‘High Sierra’ Section of the Pacific Crest Trail Is Even More Beautiful Than the Himalayas
“You’ve never seen anything like it.”This is what I was repeatedly promised by countless people before walking the Pacific Crest Trail in 2009 and the Annapurna Circuit in 2012. I can assure you that both were correct. The Himalayas, of course, are the mecca for outdoor enthusiasts the world over. Almost all of the world’s greatest peaks (Everest, K-2) lie within this mountain range. The greatest hikers and climbers in the world come to Nepal, Pakistan, and India for Himalayan challenges. There is even a...
read moreRecord Crowd of Thru-Hikers Expected for 2013 Hiking Season
Woo-hoo! It’s opening day at Hiker Heaven, and there are two hikers in da house! Volunteers Shelly Skye (aka Upside Down ’12) and Mike Shostak (aka Clutch ’12) have already made a big dent in preparations. Cucumber Boy and Three Gallon (’07) donated a 27′ RV that will be used for volunteer housing. There are so many amazing ways to “Serve The Herd!” I am so grateful and full of anticipation for another incredible season! I saw the above post on Facebook this morning from Donna Saufley of...
read moreCamino de Santiago: The Best Way
I have just released a new book on the Camino de Santiago called, The Best Way. It is a narrative of my 2010 and 2011 hikes of the popular Camino Frances, which runs from St. Jean Pied de Port in southern France to the great Gothic Cathedral at Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain. In the ‘Holy Year’ of 2010, I did this 500 mile trek with my 18 year-old nephew Gavin, who proved to have his own brand of Fonzie-like charm. Hopefully, the reader will see in our frat-boy dialogue a style similar to that of Bill Bryson and Katz...
read morePopular Appalachian Trail Book–‘A Walk in the Woods’ to Finally Be Made Into Hollywood Movie
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-robert-redford-walk-woods-richard-linklater-20130403,0,3308669.story “Robert Redford just bought the movie rights to Bryson’s book,” someone reported to me at Pine Grove Furnace State Park in 2005 during my thru-hike. This, incidentally, is the halfway point on the Appalachian Trail. Thru-hikers are renowned for attempting to eat a half-gallon of ice cream in an hour to complete the ‘half-gallon challenge’ (I failed miserably). Indeed, when I walked...
read morePacific Crest Trail Attracts a Different Type of Hiker From Appalachian Trail
Some have referred to the Pacific Crest Trail as the Appalachian Trail of the West. The Appalachian Trail is America’s trail of the masses; some three to four million people per year step foot on it at any one time each and every year. The Pacific Crest Trail does not have this feeling. For starters, it begins with 703 miles in the desert. The striking thing to me about that long, and sometimes brutal, march through the desert–including parts of the Mojave–was how isolated it all seemed. You could literally count on two hands...
read moreSkywalker Suggests Taking Plenty of Zero Days in the Early Going on Appalachian Trail
The numerous readers of Bill Bryson’s Appalachian Trail narrative, A Walk in the Woods, will recall how he and his hapless sidekick, Katz, got bogged down in nasty, early springtime weather in the southern Appalachians. At one point, they were forced to take three days off in some out of the way hiker’s hostel. Of course, they began in March when the weather is notoriously dicey in these parts. I have been quite vociferous in advising aspiring thru-hikers to not begin until April 1st. The reason obviously has to do with...
read moreAmazon Travel Books Department Recommends Skywalker–Close Encounters on the Appalachian Trail.
william b walker, Are you looking for something in our Travel Books department? If so, you might be interested in these items. Travel Books Skywalker–Close Encounters on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Walker List Price: $10.95 Price: $8.75 You Save: $2.20 (20%) AWOL on the Appalachian Trail by David Miller List Price: $14.95 Price: $10.17 You Save: $4.78 (32%) This outdoor adventure...
read moreSkywalker Discusses Sixteen-Time Appalachian Trail Thru-Hiker, Warren Doyle
“There is nothing Warren likes more than watching a hiker who is vomiting, to then stand up and start hiking again.” I offered this quote from a longtime friend of Warren Doyle’s in my Appalachian Trail narrative, Skywalker–Close Encounters on the Appalachian Trail. I had been taking Warren’s Appalachian Trail Institute class, which helps ready wannabe’ thru-hikers for the long journey ahead. Given that Warren has hiked the entire 2,180 mile Appalachian Trail sixteen times and counting, he presumably would...
read moreWalking in the Rain on the Appalachian Trail
Me giving advice on walking in the rain on the Appalachian Trail is like the captain of the Titanic giving advice on navigation. Well, not quite that bad. I made it, while the Titanic’s skipper didn’t have any such luck. But those of you who have read my Appalachian Trail book, Skywalker–Close Encounters on the Appalachian Trail, know that I was an unapologetic fair weathered hiker. However, the stark truth is that even fair-weathered hikers are destined to spend alot of time struggling in inclement weather. That is...
read moreSkywalker Lauds Pacific Crest Trail Documentary, ‘Tell it on the Mountain’
The highest compliment I can pay to the recently released Pacific Crest Trail documentary, Tell it on the Mountain, is that it ruined my life. What? Well, okay. It may not have ruined my whole life, but it sure has clouded my intermediate term future. I had already done the Appalachian Trail and Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), followed by Europe’s most popular footpath, the Camino de Santiago, and the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal. So I had thought I was pretty much done with long-distance hikes. In fact, I had recently made a decision to move...
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