Let me assure you of two things. First, if you have gotten the idea of attempting an Appalachian Trail (AT) thru-hike lodged in your head, the great odds are that sooner or later you will find yourself–backpack bravely strapped on–facing north at Springer Mountain in north Georgia. That is the good news. The bad news–and I am even more sure of this–is that you will never find a perfect time to attempt your...

“Have you heard any snow reports?’ PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) thru-hikers are accustomed to spending the winter before their thru-hikes obsessing over snow levels in the so-called ‘High Sierra’. For good reason. The High Sierra is the most daunting and beautiful part of the PCT. Hands down. This section both haunts and beckons. It’s all about the snow. In 2006, the year after my AT (Appalachian Trail) thru-hike, I...

The Amazon Travel Books Department has recommended the outdoor adventure narrative, Skywalker–Highs and Lows on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), by Bill Walker (‘Skywalker’). This is the story of 6’11” Bill Walker’s turbulent thru-hike of the 2,663 mile Pacific Crest Trail in 2009. Walker lost 43 pounds, but came away enthralled by the extraordinary variety of terrain on the PCT, as well as the colorful cast of...

The annual Trail Days Festival in Damascus, Virginia is one of the outdoor world’s marquee events. For good reason. It was started in 1987 with the idea of bringing together hikers from previous years. It has succeeded signally in that regard; but it is also a lot more than that. The whole outdoor community seems to be on display. For starters, Damascus is the perfect place to have the event; it is widely known as the friendliest town on...

Outdoor adventure narratives are a cottage industry. And for good reason. A cursory look at history shows that the deepest yearning of humans is to move. “The great affair is to move,” wrote Pascal in his Pensees’s. “Complete calm is death.”Indeed, from our earliest time as a species, humans have sought to better their plight by perpetual motion, the Bedouins, Kurds, Aborigenes, to name but a few with this...