The annual Trail Days Festival in Damascus, Virginia is one of the outdoor world’s marquee events. For good reason. It was started in 1987 with the idea of bringing together hikers from previous years. It has succeeded signally in that regard; but it is also a lot more than that. The whole outdoor community seems to be on display. For starters, Damascus is the perfect place to have the event; it is widely known as the friendliest town on...

Outdoor adventure narratives are a cottage industry. And for good reason. A cursory look at history shows that the deepest yearning of humans is to move. “The great affair is to move,” wrote Pascal in his Pensees’s. “Complete calm is death.”Indeed, from our earliest time as a species, humans have sought to better their plight by perpetual motion, the Bedouins, Kurds, Aborigenes, to name but a few with this...

Bill Walker (‘Skywalker’) will be having a two-day free upload (April 27 and 28) of his newly released outdoor adventure narrative, Getting High–The Annapurna Circuit in Nepal (2013). This is the story of his trek on Europe’s most popular footpath, the Annapurna Circuit. Walker ardently makes the case that the Annapurna Circuit is the best way for an average person like himself to experience the world’s greatest...

“I would definitely go to the Kickoff.” Time after time, when I asked ex PCT-hikers for advice, that was the first thing they suggested. They were referring to the annual Pacific Crest Trail Kickoff Party held every year on the last weekend in April in Lake Morena County State Park in the southern California desert. The PCTactually begins at the Mexican border; Lake Morena State Park is 21 miles north of the border. Thru-hikers...

“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...

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...