Matthew Kok is a writer, a thru-hiker, and a traveler. They have over 4,000 miles on their feet and are always looking for new ways to connect with the earth. They write regularly for The Trek and Garage Grown Gear. You can find them on Instagram at @matt.kok
Picture this: You wake up in a tent. The air is cold outside of your sleeping bag. The sun is just about to rise, the first light of day peeking out from behind a nearby mountain range. A few birds have already woken up and are calling out to each other in the trees. Your [...]
In July 1900, Benton Mackaye climbed a tree at the top of Vermont’s Stratton Mountain. That moment, he would later claim, was the origin of what we now call the Appalachian Trail (A.T.). Decades of planning, trail building, and love for the outdoors have since given us the A.T. in its current form. This singular [...]
At the beginning of 2022, Carl “Professor” Stanfield called his shot and swung for the fences. An accomplished thru-hiker, he’d decided he wasn’t only going to complete hiking’s Triple Crown—the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail and the Continental Divide Trail—within the calendar year. In and of itself, that combined distance of approximately 7,875 miles is [...]