YouTube: First Church of the Masochist Hikes

Instagram: @mattonamtn

Email: matthew.hengst@gmail.com (or message me on Instagram)

Ways to support my hikes

Some big awesome really cool things I've done

In 2021 I hiked the Eastern Continental Trail all the way from Key West Florida to the northern tip of Nova Scotia. I covered roughly 5,000 miles over the course of 302 days making this the biggest hike I'd ever attempted. And it was done just 3 months after finishing the Pacific Crest Trail.

While I wasn't meticulous about tracking every aspect of my hike I did keep a daily mileage spreadsheet (linked above) and thanks to credit card statements I was able to compile general cost numbers.

On December 28th, 2020 I flew off for Key West Florida with nothing other than my phone, backpacking gear, and an optimistic plan to walk the seldom done Eastern Continental Trail all the way to Canada. Assuming the border opened I hoped to finish up in Quebec at Cap Gaspe completing the entirety of the Florida Trail, Pinhoti Trail, and Appalachian Trail along the way. 

On October 26th after 302 days and a bit over 5,000 miles I found myself standing at the northern tip of Nova Scotia. 

For a summary of what my plans are see 

If your interested in helping me out financially I’m always grateful to accept. Money goes towards replacing gear or on trail niceties like coffee, food, beer, or hotels.

If you’d like to send me a message I can be reached via Instagram

You can also email me directly at 

I'm currently attempting a thru hike from Key West to Canada along the Eastern Continental Trail. Along the way I'll be hiking the Keys Everglades Roadwalk, the Florida Trail, the Alabama Roadwalk, the Pinhoti Trail, and a small section of the Benton MacKaye Trail. And of course the Appalachian Trail!

In between I post daily -ish updates to my Instagram Live Story with occasional regular posts usually when I hit milestones 

I spent last summer hiking the 2,653+ mile Pacific Crest Trail all the way from Mexico to Canada. It was often difficult, sometimes miserable, and ever since finishing I've found myself really missing the constant feelings of progress and accomplishment.

So what's next?

Below the break is everything I used to hike the Pacific Crest Trail in 2020.

For an overall picture of my gear see lighterpack.

Being a geek I'm very passionate about the electronics that I carry on the trail. I enjoy fiddling with new devices and figuring out how they can make my hike more fun or effective. When I hiked the Pacific Crest Trail in 2020 I had the goal of not using any disposable batteries and this is what I carried.

After 119 days on trail I'd reached the state of Washington and now I only had 500 miles to Canada!

After my relatively smooth experience through Oregon now I was now facing a more difficult trail and a smattering of new challenges like: historic wind events, seemingly the entire west coast catching fire, unhealthy levels of smoke lasting for days, and rainstorms. And then throw in a snowstorm at Rainy Pass and a still closed Canadian border just to round out the experience! 

And then 28 days later I was standing victorious at the northern terminus having to contemplate life after the trail.

Oregon! The land of flat trail, green tunnel hiking, lava flows, and burn areas! And grand mysteries like who left a bunch of crabs laying out on those train tracks near Shelter Cove.

I crossed the California / Oregon border 97 days after leaving Campo and by the latter part of that adventure I was joking about being in full support of the State of Jefferson movement just so the PCT would get into a new state earlier! And then after all of that Oregon took just 19 spectacular days!

I'd sweated my way through the desert, limped through the Sierra on crumbling shoes, and now...I was still in California for another 600 miles. Bloody hell this state is long!  

The Northern California section of the Pacific Crest Trail has a reputation for getting people down and I can understand why. After finishing the Sierra it feels imposing to still have over half the trail and 1,500 miles to go. Also having left the epic views of the Sierra behind and having to deal with the fact that ever town stop involves a big descent followed by a steep climb to get back out causes things to drag. Especially after a large town meal and a few beers.

I also really didn't expect the heat. Suddenly we were back in mid 90s and now there was high humidity to boot.

But there were also spectacular rivers, lush vegetation, and some of my favorite town stops of the entire trail.