Big Willy Dawg having the time of his life, and I'm here for it - can't wait until our Shenandoah hike and then Trail Days! ♣️♥️♦️♠️🎰

Awesome beautiful vlogging hiking and scenery all the very best to you and your family, health and happiness.

Knowing you are from Jersey I didn’t worry much about you. My wife is from the Garden State also and youse guys are tuff. lol hope to see you again stay safe

Awesome adventure, thanks for sharing all the tips

So very beautiful and picturesque! Such an amazing hike and atmosphere my friend!

Saturday, February 10th: BWD, thanks for sharing! Love your video! Happy Trails! Ross08

Excellent!

Our all-time favorite M&Ms!!! Never quit on a bad day- Thank you for that reminder. Another informative video for AT hikers! Thank you for sharing your adventure Billy!!!

Great views! Don't get too attached to that new job, we'd miss your videos😢😮

Saturday, January 27th: Thanks for sharing. Interesting about GoPro batteries. Blood Mountain brings back memories. Glad the weather is good for you. Happy Trails! Ross08

I enjoy your video! Hope you enjoy your job!!

Have a great time, excellent video. New friend here.

Really really enjoyed the video! You are such a hoot! You had me chuckling the whole time.!! Can't wait to see you in the next one! Good luck on your new job! Take care and God Bless!

Thank you for the hike! Surely enjoyed. Praying for the new job and another new adventure!

Cheers to you. Appreciate the share and insight. Very helpful. Wishing you peace and good fortune. Happy Trails!

Thank you. Great videos and advice.

Hey smiley. Had me smiling this whole video. You are a great video maker. Love your comments as we watch. Yes we are with you . Glad to get to hike along. I was laughing in fun. Your tips are great too. Like the views. Incredible really. We love you too 😂. Honest recall and your presence mentally. Looking too at the interesting stuff. Daydreamers rule !!!!! It's healthy I hear. 🌹 Kathleen out for now. Looking forward to seeing how the job works out. Tackle it !

Excellent video and great advice. Can't wait for your next hiking!

adding onto my old comment on my rewatch: always, always, always love seeing our beloved jersey shore in your videos ❤❤❤ many fond memories for me at the seaside boardwalk, even point pleasant beach and ortley beach. love daydreaming, too. agreed, you need to work at a hostel or be a guide for the woods is your happy place. i spy a woodburning stove and willy wonka, good book and movies. woud be reading or playing a video game on the train. one of my favorite videos 😊

Love the Green Dragon! Bill and Donna have found their calling!

Great video . I guess the both your hikes took place in the winter. ❤😊

Love the Novice Hiker Tips! I’m learning stuff and I’m laughing! Hope you get the chance to vlog some sections!

I'm going to trace your footsteps in about four months. I'm going to yo-yo Springer to Neel Gap. Thanks for all the details and tips.

Wish you were continuing. Your vlogging is great, and the subtitles are funny. You should do seasonal hostel work, don't kid yourself, you have great knowledge about the trail, how hard it is, and practical experience. Lots to offer the newbies. You should offer section shakedown hikes to like Ultra and HikingDancer. You'll find your niche. Be well, and thanks for the videos. They were great. Good lucknon the new job

Thanks for another awesome video! We are also considering leaving the GoPro at home due to battery longevity. Loved it more til we updated phones to the iPhone 15, now we are thinking the phone can do most everything the GoPro will do and prefer to save the weight so we can carry more M&Ms. Might get it mailed to us later on after we drop some winter weight, and might not, time will tell. Best of luck with the new job!!

BigDawg!!!! Awesome advice video my friend!!! I'm so happy to see you back out on the trail to have fun this time. You mentioned you might be out on other sections later in the year. I'd LOVE to hike a few days with you if you get nearby during my hike this year. That would be absolute fun for sure!!! OH...and I see GoPro batteries haven't change in the last few years either. I took my Hero4 to the summit at Kilimanjaro in 2015 and both battery died in the cold before I could video the summit. Both were in my pockets and fully charged before the summit climb. I'll stick w/ my phone this year, but I was tempted by that new I360 camera, except they admit the batteries are only good for a short time. Stay safe my friend!! Peace!! 😎👍✌

Hey BWD, Looking good! I'm with you berother, I don't like them stair steps either.

Great video. I was just saying to myself. BWD is really enjoying his retirement. Hopefully new job will be great. You got best attitude thanks for sharing. Welcome Home

We enjoy your videos very much. We send you warm love and wish you great health and great wealth for the new year. Looking forward to the next video.

I was hoping you were going to continue on trail till you were on top of katadin 😂😂

confession: as i watched your video, i ate my breakfast butter grits 🙃 excellent, hysterical, educational video as always! please, keep them coming! loved the wind chimes, gopro, and shoe tree. that reminded me of imelda marcos. i spy mason's and the sawmill. cheers to many more adventures! 🙌 am going on mine in april. three questions: have you thought about writing a memoir about your time on the appalachian trail like wild by cheryl strayed? would you visit north carolina without hiking it? what's the new job? 🤔

One foot in front of the other. Maverick

Shenandoah Valley might be accessible before the Smokies and certainly warmer. Love the revisiting idea 💡!!

