The annual ATKO (Appalachian Trail Kickoff) at Amicalola Falls in north Georgia saw record turnouts this year. The crowd was evenly divided between ex-thru-hikers, current year thru-hikers, and wannabe hopefuls for the future. The event was a another display of how the Appalachian Trail is America’s great trail of the masses, with a stunning diversity in its hiker community. One of the featured speakers was a fifteen year old girl...

President Obama has purchased the bestselling hiking adventure book, Wild–From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, by Cheryl Strayed. This is the story of a lone woman (Cheryl Strayed) recovering from the death of her mother, divorce, and drug abuse, setting off alone on the 2,663 mile Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada. “He had an unusual background around lots of supporting, loving people,” Miss Strayed...

If you had asked me in the desert what my most important piece of equipment in my backpack was, I would have told you the dorky, wide-brimmed hat I wore to protect myself from the blazing sun and stave off dehydration. However, way up in the ‘High Sierra’ portion of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), I would have had a surprising answer–a piece of equipment that did not weigh even one ounce and cost less than $20. My mosquito head...

In this day and age of mass consumerism, the Christmas shopper is to be pitied. She (he) faces a staggering variety of choices. With that in mind, let me quickly make the case for purchasing hiking narratives. Hiking is something you do because you want to, not because you have to. The same goes for hiking books. They’re not like food, medical services, etc. in the sense they are obligatory. I have always thought of hiking–especially...

“I’m in a wheelchair in a nursing home with no chance of ever getting out. It is my days on the Appalachian Trail I remember most fondly.” Those are the words of former Appalachian Trail thru-hiker, Colin Fletcher. Yet I suspect he is speaking for many of us. This fact of life is brought home to me when I look at the number of my Facebook friends that so many people–including, very much, myself–have met through...

 Bill Walker, author of the Skywalker hiking series, is offering a free Amazon Kindle upload today only of his two popular outdoor adventure narratives, Skywalker–Close Encounters on the Appalachian Trail, and Skywalker–Highs and Lows on the Pacific Crest Trail. Walker is also the author of ‘The Best Way–El Camino de Santiago’ and ‘Getting High–The Annapurna Circuit in Nepal’. Walker, who is...