Some of you may have heard about the 6,800 miles American Discovery Trail, discoverytrail.org.  This is a National trail, part city, part small town, part forest, part mountains, part desert, an all-in-one trail.  The ADT stretches from Cape Henlopen State Park, Delaware, to Pt. Reyes National Seashore California.

The ADT board members have been tracking Shasta for a while as he is crossing the country. As president of the Trail Society I (Bill Gilmour) have been made aware of his progress across Indiana and I reached out to him while he was crossing IN. Shasta contacted me on Sunday May 9th about his progress because he was in Evansville and taking a Zero Day (Day of Rest with 0 miles). Since I was out of town, I reached out to Fred Scott about providing some minor support. The remainder of this article is Fred’s account of meeting and talking with Shasta.

After Bill called last Wednesday May 12^th, I texted Shasta to let him know that I would be glad to help during this hike across S. IL.  He is using the River-to-River Trail as his hiking highway through our State.   Shasta said he would be close to Eddyville on Sunday or Monday.  He is traveling from the East.

He sent a text Sunday May 16, just after lunch, and said he was 4 miles out of Eddyville.   I drove down and he was waiting for my arrival.  He had found the convenance store at Mitchellville, via Google, and said they would have all that he needed for a couple of days.  Shasta is only packing 20lb of gear and food, half of the 20lb is food.   He has to restock every two or three days.  He is using a light weight tarp for his tent; a sleeping bag and mat is most of his gear.  He is traveling 20 to 25 miles per day.  When he reaches RT 3 or the end of R2R Trail, he will then head North to St. Louis and beyond.

Shasta, Michael (Shasta) Jones, started his journey this past March close to the East Coast.  He has had many experiences on his trip so far such as meeting new people, local critters eating his food while he sleeps and of course a lot of open county.  He said hiking “trails” were much better and safer than hiking along roads.  We all know that crossing creeks can be a challenge at times, and the weather is always on your mind.  I asked him if he was going to write about his journey and he said that he may. 

I will text him every now and again just to check his progress. He will have to buy and pull a cart to assist him across the desert part of his trip.  One of the longest stretches will be 100 miles in desert conditions.

I cannot imagine all of the challenges one will face on this long trip.  It takes a special person of strong mind and body to be able to do this.   Shasta said he believes less than 20 have completed this journey.

Shasta, I hope your daily mileage is to your plan and the weather and nature is fair to you.