Great Video for this year‘s GA hike. Nice 1/4 zip out on the beach! RAKKASAN!!! I’m a new subscriber, so I got some catching up to do.

Hey brother! Really enjoyed your new episode. I’m still hoping for a 2025 Thru Hike. Not sure if you know about the trail in SC from the north that ends in Charleston SC, but I saw someone hike it on KZfaq. Looks like 5 days maybe? Maybe give it a thought !? I was thinking about doing it in late summer early fall this year. Be great to have you. And give me some on the job tips. lol Best of luck to you in the new job! I’ve got a funny story about that Gainesville GA Amtrak station to share sometime. I live 2/3 stops north in Greenville SC. Take care, be well, stay safe. Look forward to future adventures….

Thanks for sharing your hike and train ride. Looking forward for your next adventure.

Really enjoy your videos, you should consider trying to get sponsors so you can continue to hike different trails,etc.

Great vlog. Really good tips for new long distance hikers.

We love you too!! Take care of yourself, and if the new job works out leave some time for hiking….looking forward to more videos…

Great video! Informative, Entertaining and funny! I like seeing places I’ve been. Ate pizza at that picnic table behind you at Neel Gap. Can’t wait till the next one.👍

Awesome video. Left a like to support your channel.

Great video Bill !! Awesome meeting you and I wish you the best for your future endeavors!! Good luck on your new job!! Jolly

Take care of yourself, hope to see you down the trail maybe we can catch up in NJ. Also love to hear information on the Smokies.

Good job explaining the bear canister - GOPros are nice, but the batteries suck - People die at those temperatures - be safe - Trekking poles are a game changer; I can't fathom why anyone would not carry them. I"'m going to complete Springer to Neels Gap as a yo-yo this spring/early summer. Thanks for the information. Good show - Are you going to follow any of the 2024 thru-hikers?

That's because the "tourist" hikers who hike Blood Mtn do not practice LNT. I can't tell you how much trash I've picked up in that section. Also Jarrard Gap isn't far from a popular campspot: Lake Winfield Scott. The shelter was built by the CCC in the 30s.

BWD, I hope you can find a way to get a job in the trail community, like shuttle driver or working at a hostel, or a gear shop. All with ample time off to hike. Follow your bliss, as Joseph Campbell said way back when.

Widowmakers!

Great weather for this section. I saw your Peanut M&Ms and laughed before you said anything! Thanks for the tips. When I hike the Ozark Trail in Missouri there are lots of times where I wouldn't see a trail marker but turn around and see a marker going the other way. I laughed out loud at your description of the shoe tree! Seeing the ice made me cringe since I fell on ice on a hike several years ago and broke my left arm. I know you disliked NC, but I hope you can hike it again. Good luck with the new job!

Its easy to be there for you. 😊

"Dummy Check", I like that. As a PL I usually did that after a company bivouac. I usually found enough stuff to make a couple of complete TA-50 sets. Some of the guys were so dumb that they though that because they "lost things" they wouldn't have to pay for them. I still have my belt and canteens because I had to buy them in order to have decent looking gear. Nice video. Happy Trails. Make money while you can. Tough times are coming. Many people are already claiming that they can't afford food. Good Luck, Rick

Hey Slammer! (His real trail name 👍)GoPro… keep in standby when it’s cold. When not using, take the battery out keep it in your shirt ( this will keep it warm and stop the camera from trying to upload. Buy a battery charger that holds 3 batteries, it’s not too heavy and you always have extra batteries. Nice video!

I think last year somebody told PigPen she would ditch her bear cannister as soon as she could. She held it over her head for her summit photo, just to prove them wrong.

I heard you saying that your GoPro batteries didn’t last at all in the cold and I remembered that “Jay Wanders Out” said the “Enduro GoPro batteries” lasted much much longer than the regular GoPro batteries in the cold! He did the PCT in 2020 and the AT in 2022. I went to his channel and watched his video, “Detailed Electronics and Vlogging Gear for my AT 2022 Thru Hike” and at about the 35:20 minutes, he talks about the Enduro Batteries and he gives a link to them on Amazon. I watched his AT thru hike and I remember him raving about the “Enduro Batteries” for his GoPro! You might want to go to his channel and watch that video before his AT hike? Thanks for what you’re doing! Stay warm! Take care.

Dude, it's Winter. That's what you get. Remember, it's just walking. Anyone can do it. Just keep going. Have a good one

Are there other areas that require bear cans?

Ha it was worth the wait for your video. Your captions are amusing and you’re quite the tease.🫢 I was holding my breath while you walked down that icy slope. I leave a trail wherever I go. I would die to work at a hostel and hike. Do it! Ya know BigWillyDawg, when you did your gear review, you said you’d probably never hike again. I knew you were hooked! You stole our hearts and everyone loves you.😊❤