Get to know us

Who are Moose and Bugs?

*updated April 2026

We're Don McCarty and Samantha Matthews-McCarty, a.k.a. Moose and Bugs (learn about "trail names"), about 8 years ago we decided to experience as much as possible before life slows us down! In 2019 we hiked our first "thru-hike", the 1200 mile Pacific Northwest Trail, stretching from Glacier National Park in Montana to the western edge of the Olympic peninsula in Washington State. After that we were hooked, hiking the Grand Enchantment "Trail", an exciting 800 mile adventure route from Phoenix, AZ to Albuquerque, NM and finally the epic and awe inspiring Hayduke in the spring of 2024.

Moose's endless passion for hiking never wanes but we also felt the need for experiences beyond his backpacking obsession. So we traveled to the Mediterranean and spent time in Greece. A month was spent in Central Asia, exploring the ancient silk road in Uzbekistan and hiking in the Tian Shan Mountains of Kyrgyzstan. Another month was spent in Japan, with the monkeys on the subtropical southern island of Kyushu and in the northern coastal towns of Hokkaido.

Now in 2025 we're changing everything. Closing down our small business in the US and putting all our possessions in storage! We're combining our long distance hiking experience with an overseas destination and hiking the Transcaucasian Trail through Armenia and Georgia. After this 1000 mile hike we plan to spend the rest of the year and hopefully most of 2026 abroad. We have very few plans, only crazy hopes and dreams!

April 2026 Update

One year in and what a journey its been. Last summer we completed our 1600km hike of the Transcaucasian Trail, next we ran through the Balkans and found a new favorite Greek island, we returned to Georgia to meet family and flew to South Korea. The next six months were spent traveling though East and Southeast Asia, hiking through the rugged and exhilarating Central Mountain Range of Taiwan, eating exotic foods, celebrating the new year at the base of the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and making new friends in Vietnam.

We saw the majestic ruins of Angkor Wat and slept alone on dry forest ridges in Thailand near the Burmese border. We been exhausted, sick, injured and unsure of what's next but our passion for sharing our journey with the world is only beginning. Check out our growing blog to get all the details and learn how you too can have these same magical and transformative experiences. Thanks for reading!

Our Mission Statement & Our Promise to You.

At Traveling Moose and Bugs, our mission is to cut through the noise of generic travel guides by delivering honest, "ground-truthed" itineraries forged through thousands of miles of boots-on-the-ground experience. We don’t just curate destinations; we live them—from the rugged 1,600km Transcaucasian Trail in Armenia and Georgia to the complexities of traveling to the most remote corners of Southeast Asia unassisted.

What makes our advice unique is the transition from our former professional lives as a general contractor and residential remodeler capable of performing almost all our own labor into full time, world travelers and hikers. This background grants us a meticulous eye for detail and a practical, no nonsense approach to logistics that most travel blogs lack. We’re familiar with the realities of self-supported travel and the struggles that accompany it. All our writing is informed by real human experiences, from the beautiful and exciting to the unpleasant and unfamiliar experiences of traveling in remote corners of the globe, which allows us to provide advice that is both deeply human and rigorously vetted. When we recommend a route, a guide, or a piece of gear, it’s because it has survived the ultimate stress test of long term, self-supported travel.

Don McCarty

Thru-hiker/ curious traveler/ amateur history buff/ former general contractor

Samantha Matthews-McCarty

thru-hiker/ Cultural immersion specialist/ cat lover/ former interior designer