We'll be walking the John Muir Trail for over 200 miles through the Sierra Nevada mountains in California. We're lucky enough to be able to share this environment with wild black bears, who roam free in this beautiful wilderness.

While we pack our bear-proof canisters and plan our route, it made me think about the bears who are not so lucky- those in cages being milked for their bile in Asia. It seems apt to try to raise a little for their cause, while we scan the horizon (or maybe even closer!) in hope of glimpsing their wild relatives.

There's another reason we'd like to support the work of Animals Asia. As animal lovers, travelling in Asia has been hard at times. I've felt pretty helpless as a vet, unable to do anything for the animals we've seen suffering. Here, if you put your hand out to a dog, it cowers waiting to be beaten. In parts of Indonesia we were having to avoid eating dog. Of course people's priorities are different in third world countries, but when you see half a dog for sale in a food market (where, according to the lonely planet, they are dragged out of their cages and bludgeoned to death), it makes you want to do something. They trust us whatever we do and they deserve help where we can give it. 

For now, the best way for us to help is by fundraising, and Animals Asia is doing fantastic work with both bringing an end to bear farming and improving dog and cat welfare in countries where not many other people are looking out for them.

The JMT is the longest walk we've ever done in one go, and we'll be carrying all our gear and camping every night. It will take around 25 days to walk through high mountain country from Yosemite, through Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks, culminating on the summit of Mount Whitney . This is the highest point in the USA outside Alaska at 4418 metres. It's definitely going to be a challenge! I know I'm always forgetting to sponsor people for things- but we're going to be walking for almost a whole month so you have lots of time to donate a pound or two! Or, better still, do it now and spur us on our way...

Thanks for reading, 

Harriet and Karl