The Adventures of Kaitlin and Zach

We finished the GR 11 on the 24th. What a great trip. We spent the last few days on the Mediterranean relaxing. Then we took a roundabout route home, where we took three trains, picked up a truck for our landlords, and drove back to Aime, stopping along the way for some amazing food, wine, and nights in small villages. All in all a great time! Here is the GR 11 by the numbers: 834 Km long 24.25 total days on trail (counting a quarter day for that first casual 8km without packs and including our two zero-mile days) 187 hours of hiking 48,554 meters climbed and descended 2 nights in refuges, 4 nights in hotels, 1 night in a hostel, and the rest in the tent 8 showers and many cold creek rinses The trail was extremely beautiful. The water was almost always perfectly clear. The mountains and landscapes were amazing. The buildings and cute little towns were so fun to see. We hiked past countless castles, ancient towns and old ruins. So much history here in Europe.  Being my first real th...

We’ve spent the past ten days or so in the high Pyrenees and to say it has been stunning is an understatement. Along with the beauty comes very technical, steep and rocky terrain. I love the high alpine environment and have very much been enjoying this section. Early days in the high Pyrénées We’ve continued to meet more thru hikers than expected which has been nice. The GR11 crosses the Pyrenean High Route often and we have met many other hikers tackling this route as well. We continue to pass through some sort of town every couple days, more often than I am used to on trail, so we’re finding it a little difficult to get into a rhythm with our resupplies. While it makes it easy to have plentiful access to food, sometimes I think I prefer having more time in the woods and fewer people and towns. Yesterday we crossed into Andorra. It was a quick diversion to the highest peak in Andorra (Comapedrosa), so...

The high Pyrénées are great! I do love being in big beautiful mountains. We are making good progress on the trail averaging around 38km each day.  One of the many beautiful passes The National Parks and Natural Parks of Spain are a bit difficult for thru-hiking. There is no tenting allowed except at Rifugios. And all the Rifugios are booked weeks or months out. As a result we are crossing them in a day so we can tent on either side. It's gorgeous but exhausting to do 50km with 10,000ft of climbing (as we have done twice now).  Perhaps hard to see, but there are fields of wild iris's. 5km of continuously walking through them. Amazing camping locations Trail life is nice and simple: walk, eat, drink and sleep. The only real concerns are where is the next water source, where can we get more food and where will we sleep. It's quite nice.   I'm having some challenges with my shin. Not sure if shin splints or perhaps some tendonitis... H...

I’m very happy to be traveling by foot again, it’s been a long time since I’ve thru hiked. We are thru hiking the GR11, roughly 800km across northern Spain. The first few days have been foggy, humid and rainy as we traveled through the Basque region. This area is characterized by lush forests and rolling farmlands. The trail is well marked by white and red blazes, making navigation very straight forward so far. Typical Basque countryside  A trail marker in the Basque region  Typical fog in Basque region We’ve come across a village every day or two so we’ve been carrying two or three days worth of food which makes for even lighter packs which is nice. Siesta here is very much observed (and very long, usually 1pm-5pm), so often times we come to towns and find that stores/restaurants are closed. We’re cold soaking meals for the first time and it’s working surprisingly well. We’ve been hiking with fellow American thru hiker Coup, wh...

BAF Day 8 : Peyrehorade -> Bayonne  35km no climbing Today was the final day in the saddle. After 200km yesterday my sitbones are thanking me. We rolled into town by 10am with lots of chores to accomplish.  First task was to find two bike boxes and all the packing materials needed. Once accomplished, we had until 3pm to check in to the apartment so we went to a city park and set up our own little area. We washed and worked on bikes for hours while taking turns running errands and getting food and supplies. The bikes had gotten pretty grimey after 1000km in the past week and needed the love. They are now mostly packed up with our clothing to be shipped home on Monday.  Walking bikes in the park looking for a place to set up shop.  Day 9 : Rest Day My whole body says "YAY!" Laundry in the morning. Then eating good food and grocery shopping for our hike. Overall a combo of super busy with small tasks and chill as we sat around the hotel. Got the bikes 100% packed up ...