The Appalachian Trail has traditionally been the safe haven of choice for female hikers. Why? The main reason given is the expansive trail community. Quite simply, with that many of your fellow hikers around, along with the frequent trail towns, hiker hostels, trail magic, and the like, a woman has more protection on the AT. Frankly, this reasoning is sound. Yes, long-distance hiking is generally about as safe as regular life in the ‘real...

Amazon Prime members: it’s that time of the month again. You get your free selection for Kindle upload. Here is a suggestion–the Skywalker hiking books, written by Bill Walker. These popular narratives are the tale of a middle-aged businessman who had never even spent the night outside, before developing an obsession to thru-hike the 2,180 mile Appalachian Trail in one hiking season. It took him 171 days, 33 pounds, and countless...

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-29672358 I was very, very worried. One thing that concerned me was others didn’t appear to be as uptight. Or maybe I was just missing something. After all, many of the trekkers were British, famous for their stiff upper lips. So who knows? But it had begun snowing at Annapurna Circuit Base Camp at 14,600 feet, after weeks of being assured by sherpas and guides that there would be no snow. In addition, I...

Admitted, I didn’t know what the heck I was doing. All I had done was read Bill Bryson’s bestseller, A Walk in the Woods. Nonetheless, I spent at least four months of almost full-time planning to thru-hike the 2,181 mile Appalachian Trail. I had never even spent the night outdoors. Of course many thru-hiker wannabes will have backpacking experience under their belt. Why does it take so long? Actually some of that time was physical...

Bill Walker, author of the popular Skywalker hiking books series, is offering his popular Pacific Crest Trail book, Skywalker–Highs and Lows on the Pacific Crest Trail, for free upload on Amazon Kindle and other handheld devices, this Friday and Saturday, November 7 and 8, 2014. Walker is also the author of Skywalker–Close Encounters on the Appalachian Trail, The Best Way–El Camino de Santiago, and Getting High–The...