Mississippi River and Appalachian Trail Blog

As I was driving back from the ALDHA Gathering this past weekend, I has plenty of time to reflect on both my Appalachian Trail thru-hike and Mississippi River expedition. At first glance, these two things have nothing in common, but dig a little deeper and you'll find plenty of shared issues : clean water protection, open space planning, long-distance recreational travel, volunteer coordination, private / non-profit / government administration, and a host of others. More to the point, if I hadn't thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail, I wouldn't have attempted to paddle the Mississippi, must less be writing a book about that experience.

For me, long distance travel is a means to an end, and the "trail between the ears" is often the richest experience of all. I'm changing the name of the blog to better represent the interests I have with the environmental protection, management, and recreation aspects of both Appalachian Trail and Mississippi River. I'm open to suggestions of where to take this, so join me for the ride.