On the trail - March 18, 2012

Lance Armstrong is a person I have always admired.  His focus, determination, and attention to detail helped him win 7 consecutive Tour de France bike races.  If some people are considered “type A” personalities, Lance falls into the “type superman A” category.  His heart is said to be the size of a pronghorn antelope’s.

In the hiking world, there is another “type superman A” personality.  His name is Andrew Skurka.  He was named “Adventurer of the Year” by Outside magazine for his epic long-distance hikes and has covered nearly 30,000 miles since 2002.

Andrew has recently teamed up with National Geographic to write a book called “The Ultimate Hiker’s Gear Guide – Tools & Techniques to Hit the Trail”.  The book can be described in one word – awesome.

In the book, Andrew delineates between what he describes as Ultimate Campers and Ultimate Hikers.  While he points out that one is not better than the other, he says that an Ultimate Camper is one who enjoys Type 1 fun.  Type 1 fun is fun to do and fun to talk about later.  To Ultimate Campers, backpacking should be leisure, not a challenge.

On the other hand, Ultimate Hikers enjoy Type 2 fun.  Type 2 fun is not fun to do but fun to talk about later.  Ultimate Hikers consider the physical and mental challenge of day-long hiking to be a valuable part of their backpacking experience.

There is also a Type 3 fun and I believe Andrew’s book was written in part to help people avoid this type of fun.  Type 3 fun is not fun to do and not fun to talk about later.  For all the bad times encountered on the trail whether you were hiking or backpacking, this book will help you prepare to engage in either Type 1 or Type 2 fun on the trail.

There is more to the book than just fun though.  In a telling quote from his book, after he had crossed a 657- mile stretch in the Canadian Arctic in which he had not crossed a road or seen another human being for 24-days, Andrew states,

“After finding the migration trail of the Porcupine caribou, I began to cry uncontrollably, realizing that in this vast and untamed wilderness, I was like them:  While being tortured by hellacious mosquitoes, soaked by torrential rains, and stalked by grizzlies and wolves, we were all trying to stay moving, and we slept and ate only to continue our constant forward progress.”

A man in motion stays in motion and Andrew has done some mind boggling long-distance hiking.  He once AVERAGED 33 miles a day for 207 consecutive days.  Compare that to the cyclists on the Tour de France who average 30 miles an hour for 2,100 miles in 21 days and you’ll understand why I think Andrew falls into the “type superman A” category.

Andrew also states in his book,

“The skills I have learned out there, like good decision making and resourcefulness, also serve me well in the Land of the Soft.  But perhaps the most important thing I return with is humility – recognition that natural powers are at work that I will never control or fully understand, and that will prevail long after I am gone.”

I highly recommend you pick up a copy of Andrew’s new book “The Ultimate Hiker’s Gear Guide”.  It will help you reframe the way you think about navigating in the great outdoors and help you to expand your horizons further into the backcountry.