Ryan Sylva, who goes by the trail name “Dirtmonger,” has been busy walking long-distance routes for about 10 years. A thru hiker of some renown, the 43-year-old Colorado resident first hiked the Pacific Crest Trail in 2011, a feat he has since repeated twice. He’s hiked the Continental Divide Trail twice. In 2013 he completed a lap around the 3,500-mile Vagabond Loop, which connects the Colorado Trail, the Arizona Trail, the Grand Enchantment Trail in Arizona and New Mexico, and the Hayduke Trail in southern Utah and northern Arizona.
He has put one foot in front of the other down multiple trails in the Andes of South America. In 2017, after suffering a foot injury, he found the wherewithal to complete a bike tour of over 5,200 miles.
Back in 2015, Sylva created a northbound route stretching from Death Valley National Park to the remote Jarbidge Mountains in northeastern Nevada. He called it the Great Basin Traverse, and it left him enamored with the landscape and wanting to explore more of what Nevada had to offer.
So this spring, “Dirtmonger” drew upon his vast wealth of hiking experience and successfully conceived and completed his latest adventure, an approximately 1,100 mile loop called the Great Basin Trail. And he wants people to know about it, and better yet, follow in his footsteps.
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I am Jeff Clark, founder of Internet Brothers, producer of this blog, and passionate about hiking. I live in Western NC near the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains. Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests are just out my door, so the content will focus on these areas, but let me know what you would like to see on the site. 
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