Hi Team!

Greetings from the rainy lower mainland of British Columbia! I’m in the area to see my daughter Olivia in her upcoming opera and busy working on 2026 plans and wrapping up 2025!

I have a few exciting things to share –  including the results of the online polling!

Here’s what people decided:

10 Epic Hikes: 71%

GDT: 31%

Semi Retire 03% (rounded up… WHO was that??)

So, holy moly where are we going to go?!

I’ll be putting out a video, probably tomorrow, asking the same question: Where to go?

The criteria is pretty simple. It can be anywhere in North America and can start as early as late February. (I say North America because it has to be drivable or otherwise somewhat inexpensive to get to)

These don’t have to be super long hikes or anything like that. But they need to be EPIC. So I have a question.

What does epic mean to you? Is it views? Is it length of the trail? Is it how many days you’re on the trail? I mean it could be anything right, so what do you think?

What’s on YOUR bucket list?

Now some updates:

  1. I have some great news about your support here on Patreon 😀

I’ve decided because it’s the 10th Anniversary I’m going to offer your trail team tier at only $10 a month for all of 2026! $10 Canadian that is!!

It’s a great way for me to say THANK YOU for your support over the last couple of years and who knows? Maybe we’ll have some new trail team members join for the year. Keep an eye out for those changes over the next few days and if you have ANY issues with Patreon – please let me know right away.

  1. I’ve added new commemorative merchandise to the store (howesthehike.ca) with the new 2026 logo on it. I’d LOVE your feedback on the merch choices – NO purchase necessary of course! If you think I should create anything else from a product standpoint or have ANY other feedback, I’d love your input!

  2. Over the next few weeks I’ll be releasing our very first question and answer video. I’ve had some GREAT questions from people all over the world and I can’t wait to get that out for you. There will also be a 2025 wrap up video coming in December to let you know how I made out with my personal challenge and to reflect on an amazing year of backpacking. You’ll be the first to know!

  3. 2026 will probably start out with a flashback video of the girls and I and the evolution of our little YouTube channel. I’m sure that’ll be a rather misty eyed one for me to put together because there’s more wrapped up in that than just backpacking. Anyone who is a parent will understand what I’m referring to, thinking about your kids getting older and time that has passed. I’m a bit of a softy that way, but we’ll do my best to remind myself that these are indeed happy memories!

Ok! I would love it if you’d put your thinking cap on and start thinking about those 10 epic hikes. It would be awesome to get a whole bunch of suggestions from you and from the wider world and then try to narrow them down to 10. I hope you’ll be willing to be in on that discussion!

That’s it for now. I hope you’re enjoying your fall and that the sun is shining wherever you are, unlike the lower mainland of British Columbia… They don’t call it the “wet coast” for nothing ;-)

Stuart