Author: Chris

Until 2019, I served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Namibia focused on Community Economic Development. Before that, I was a high-tech executive, small business owner, consultant and business broker.

Italy 2023 – Via di Francesco: Days 1-2

La Via di Francesco (The Way of Saint Francis)

The Via Degli Dei we just traveled is a relatively new recreational trail. In contrast, the Via di Francesco is a pilgrimage route that commemorates the life and inspiration of Saint Francis of Assisi and is built in two main segments. We plan to walk the northern path from the Sanctuary of La Verna to the beautiful hilltop town of Assisi over the next eight days. The southern way lies between Assisi and Rome. Both trails are typically walked from north to south, but there is signage for anyone wishing to do the trip in reverse. Some pilgrims walk just one or the other segment, with a few combining them into a longer trip.

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Italy 2023 – A rest day in Florence and a travel day in Tuscany

Rest days are always challenging when on long through hikes. You’re often in unique places that call out loudly for attention. Florence is no different. We did our best to stay off our feet, recovering from the Via Degli Dei, but still managed to get out and explore a few of the famous sites of this magical city. Here are some pics and videos from the day, plus a few from our travel day to the start of our next journey on the Via di Francesco.

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Italy 2023 – Via Degli Dei: Days 5-6

With only two completed days out of four on the Via Degli Dei, we were excited to get our legs beneath us this morning. From now on, I vowed to use only the main AllTrails routes and to stop trying to second-guess the connections from the Via to our lodgings and vice versa.

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Italy 2023 – Via Degli Dei: Days 3-4

Bypassing the long trail yesterday for an unscheduled rest day wasn’t in our original plan, so we were extra motivated to get out and hike this morning. Our B&B host kindly prepared our breakfast at 5 am, allowing us to get onto the trail early. We hoped this would help us beat the worst of today’s forecasted heat.

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Italy 2023 – Via Degli Dei: Days 0-2

When walking the “French Way” of the Camino de Santiago last year, I learned about many other multi-day, inn-to-inn, through hikes in their countries from pilgrims I met. (I have built a database of these hikes that I will happily share with anyone interested – just let me know!)

Two such routes in central Italy seemed a good introduction for Joanie to this type of trekking. She is still working hard in her career and limited in her available time off, so the 6-day Via Degli Dei and the nearby 8-day Via di Francesco seemed ideal for this trip.

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Namibia 2023 – A brief visit to my second home

Between my trekking holidays in Utah and Italy, I returned to Namibia to take training hikes out in the bush and catch up with friends and former colleagues.

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Utah 2023 – Calf Creek Falls and the Valley of Fire

In our final days, we found a couple of shorter but no less spectacular hikes to wind up our trekking holiday. The first was near the town of Escalante (a target for future holidays, to be sure!), and the second was across the border to Nevada on our drive to the airport in Las Vegas. As much as we had seen on this trip, we agreed that we had just tapped the surface of what Utah offers anyone who loves being immersed in raw nature.

We look forward to visiting again!

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Utah 2023 – Bryce Canyon National Park

To reach our last resting stop in Utah, we drove across the state through Canyonlands and Capitol Reef to Bryce Canyon, three of the spectacular national parks in the state. It was a long day in the car over scenic Utah State Route 12 (which gives car drivers the same nervous ridgetop thrills as The Portal Trail gives mountain mountain bikers in Moab!). The steady climb to higher elevations brought overcast skies, lower temperatures, and fallen snow as we hiked the Peekaboo Loop Trail from Sunrise Point to Bryce Point. Words cannot describe the beauty around us, so I will let the photos speak for themselves.

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Utah 2023 – Around Moab

In past visits to Moab, I always focused my attention on Arches National Park. Having a few more days on this trip to explore and wanting to avoid the large crowds, we found some nearby gems: a treacherous cliffside trail from The Portal offering fantastic views of the town over the Colorado River and a path further down the river that some local folk recommended to us with arches worthy of Arches!

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Utah 2023 – Arches National Park

Our trekking holiday in Utah combined new areas for me to explore and a return to some old favorites. Imagining any place more special than Arches National Park is challenging in the latter category. While Monument Valley elicited many memories from my youth, Arches marks a milestone in my adult life due to a friend’s book recommendation in 1992, before my first visit: Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey. Abbey’s autobiographical description of two seasons as a park ranger in Arches sits prominently amongst the books that have changed my life. Anyone visiting the American Southwest or interested in humanity’s role in preserving the natural environment would be well served by reading this.

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