Most backpackers you meet are honest, down-to-earth people. But they can’t resist spinning a yarn about their backcountry exploits when they gather around the campfire and it’s not uncommon to hear about feats of strength involving overweight backpacks, daring winter hikes in white-out conditions, or close encounters with van-sized grizzly bears! What tall tales have you [...]
Andrew Skurka’s The Ultimate Hiker’s Gear Guide
Contrary to its title, Andrew Skurka’s new backpacking book, The Ultimate Hiker’s Gear Guide is not really a book about gear per se, as much as it is about the skills and knowledge that very experienced backpackers develop for planning trips and deciding what gear is appropriate and safe enough to bring. That might sound [...]
Sky Islands and Desert Canyons
This post is about writing and hiking. I’ve been reveling this week in Chris Townsend’s hiking memoir, Crossing Arizona: A Solo Hike Through the Sky Islands and Deserts of the Arizona Trail Here’s a short excerpt that I keep returning too. “A purple glow suffused the sky above low gray green and gray hills when [...]
Great Hiking and Outdoor Memoirs
I really like reading hiking and outdoor memoirs because they combine personal insights and emotions with the writers' experience of everyday routine, physical trials, town encounters, and natural wonder. There's a richness in them that you don't often find in autobiographies or more episodic trail journals and trip reports. I was working on my holiday [...]
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