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
Life is Too Short to Waste on Speed
On the Teton Crest Trail in Wyoming, Blissful decides to go for an "SKT" (Slowest Known Time) and surprises abound.
1. John Muir (and Henry David Thoreau) hated the word "hike" and preferred to saunter, entering beautiful natural places with reverence.
2. Physiologists tell us that walking at a turtle's pace releases endocannabinoids a kind of "persistence high" that elicits a state of euphoria.
3. But most important, going slow and leaving plenty of time allows us to simply exist and enjoy – explore off-trail, enjoy sights like a bull moose, pikas, and wildflowers, and nab the best campsites!
Blissful will give her first TEDx talk this October in Manchester, New Hampshire! The subject is "Stepping into the Unknown." Get tickets here. Use coupon code "WILD" for a discount!
MUSIC: Introduccion y Allegro by Carlos Guastavino as played by Alison Young, flute and Vicki Seldon, piano.
