one day, and all blogs. That wouldn't surprise me, the way things are going. But tell you what, if someone paid me a million bucks for a one time advert I might cave in, but I would give half of it away to like Food Not Bombs and other worthy causes. So aside from those exceptions, things will stay the same here, and I ain't selling out.
But not much has changed with me, if you're looking for an update. I still go UL wilderness backpacking, still do section hikes and overnighters and day hikes. My gear list is still mostly the same (check it out here). I've been linking that same LP for like half a decade now. Not sure how or why I would dial it in anymore. But I did replace my pack liner last year with an MLD DCF bag that is better in every way to my old one, which was also getting worn out after roughly 4 years of use.
Still not a thru-hiker because I have a family and a full time job, duh. Maybe when the kids move out I might thru-hike a longer trail, but probably not any trail in the USA. This past May I went on one of the best hikes ever, which is saying a lot coming from me I suppose. I've been passionate about the outdoors since I was a child, and started going hiking/camping/backpacking on my own when I was 16 back in 1996.
Yeah, 30 years of walking and sleeping outside on the reg. That's the thing with getting old.
Anyhow, that trip in May was wonderful. Lovely. I still think about it like ever other day since then. One of my best friends visited me from the USA. We've been good friends, more like brothers, since I was 15. He was there back when we slept out in the woods when were like 18 and a burning log from the campfire we slept next to rolled off the fire and onto my sleeping bag. My footbox caught on fire, but I was able to quickly put it out, no burns thankfully. We had a good laugh. That sleeping bag sucked anyhow.
So my brother flies over here and I take him on one of my favorite section hikes in my area for a few days. Then we caught a bus to Norway and continued our adventure there. Total I think we did 80-90km in 4 days, but one day was spent chilling in Oslo. Everything worked out great, and oh how I love my brother. It was so good to see him in person again. The picture at the top of this post is from that trip.
I guess I should keep on posting blogs and vlogs? I seem to have an audience. Keep your eyes peeled. But as always, happy trails to you all. Get out there. Be safe of course, but travel light. Peace!
