July 23: HIKE COMPLETE! Today Tom walked along the Palisades, crossed over the George Washington Bridge, which he said was fun but loud, and completed the southbound Long Path hike. Bravo Tom! Today he was accompanied by Shaun, a three-time Long Path thru-hiker (all northbound), and Kami and Christina, who recently completed end-to-end hikes of the Long Path. They helped him in the home stretch with rides and lodging.

Check out this link to see his route.  Here’s an interview with Tom about his charity hike, the Long Path, and volunteering on trails on the podcast “Inside the Line: The Catskill Mountains Podcast.”

July 21: Tom checked in, after walking 311 miles on the Long Path, he got his first view of New York City. He expects to finish the Long Path, and become the first person to complete continuous hikes of the Long Path both northward and southward, on Tuesday.

July 16: Tom hiked 16 miles yesterday and is on the Heritage Trail portion of the Long Path. He estimates he is about 90 miles from NYC and will be walking over the George Washington Bridge and completing his epic hike on Wednesday, July 24.

July 11: Tom is hiking the Shawangunk Ridge. Despite high temperatures, heavy rains, weight loss, blisters, etc., Tom is on track to complete the continuous thru-hike of the Long Path. Good luck Tom!

July 1: Tom is in the middle of a 3000 foot elevation hike up Kaaterskill High Peak. Tomorrow is the Devil’s Path.

June 27: Tom’s hike today, headed to North South Lake

June 20: Despite temperatures in the 90s, Tom completed 47 miles along sections 35, 34, 33, 33, and into 31. Friday is a rest day, then he’ll be back on the Long Path, with the Catskill Mountains ahead of him.

Tom Walsh of Worcester began to hike the Long Path on June 17, from John Boyd Thacher State Park in Albany County to 175th Street in Manhattan. An avid hiker, volunteer and cancer survivor, Walsh is using this 360-mile trek as a

personal challenge and to raise funds for Otsego Outdoors and the Bassett Cancer Institute. He hiked the Long Path northbound in 2020, and if successful, he will be the first person on record to hike the Long Path both northbound and southbound. We will post updates on his progress here and you can check his route here.

Tom has been a part of Otsego Outdoors since February 2021 when he completed the first Otsego Outdoors Octet Winter Challenge, and because he always goes above and beyond, he completed all the featured hikes instead of just 8, and did them all in one day. Since then he has completed several Octet Challenges, volunteered on Otsego County trails, helped train other trail volunteers, and completed two charity hikes in Otsego County highlighting its state forests, state parks, Otsego Land Trust properties, and other publicly accessible trails.

This hike will be Tom’s fifth one for charities, and the third benefiting Otsego Outdoors. He has hiked more than 1,000 miles for charities, raising $20,000.

This year, all the funds raised will be divided evenly between:

• Bassett Cancer Institute – Patient and Family Services funds will be used to help cancer patients and their families deal with the unexpected expenses that can arise during treatment.
• Otsego Outdoors connects people with year-round recreational activities in and near Otsego County. Funds raised will be used for trail maintenance and improvements.

If you would like to support Tom’s 2024 Charity Hike, you can pledge by the mile by emailing Peg at Otsego Outdoors and letting her know how much you’d like to pledge per mile (10 cents/mile is $36, 15 cents/per mile is $54). Tom says pledges by the mile especially help to motivate him to keep going.

You can also make a one time donation. His goal is to raise $5,000, donations of any amount are very much appreciated.