Eastern Continental Trail Video

March 18, 2025

Hello fair folk,

It’s been two years to the day that SpiceRack, Tango, and I woke up in the bushes next to a housing development and gas station and walked the final few miles to the humongous concrete buoy that marks the southernmost point of the continental United States. Of course, it was more than just a cool spot to us. Reaching it officially ended our long walk of the Eastern Continental Trail (ECT), from Cape Gaspé in Quebec to Key West, Florida. It was Day 396 for me, having started on February 16, 2022 at Springer Mountain in Georgia, heading north on the Appalachian Trail.

Huh? What? That doesn’t make sense.

Yeah, the order of things was a little bit complicated, but we walked everything in between those termini on the Appalachian Trail, International Appalachian Trail, Benton MacKaye Trail, Pinhoti Trail, Florida Trail, and the Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Trail. About half of the 4,800-mile distance was hiked together. The other half was hiked alone, while the other lived in our van with Tango.

But let’s get to the point. We already know that I wrote a bunch about the first 147 days and then totally dropped the ball, letting go of blogging for maximum presentness before allowing life to sweep me away in its frothy flow without documenting the second half. At this point, I doubt that I’ll ever write much else, if anything, about the ECT, but I did make a video. It took years of intermittent effort, but it’s finally done. (Here are two articles, published elsewhere that you might find interesting: One on the Florida Trail and one written by a journalist/thru-hiker we (re)met in the Keys)

As I did on the PCT and CDT, I took a selfie almost at least once a day to document my beard growth. Here they are, all put together, with some other footage folded in for flavor. I think that the video turned out great, and this song will be stuck in my head for at least a month or two. It’s been a true privilege to dive back into this adventure, and I hope you all enjoy the ride at least a little bit. Thank you again for being with us. We are lucky and grateful to have you.

❤ Owen

Spice is the best!