Folks, let’s hope for no more drama. Last year three hikers were rescued by helicopter, and another outright cheated death by developing an escape plan from an early blast of snow in the northern Cascades, which PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) hikers traverse to complete the trail at the Canadian border. How about this year? There has already been one helicopter rescue for injury. And the Dinsmore hostel located in Skykomish–about 175...

I am in Europe on another one of those “sexy” trips to exotic locales. And I am bored to death. Perhaps it is no coincidence. Interestingly enough, the word ‘travel’ comes from the word ‘travails’. Which brings up a great irony. In this day and age of supersonic jets and instantaneous communication, it is harder than ever to travel well, travel fruitfully, travel soulfully. Handheld and package tours are...

Skywalker–Close Encounters on the Appalachian Trail, a popular hiking book by Bill Walker, has been out for ten months in video form and has now reached its 10,000 viewer. This ten minute film done by Catherine O Shorr and edited by Melissa Matisko, touches on the highlights of Walker’s 2005 thru-hike of the 2,180 mile Appalachian Trail, which Walker calls “undoubtedly the best way to see...

Skywalker–Close Encounters on the Appalachian Trail is now available in audio form through www.audible.com Previously this popular hiking book has sold through hardback, paperback, and e-book form. The author, Bill Walker, has also written Skywalker–Highs and Lows on the Pacific Crest Trail, The Best Way–El Camino de Santiago, and Getting High–The Annapurna Circuit in Nepal. 

Greetings from Riga, Latvia. Yes, a bit off the beaten path here along the arc of the Baltic Sea. Yet even here one hears intermittent interest in America’s great trail of the masses, the Appalachian Trail. And of course when someone mentions it, I feed it. “It’s the best way to see America,” I regale audiences. “Don’t go to Disney World or Las Vegas. You will get to see the real America on the Appalachian...