Bernie Krausse: The Great American Rail-Trail on Foot

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Bernie Krausse: The Great American Rail-Trail on Foot

Bernie Krausse walked the Great American Rail-Trail westbound from Washington, D.C. to the Pacific Ocean at La Push, Washington, covering 3,700 miles in 130 days between March 28 and August 3, 2026. It is believed to be the first known end-to-end foot thru-hike of the route. These are the weekly dispatches, written as he walked and field verified against Hiking America's GPS data.

Week 19 on the Great American Rail-Trail: Port Angeles to the Pacific

Great American Rail-Trail

Week 19 on the Great American Rail-Trail: Port Angeles to the Pacific

Bernie Krausse's last 3 days ran from the Port Angeles pier to the Pacific at La Push: 25 miles of DNR singletrack, the Spruce Railroad grade, 9 miles of logging road, and a highway shoulder to the ocean. Day 130.

Bernie Krausse dives into the Pacific Ocean at the conclusion of the first thru-hike of the Great American Rail trail on August 3, 2026

Great American Rail-Trail

Bernie Krausse Reaches the Pacific at La Push

He left the Capitol Reflecting Pool on March 28. August 3 he dove into the Pacific Ocean at La Push.

Week 18: Bernie Krausse Crosses the Cascades and Walks Into the Olympic Peninsula

Great American Rail-Trail

Week 18: Bernie Krausse Crosses the Cascades and Walks Into the Olympic Peninsula

The tunnel under Snoqualmie Pass runs 2.3 miles in the dark. On the far side, the Cascades fall away, and the Pacific starts to feel close.

Week 17 on the Great American Rail-Trail: Scablands to the Cascade Foothills

Great American Rail-Trail Featured

Week 17 on the Great American Rail-Trail: Scablands to the Cascade Foothills

Bernie Krausse crosses the Channeled Scablands on grain elevator spigots and a rancher's solar well, walks the Beverly Bridge over the Columbia hours before the town was evacuated, then covers 22 miles of Army live-fire ground and reaches the Cascade foothills at Cle Elum.

Week 16 on the Great American Rail-Trail: Into Washington, the Final State

Great American Rail-Trail

Week 16 on the Great American Rail-Trail: Into Washington, the Final State

Two state lines in one week. Bernie Krausse walks out of Montana's rafting country, over Lookout Pass into Idaho's Silver Valley, and across the line into Washington, his twelfth and final state, with less than three weeks left to the Pacific.

Week 15 on the Great American Rail-Trail: Butte to Missoula

Great American Rail-Trail

Week 15 on the Great American Rail-Trail: Butte to Missoula

Three hundred downed trees, a hostel in an old Masonic lodge, and a stranger who handed him two fifty-dollar bills. Bernie's fifteenth week ends in Missoula.

A late spring snow storm dumped feet of snow on the Rockies.

Great American Rail-Trail

Winter Ambushes the Great American Rail-Trail at West Yellowstone (Week 14)

Week 14 on the Great American Rail-Trail: an out-of-season winter storm forces Bernie Krausse's fifth zero at West Yellowstone, then a snow-driven reroute to the first real day of summer in the Tobacco Roots.

Over the Divide: Bernie Crosses the Spine of the Continent (Week 13)

Great American Rail-Trail

Over the Divide: Bernie Crosses the Spine of the Continent (Week 13)

On Day 89, Bernie Krausse stood on the Continental Divide at 9,655 feet — the line where the country tips from one ocean toward the other. He'd walked from the Capitol Reflecting Pool to reach it.

Wyoming's Great Wide Open: The Rockies Come Into View (Week 12)

Great American Rail-Trail

Wyoming's Great Wide Open: The Rockies Come Into View (Week 12)

On Day 79, somewhere past Manville, an entire mountain range rose on the horizon. Bernie Krausse had walked the eastern half of the country to reach it — and the hardest water of the trip was still ahead.

A Wildfire Reroute Across Nebraska: Week 11 on the Great American Rail-Trail

Great American Rail-Trail

A Wildfire Reroute Across Nebraska: Week 11 on the Great American Rail-Trail

Somewhere back near the Atlantic, Bernie started climbing — and hasn't stopped. Week 11 of his Great American Rail-Trail thru-hike took him up through the Nebraska Sandhills, into the homes of trail angels, and around a wildfire that closed the highway ahead.

Update on Bernie and the South Fork Fire: Routing Around a Wildfire in Northwest Nebraska

Great American Rail-Trail

Update on Bernie and the South Fork Fire: Routing Around a Wildfire in Northwest Nebraska

The South Fork Fire crossed Highway 20 right on Bernie Krausse's Great American Rail-Trail route near Crawford, Nebraska. He took a zero day, weighed two detours, and went north — and he should reach Harrison tonight.

Where the East Lets Go: Bernie's Week 10 on the Cowboy Trail

Great American Rail-Trail Featured

Where the East Lets Go: Bernie's Week 10 on the Cowboy Trail

Past the halfway point of his Great American Rail-Trail thru-hike, Bernie Krausse spent Week 10 on Nebraska's Cowboy Trail — where the cornfields thin out, the grass takes over, and the East finally lets go of the West. Storms, prickly pear, fellow travelers, and small-town grace.

Halfway Across America: A Week of Trail Magic on the Great American Rail-Trail (Week 9)

Great American Rail-Trail Featured

Halfway Across America: A Week of Trail Magic on the Great American Rail-Trail (Week 9)

Days 57–63 of the first known thru-hike of the Great American Rail-Trail. Bernie Krausse crosses the middle of Nebraska, reaches the rough midpoint between Washington, D.C. and Washington State, and turns west toward the Rockies — carried by a week of small-town kindness.

