This morning I received the following response from Dennis Blanchard, author of Three Hundred Zeroes, about a blog I posted on my website. He makes some salient points. Appalachian Trail books are a cottage industry, probably because we mortal feel compelled-or perhaps cursed–to tell about our lifetime adventures. But the more you read these books, the more you realize how different each person’s experience is. Other than it being...

 The Appalachian Trail (AT) and Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) face their weather trials and tribulations inversely. As noted previously, the AT starts at its very highest elevations in the southern Appalachians. And to thru-hike that 2,180 mile national scenic trail, it is necessary to begin in early spring. Thus, you can expect cold, wet weather in the early going, that can border on dangerous. The PCT is just the opposite. PCT thru-hikers start...

    Skywalker–Highs and Lows on the Pacific Crest Trail has just been released in audio format on Amazon.com  Those interested in purchasing the recording can access the following link  http://www.amazon.com/Skywalker-Highs-Pacific-Crest-Trail/dp/B00B581A9G/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1359147349&sr=8-2&keywords=skywalker+highs+and+lows+on+the+pacific+crest+trail The audio is 7 hours and 53 minutes in length and the...

Randall St. Germain, author of Camino de Santiago in 20 Days, recently gave me an extensive interview. Randall has done and written about the Camino de Santiago himself. He knew I had done the same. But like most outdoors people, he was curious about other trails and routes. For that reason he had lots of questions about the journeys on the Appalachian Trail and Pacific Crest Trail. I enjoyed the interview, probably because his questioning...

“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...