Free Upload of Skywalker Hiking Books

Today and tomorrow, December 5th and 6th, Bill Walker’s series of Skywalker hiking books will be available for free upload on Amazon Kindle. These include: Skywalker–Close Encounters on the Appalachian Trail Skywalker–Highs and Lows on the Pacific Crest Trail The Best Way–El Camino de Santiago Tall Tales–The Great Talisman of Height

Read More

Appalachian Trail Sees Record Numbers in Wake of Bill Bryson Film

The gold standard has always been 2,000 thru-hikers wannabe’s a year. But that has changed and the number is closer to 3,000 this year. Of course, only about 20 or 25 % of them will make it all the way to Mount Katahdin in northern Maine. Nonetheless, it’s great news. Short of loss of life or serious bodily injury, a thru-hike attempt inevitably becomes a highlight of a person’s life. It is a shout of freedom that few people...

Read More

Cheryl Strayed’s ‘Wild–From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail’ Makes Her a Hero to A Certain Type of Woman

“Did you hear?” a hiker friend from the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) asked me. “The number of people at the Kickoff was almost double. And the number of women tripled.” Folks, can we all agree that’s good news! And please don’t read too much into it! Just a quick synopsis: the number of women on America’s other great footpath, the Appalachian Trail, has increased to approximately half the hiker population....

Read More

Two Hikers to Attempt Pacific Crest Trail in Winter: Shades of Jack London!

http://www.rgj.com/story/life/outdoors/recreation/2014/10/27/hiking-pacific-crest-trail-winter-adventure-safety/18012573/ Folks, I know you get bombarded with a lot of material on the internet. But this article above really is worth reading about two hikers planning to thru-hike the 2,663 mile Pacific Crest Trail this winter. Just to give you a taste of what they are attempting, I traversed the renowned High Sierra in the latter part of June....

Read More

Pacific Crest Trail Becoming a Trail of the Masses

“A trail of the masses.” Now that’s a loaded term. And the Pacific Crest Trail–isn’t the Appalachian Trail (AT) America’s ‘trail of the masses’? Yes, the AT is. However that doesn’t mean the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) can’t be one also. The good news is that it rapidly is. Of course part of it has to do with the phenomenal success of Cheryl Strayed’s PCT memoir, Wild–From...

Read More

Record Crowd of Pacific Crest Trail Thru-Hikers Racing to Beat Winter

Folks, let’s hope for no more drama. Last year three hikers were rescued by helicopter, and another outright cheated death by developing an escape plan from an early blast of snow in the northern Cascades, which PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) hikers traverse to complete the trail at the Canadian border. How about this year? There has already been one helicopter rescue for injury. And the Dinsmore hostel located in Skykomish–about 175...

Read More