The Trail

TrekEast, the 7,600-mile Epic Journey for Nature!

You can travel John Davis' TrekEast anytime, by reading his blogs, enjoying the Trail maps and learning about the Eastern Wildway we want to connect!  During TrekEast, John Davis hikes, paddles, cycles and skis through the spectacular and biologically diverse Eastern Wildway—a human powered journey of approximately 7,600 miles.

Traveling northward from the Everglades to Canada’s Gaspe Peninsula, John slogs through swamps, hikes in search of rare prairies and longleaf pine forests, paddles pristine and important rivers, explores rich coastal marshes, climbs ancient mountains, and navigates through valleys and northern landscapes. He also takes “side-trips” from his charted course, to encounter as many critical wild places as possible.

John shares this journey with esteemed companion trekkers and a variety of intriguing and important species, including the American Crocodile, manatee, bottle-nosed dolphin, oysters, black bear, Florida panther, bobwhite quail, American turkey, red-cockaded woodpeckers, elk, bison, moose, beaver, Canada lynx and more. As he encounters their barriers to survival, John, a veritable scout, tells stories from the perspective of these threatened creatures and assesses wild places still present for us to connect.

Trail Legs and Trail Breaks

TrekEast consists of 9 Trail Legs. Each of them consists of several stops where John researches and reports on a conservation story directly relating to the region of the Eastern Wildway in which he is trekking. Our goal is to continue to inspire people to take actions that will help create local habitat connections.

The following are the major wild places he visits. Though his trek ended in Forillon National Park on November 14th, the journey continues to create an Eastern Wildway, to connect these magnificent places and restore the species that help manage, naturally, our ecosystems throughout the East.

TrekEast Leg 1: Key Largo to Tampa 

TrekEast Leg 2: Tampa to Birmingham 

TrekEast Leg 3: Birmingham to Wilmington 

TrekEast Leg 4: Wilmington to Asheville 

TrekEast Leg 5: Asheville to Lexington 

TrekEast Leg 6: Lexington to  Washington D.C. 

TrekEast Leg 7: Washington D.C. to State College 

TrekEast Leg 8: State College to Burlington 

TrekEast Leg 9: Burlington to Forillon National Park, Canada