BirdShooter's Backpacking Blog & Podcast Series
pcttrailsidereader: It is ADZPCTKO time again. April 26 - 28, hundreds of PCT hikers, trail angels, and friends of the trail will gather at Lake Morena. Here are a photo from the 2012 Kick-Off. On both Friday and Saturday evenings this year, stories from The Pacific Crest Trailside Readers will be read (Liz Bergeron will read Walkin’ Jim Stoltz’s “Out on the Crest Trail” and Russ Mease will read “Facing My Fears on Three-Fingered Jack” on … [Read more...]
Spring is a special time on the Appalachian Trail. Every year, 2000+ people show up at Springer Mountain (the official start of the A.T. in Georgia) to head north. In 1994, I was one of those people - and ever since I pause for a moment to think about the next group to head North. This year, I had a friend making the annual pilgrimage and drove across town to meet Scott "Zip" Willits on 3/16/12. We met up at his sister's house in metro-Atlanta, and it was a beautiful spring day - the kind … [Read more...]
It is customary in the world of Appalachian Trail thru-hiking to pick a trail name, and in 1994 after reading Wingfoot's Thru-Hiker's Handbook - I came to realize that it was better to choose a trail name rather than have someone pick one for me. So after completing Earl Shaffer's Walking With Spring, I decided to take the trail name "BirdShooter" which was the brand name of the hiking boots that carried Earl Shaffer 2000+ miles up the East Coast and in to history as the first hiker … [Read more...]
