Weight loss is one of the great challenges of the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail). I had lost 33 pounds on the Appalachian Trail. To be sure, it had been a problem. However, I had quickly recouped the weight by retaining my hiker’s appetite even after the AT hike was over. Bu the PCT represented a greater challenge. The distances between resupply are longer on the PCT than the AT. That usually means that a hiker will carry less weight for...

This is the cover for the paperback and Kindle versions of Skywalker–Close Encounters on the Appalachian Trail. The book was orginally printed in hardback form. Two runs of 1,500 were done by Indigo Publishing. Last year I had sold out of all 3,000 copies. That was the good news. The bad news is the publisher went broke. Thus, I have created this new version (exact same text) with what some consider a whimsical cover, panning my height. It...

PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) hikers can expect to run into rattlesnakes at various points in the desert, which is exactly where a PCT hiker is the first 703 miles. They certainly seemed a lot more at home out there than we hikers! One thru-hiker picked up the trail name, ‘Snake Charmer’, when a rattlesnake lunged at him and bounced off his shoe. Some tried hiking at night to avoid the awful heat of the desert. This allowed them to make...

After 703 miles in the desert, PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) hikers enter the so-called ‘High Sierra’. This section traverses the highest points on the entire American mainland, including Mount Whitney (14,494 feet) and Forrester’s Pass. Most hikers consider this section the highlight of the PCT. Indeed, the High Sierra has an alpen glow, that mixed in with the daunting peaks and snow, give it a certain ethereal majesty. PCT hikers...

Thru-hikers become obsessed with backpack weight. I was no different. You would understand if you tried walking from Mexico to Canada. At the Lake Tahoe post office, I had agonized before finally deciding to send my gloves forward in the post to Washington State. It saved me two ounces–no small consideration. However, I would soon regret it. In northern California we got hit with a summertime storm, and many hikers were on the verge of...

Uber-hiker, Andrew Skurka, did a presentation last evening at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina. It was a smashing success. Highly inspirational. He seemingly has hiked all over the West, including the Sea-to Sea Trail (all across Canada), the Western Loop Trail (large parts of the Pacific Crest Trail and Continental Divide Trail), and in 2010, in his greatest gambit of all, he hiked large parts of the Alaska Yukon. Large parts of...