Storm Chasing and State Lines: Bernie Krausse Crosses Iowa on the Great American Rail-Trail (Week 8)

Great American Rail-Trail

Storm Chasing and State Lines: Bernie Krausse Crosses Iowa on the Great American Rail-Trail (Week 8)

A 39-mile push to outrun a tornado-watch system, a restored train depot serving as a trail waypoint, and a crossing into Nebraska on foot. Bernie Krausse's Week 8 on the Great American Rail-Trail is up. Here's what the final Iowa section looks like right now.

Bernie's Week 7: Trail Angels and Iowa's Open Road

Great American Rail-Trail

Bernie's Week 7: Trail Angels and Iowa's Open Road

Week 7 finds Bernie Krausse deep in Iowa — moving through Cedar Rapids, Waterloo, and Marshalltown on the first known thru-hike of the Great American Rail-Trail. Coyotes, cyclists, a Saint Bernard, and two extraordinary trail angels made this one of his most memorable weeks yet.

Bernie Krausse's Week 6: Illinois to Iowa on the Great American Rail-Trail

Great American Rail-Trail

Bernie Krausse's Week 6: Illinois to Iowa on the Great American Rail-Trail

Bernie Krausse's Week 6 of the first known thru-hike of the Great American Rail-Trail takes him through the I&M Canal corridor, across the Hennepin Canal, over the Mississippi, and into Iowa. New waypoints, GPS reroutes, and new trail intelligence.

Bernie's Week 5: Indiana, Illinois, and the People Who Show Up

Great American Rail-Trail

Bernie's Week 5: Indiana, Illinois, and the People Who Show Up

A little over one month in, and Bernie Krausse is moving through Indiana and into Illinois on the Great American Rail-Trail — through thunderstorms that turned his hands blue, trail angels who opened their homes, and a canal towpath that's been carrying travelers since 1848.

Life on the Great American Rail-Trail: Week 4 — Ohio to Indiana

Great American Rail-Trail

Life on the Great American Rail-Trail: Week 4 — Ohio to Indiana

Bernie Krausse crossed into Indiana on Day 25 of his Great American Rail-Trail thru-hike — 39 miles, a headwind, and no sign marking the state line. Week 4 covered storms, a zero day, trail magic from Jeri, and a gap route fix between Gaston and Jonesboro.

Bernie's Week 3: Ohio's Rail-Trails, Amish Country & 230 Miles

Great American Rail-Trail

Bernie's Week 3: Ohio's Rail-Trails, Amish Country & 230 Miles

Week 3 on the Great American Rail-Trail: flood detours on the Ohio and Erie Canal Towpath, Amish women on E-bikes in Holmes County, morels found mid-hike, and a chance encounter with a biker heading to the Pacific. Bernie Krausse is 230 miles deeper into Ohio. Still moving.

Great American Rail-Trail Week 2: From Cumberland Over the Eastern Continental Divide

Great American Rail-Trail

Great American Rail-Trail Week 2: From Cumberland Over the Eastern Continental Divide

Great American Rail-Trail Week 2: Bernie Krausse walks from Cumberland over the Eastern Continental Divide, past the Darr Mine memorial, through Pittsburgh's steel skyline, and across three states in seven hours — field-verifying the westbound route into Ohio as he goes.

Week One on the Great American Rail-Trail: Bernie Krausse Reports from the C&O Canal

Great American Rail-Trail

Week One on the Great American Rail-Trail: Bernie Krausse Reports from the C&O Canal

Bernie Krausse is one week into his Great American Rail-Trail thru-hike — and already sending back the kind of trail intelligence you can't get from a guidebook. Here's what he found between D.C. and Cumberland. 🥾

Double-Triple Crown Hiker Just Stepped Off the Capitol Reflecting Pool to Walk Across America

Great American Rail-Trail

Double-Triple Crown Hiker Just Stepped Off the Capitol Reflecting Pool to Walk Across America

Double-Triple Crown finisher Bernie Krausse stepped off the Capitol Reflecting Pool March 28, 2026, to begin a 3,800-mile westbound thru-hike of the Great American Rail-Trail. His journey field-verified Hiking America's GPS data for future hikers.

First-Ever Known Thru-Hike of the Great American Rail-Trail: Bernie Krausse to Make History

Great American Rail-Trail

First-Ever Known Thru-Hike of the Great American Rail-Trail: Bernie Krausse to Make History

Double Triple-Crowner Bernie Krausse — with 57,000 career miles — is about to make history with the first-ever known thru-hike of the Great American Rail-Trail. Hiking America has spent months mapping the gap routes to make this 3,700+ mile cross-country journey hikeable right now.

Hiking America on the Great American Rail-Trail

Great American Rail-Trail

Hiking America on the Great American Rail-Trail

We created GPS navigation for the Great American Rail Trail's 81 gaps to support Bernie Krausse's first known thru-hike. The trail is 56% complete from D.C. to Washington State — viable for thru-hiking now with the right route data.

Hiking America is an independent navigation resource. This site is not authorized by, and has no affiliation with, the American Discovery Trail Society. Our routes are our own, developed and continuously verified through field research and hiker feedback. They are not the official route of the American Discovery Trail, are not derived from American Discovery Trail Society materials, and may deviate from the route marked with signage.