It was a strange relief to step off the dark, “comfortable,” air conditioned coach bus from the capital and into the rain and humidity of Las Sabanitas, a commercial hub outside of Colón. The intersection felt more like Latin America than anywhere else during my Panamá trip. The only constant from our vantage point under the steel supermercado awning were women seated at folding tables selling lottery tickets and counting wads of twenties. Packed repurposed U.S. school buses stopped every few minutes and the locals stuffed themselves into the aisles. Ours arrived about a half an hour later and surprisingly had empty seats. PUERTO LINDO Just walking through this village is an experience. A narrow dirt path handlebars off the main camino and cuts between wooden bungalows with the tide at their doorstep and rubbled concrete ... read more

As of the summer of 2021, Santa Catalina is still in the backpacking ‘sweet spot,’ as I call it. It has basic infrastructure, meaning a paved road, comfortable lodging, and a few nice restaurants and cafés. On the other hand, the road is bumpy near town, everything is still locally owned, and the power goes out sometimes - all of which keep out the crowds.My buddy Mike and I celebrated our 13 years of friendship (see Ecuador 2008) by heading to Santa Catalina to see Parque Nacional Coiba. The bus trip took 10 hours because of any number of possible inconveniences on the maldita Interamericana, and the power was out when we arrived, so it was a pretty challenging day.Hotel IguanitoJuan and Chris have an impressive operation going here and are passionate about providing a great ... read more

San Carlos I need to stop visiting surf towns since I don’t surf. They rarely equate to nice beaches and I was a bit disappointed to find a black sand beach at San Carlos. I ventured onto the beach fairly far before I realized the sand was burning my feet. I did a high-step sprint back to the dirt road, looking around afterward to see if anyone was watching that ridiculous scene. The next morning I went for a walk on Playa Enseñada, a fairly nice adjacent beach, and then the owner of Sweet Dreams Hotel drove me to Santa Clara, about 25 minutes south on the Interamericana. Santa Fe It’s really difficult to tell how nice a beach is by browsing online photos. Practically any beach can look like paradise with the right framing and ... read more

Hannah's terrific video of the hike does the trip more justice than my description does. We camped the night before at Green River Lakes Campground - 12$, no reservations. The hike begins at the parking lot - follow signs for the Hotline Trail, crossing the river. Day 1 - 12 Miles It's 12 miles to 3 Forks Park, which is just a series of meadows. The first three hours are very easy and scenic, and there were a few nice places to eat lunch midway there. The second half of the hike has a river crossing that your feet get wet. There were hundreds of downed trees to climb over, around, causing the hike to be over 7 hours, including lunch. There was also one very angry badger. Camping spots were sparse at 3 Forks Park, ... read more

It's easy to romanticize the Badlands. The narrow canyons beckon travelers to explore the echoes of solitude. Fifteen years ago, looking into the wrinkled surface of the earth from a tourist platform, I fantasized about hiking and camping there, but I didn't have the knowhow, the gear, or the fitness. So now that I have all those things, this was a place I wanted to revisit during the coronasummer, on my way to Wyoming with my friend Dan. When I told my dad about my plan to explore the area more, he bought me David McCullough's book Mornings on Horseback, an origin story of Teddy Roosevelt, culminating with the time he spent in the Badlands grieving the deaths of his wife and mother, and further developing a Hemingway-esque code that catapulted him to becoming the youngest ... read more