Time to Get Serious
After Hot Springs I moved on totally by myself, learned how to tent in the woods fare away from others, and how to hang food. It was time to get serious.
Here I Go
Curiousness, excitement, courage, and anticipation fuel every traveler’s path forward, alongside challenging life-shaping choices. Lessons to learn – ways to go.
Tennessee Salmon
A lot of food from Tennessee club, bold hills, very noisy (bad noise, not fun) hikers hostel in Hot Springs, that helped me to make a choice: you need to stop hanging with crowds too much otherwise you would never see Katahdin.
Standing Bear
Tennessee North Carolina state line, sun in Smokies, the wreckage of an aircraft, and the Standing Bear hostel at the end of Smokies with a lot of “old” and “new” hikers there.
Ghost in Smokies
Rain, twilights, muddy woods, Smokies. A lonely silhouette, moving slowly the same directions like me, no raincoat, no backpack. Just white angels wings on the back of his black hoody. Who it could be? Ghost, who else.
Great Smokies Sliding
More rain, less fun, just mud, and beautiful muddy mountains, that I slide from on my bum. I am glad I saw Smokies on their best: smoke itself, rain, mud. And blossom!
Nantahala Gathering
More rain. More hikers in Nantahala Outdoor Center. More fun. More food.
Trash Days
Reading carefully how to deal with black bears, cooking stove, experiencing the last slightly below freezing temperature. A hikers hostel sent a bus to fetch us out of the woods during a bad forecast.
Watching NoBos
Learning more about NoBo hikers (Northbound), Trail Angels, and hikers hostels. Watching what others eat, how they sleep, what they’re wearing, and what they are caring.
Flood in Woody Gap
Woody Gap. Drying from the first storm at the trail angel’s house. My passport and other documents were wet as well, and, to save time, I asked the old lady to dry them with a hair drier, while I was bathing.
Trail Magic Kick
#SpringerMountain. First two days and two nights on #AppalachianTrail. First storm. These first two days that did not let me turn around straight from Springer Mountain in Georgia.
Camp NASA
I flew from South Africa to hike the #AppalachianTrail. What I knew about it? That as a trail runner I was able to do these 2000 miles anyway. I supposed to walk with a project of US militaries, so no need to care about supplying/resupplying. They would show me the way to hm… Katarin? Karazin? Ah, does it matter?
The Whole Nine Yards of the Appalachian Trail
In 2014 I hiked the Appalachian Trail, unexpectable and unpredictable way. I wasn’t ready, I didn’t know about AT, I didn’t know how to deal with woods and wilderness and I was not a backpacker at all. So I’ve got whole nine yards of it.
South African Road Trip
2014, Johannesburg, Kalahari, Cape-Town, Port Elizabeth, Durban, Groskop, Pretoria.
Running & Winning Story
It’s possible to turn yourself into a runner in one month and into a winner in the second one. Run to win and share podium, no matter age.
IRON AFRICA Photo Exhibition
Against everyone’s expectations, in South Africa, I didn’t take a single photo of Kruger Park. The best a wildlife I could photograph with my temper could be animals’ bums running toward the horizon. Instead, I shot industrial landscapes and called it IRON AFRICA. Alliance France organized an exhibition of my photo series.
