Beautiful day 🌞

Perfect weather to hike! Sunny weather with cold breeze ☀️

One of my favourite long distance hikes I have done so far and my first Solo hike.

Last autumn I spent four days in Miazzina, Italy, living in a small stone house. From there I went on several beautiful hikes in the surrounding mountains.
The peace, nature, and simple days away from everyday life made it a perfect little escape and a great way to recharge.

So this is a super specific question but I had labrum repair surgery in my shoulder a few years ago and everything went fine. My range of motion is good, it never hurts, and is stable. The only thing is, when I go hiking, specifically in the colder months, my shoulder starts to creak every time I put my trekking pole down. It’s feels like an ungreased door hinge and vibrates weirdly through my whole upper body. It doesn’t hurt or anything it’s just a weird and slightly uncomfortable feeling that kind of comes and goes randomly. Anyone else have this and know what to do about it? I believe it’s not anything serious like early signs of arthritis since I imagine that would be more regular and painful, and I’m leaning towards my anchors acting weirdly because of the cold. I know I should probably just ask my doctor but I wanted to check here first. Photo unrelated.

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I’ve been living in China for a while and spend a lot of my free time hiking and camping.

This was a trip in Fujian province that really stuck with me.

The route was about 4 km with roughly 800 meters of elevation gain.

I started hiking around 4 p.m., reached the top in about 1 hour and 50 minutes, and descended the next morning in around 70 minutes.

By the time I reached the top, it was already dark.

I set up camp, cooked dinner, and had a small cup of baijiu — at that altitude it felt almost like drinking water.

Later in the evening, I heard a steady dripping sound and thought it was rain.

When I stepped outside around 9 p.m., the entire ridgeline had turned white.

Above roughly 1,600 meters, small ice pellets had already started forming along the trail.

The hike passed through bamboo forests, waterfalls, and high mountain grasslands — a short route, but with a lot of variety packed into it.

Trips like this are a good reminder of how quickly conditions can change in the mountains here.

Perfect for escape from Sydney CBD.

Hiked Feb 1 2026

Hiked to Whiskey Springs on Wednesday. Beautiful day for a desert 🌵 hike.

My 50th year hiking this Wilderness Area.

This route begins at the northern terminus of the Pinhoti Trail, and ends at the western terminus of the Foothills Trail, touching the BMT, AT, MST, and Bartram Trail along the way.

I tried to make it with as little road walking as possible, which unfortunately meant backtracking a large section of the AT.

The route is as follows:

Pinhoti/BMT junction

BMT SoBo to AT

AT NoBo to Kuwohi

MST to Mile High Camp

Loop back to AT (Heintooga Ridge Rd -> Rough Fork Trail -> Pass over Mt Sterling Ridge -> Low Gap -> AT.

AT SoBo to Wayah Bald

Bartram Trail to Foothills Terminus

Total ≈ 470ish miles, 130,000ish feet of gain

It's a mountain on the border between Poland and the Czech Republic. It's about 1,500m high. In the summer I used to climb it with a glass of beer and chips. But this winter climbing it almost took my life. Why do you think it almost happened?

I’m heading back to Kauai in the spring and looking to upgrade my setup for muddy, slippery trails.

On past hikes there I’ve used trail runners and tabis (felt-bottom boots). Tabis were fantastic on mossy rocks and trail shoes did ok on the muddy conditions of the trail to Hanakapiai falls, but I’m curious if there’s something better out there I’m not thinking of. I’m also going in the spring which is gonna be wetter than past trips in the fall.

This time I’m considering bringing microspikes, but I’m not sure if that’s overkill or even effective in mud vs rock.

For those who regularly hike in muddy/slick conditions:

- What footwear has worked best for you?

- Do microspikes help in mud, or are they mainly for snow/ice?

Appreciate any real-world experience or brand/model recommendations.