“Don’t start before April 1st unless you have great ability or extensive training in dealing with cold weather.” That is the advice I routinely give aspiring Appalachian Trail (AT) thru-hikers. I would like to add that Appalachian Trail thru-hikers need to have their ‘game face’ on from the beginning. Because the toughest two states on the AT are the last two–New Hampshire and Maine. But the next most...

“I’m 65 and can’t do the whole thing,” a lady recently responded on my Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) blog. Point well taken. Although I met a man on the PCT whose trail name was ‘Two Weeks and Three Days’. When he had retired as a civil servant that spring, he had announced to (rather than discussed with) his wife that he would now be thru-hiking the 2,663 mile PCT from Mexico to Canada. His wife, who had never...

Skywalker–Close Encounters on the Appalachian Trail will be eligible for a free upload on Amazon Kindle for Monday and Tuesday, January 21, 22, 2013. This popular trail narrative tells the story of 6’11” Bill Walker’s (Skywalker) 2005 thru-hike of the 2,175 mile Appalachian Trail (AT). Walker had developed a virtual obsession with thru-hiking the AT, despite never having spent a single night outdoors. What followed was a...

The popular Appalachian Trail narrative, Skywalker–Close Encounters on the Appalachian Trail, by Bill Walker, will be available for a free download on Amazon Kindle on Monday and Tuesday, January 21-22. This narrative of Bill Walker’s 2005 thru-hike has sold steadily since being published four years ago. Walker had developed a virtual obsession that he was going to thru-hike the 2,175 mile Appalachian Trail in one hiking season. This...

Truth be known, asking me for advice on thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail is about like asking the captain of the Titanic for advice on navigation. I struggled every step of the way in my 2005 thru-hike of this great national scenic trail. Of the people who made it all the way, I was one of the worst. In fact, there were many hikers who were much better and stronger than me who did not complete the hike. So while I am much more fluent in the...

I recently received a very negative one-star review on Amazon for my narrative, Skywalker–Close Encounters on the Appalachian Trail. The reviewer mentioned that I had written the wrong name for the outfitter at Neel’s Gap, and thus my facts could not be trusted. I replied to the reviewer that I had used the wrong name on purpose. I had a traditional publisher, Indigo Publishing, that insisted that I use a pseudonym because I had...