Wild, starring Reese Witherspoon, and written by Cheryl Strayed, has sharply ratcheted up interest in the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail, running from Mexico to Canada. While some may view this with alarm, I feel just the opposite. The population of hikers would have to practically dectuple before it reached the Appalachian Trail level of density. And I vividly remember long stretches of complete, eerie solitude. It’s all to the good....

“The Appalachian Trail is more difficult step-for-step, but the Pacific Crest Trail offers greater extremes.” That is the conventional wisdom. And unlike conventional wisdom on Wall Street, hiking community conventional wisdom is often correct. Indeed the PCT traverses 703 miles of desert before even entering the ‘High Sierra’. While not actually on the PCT most thru-hikers do attempt to go up Mount. Whitney, the highest...

October is that time of the year. The search and rescue teams in the northern Cascades are busy. Much busier than any such teams in Maine. In both places, thru-hikers are finishing their long journeys. While Maine is as gorgeous of a place as one can find on this earth, it is no match, in one respect, for Washington State in the northern Cascades. Peril. Put simply, the northern Cascades receive more snow than anywhere else in the Lower...

https://www.facebook.com/ATHike/photos/a.142376382395.123009.16218202395/10152395520887396/?type=1&theater I am happy to report to those of you of ‘outdoor ilk’ that the rumors you have heard are not, in fact, rumors. Cheryl Strayed’s bestselling memoir, Wild–From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail’ is in fact now a movie starring Reese Witherspoon. It will be widely available to the public during the...

Skywalker–Close Encounters on the Appalachian Trail now has an Amazon #2 ranking on Amazon for non-fiction, sports, outdoor, and camping. It is the tale of 6’11” Bill Walker’s thru-hike of the 2,663 mile Appalachian National Scenic trail running from Georgia to northern Maine which he calls “the journey of a lifetime.” Walker is also the author of  several popular hiking books including Skywalker–Highs...

The Appalachian Trail is America’s great trail of the masses. Nothing can–or should–ever replace that. That was Benton McKaye’s plan from the beginning, given the proximity of the Appalachain Mountain Range to the nation’s great population centers. The Pacific Crest Trail is America’s other great trail; better yet, it is becoming greater by the minute, as hostels, trail maintainers, guidebooks, and the like...