blissful hiker ❤︎ inspiring you to hike your own hike
Long-distance backpacker Alison “Blissful Hiker” Young has logged more than 14,000 miles across six continents, tackling iconic routes such as New Zealand’s Te Araroa, Europe’s Pyrenean Haute Route, South Africa’s Drakensberg Traverse, Nepal’s Great Himalayan Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail in the United States.
An award-winning professional musician and syndicated American Public Media host, Alison approaches storytelling through a deeply attuned ear. Her series of intimate personal essays — coupled with field recordings gathered on trail — trace a path of self-discovery as a middle-aged, titanium-reinforced cancer thriver. They reveal the often unglamorous but essential truths of empowerment, inviting listeners to find the courage to blaze their own trails on the journey we call life.
blissful hiker ❤︎ inspiring you to hike your own hike
Porcupine Mountains Wilderness Part 2
Blissful Hiker is honored to have been named an "Artist in Residence" by the Friends of the Porkies and will live in a remote cabin this spring to create audio narrative essays in Upper Peninsula Michigan in the Porcupine Mountains.
In this episode, she revisits her fall backpack trip when she fell in love with the "Porkies."
- Awakening to a spectacular sunrise on Lake of the Clouds, Blissful walks into a the magical and primeval hemlock forest.
- She meets the Big Carp River and enchanted by its silvery cascades on volcanic rock.
- A short walk along Lake Superior and she's back in forest following another river, the Little Carp where she camps next to a pool reflecting gold and red fall colors.
- The next day she climbs to the high point at Summit Peak, then down to gorgeous Mirror Lake and finally a private site on a beaver pond filled with nature's sound including chipmunks, owls, beaver and a howling wolf.
MUSIC: Poema del Pastor Coya by Angel Lasala as played by Alison Young, flute and Vicki Seldon, piano
