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
Te Araroa: Thanksgiving
The Blissful Hiker is back on New Zealand's Te Araroa thru-hike, "slackpacking" through Auckland then celebrating Thanksgiving with her Kiwi hosts, discovering she has a lot to be grateful for.
In this episode:
- "Slackpacking" means hiking on a thru-hike with only what's needed for the day, leaving overnight gear at a friend's where the hiker sleeps.
- Blissful hikes in rain and sunshine through parks, up blown out volcanoes, into museums and along busy roads.
- She learns about another hiker dying on the trail and considers how easy it is to make a dumb decision, wondering if risking everything to come on this hike was a good one.
- And at a Thanksgiving meal she realizes she feels gratitude for her decision, dumb or not.
MUSIC: Introduccion y allegro by Carlos Guastavino as played by Alison Young, flute and Vicki Seldon, piano
available on iTunes
