Podcast: Andrew Skurka's Great Western Loop

Every so often, I get a hankerin' for long-distance travel. (For Dave and I, that hankerin' is currently building up; it'll manifest sometime in the next year, I think.) Between long trips, I torture entertain myself by reading and listening to accounts of other people's adventures. That's what I was doing last summer when I listened to Andrew Skurka's podcast of the route he invented (!), the Great Western Loop.

Okay, he didn't invent the trails, but he pieced together several separate trails to form a big loop around the western U.S. Doesn't it look AMAZING in that map?

(Here's the other time I blogged about its amazingness.)

Skurka is in a class of trekkers called fastpackers because he keeps his pack weight so low he can routinely hike 30-45 miles a day. That was one of his strategies to complete the GWL in 7 months (many people take that long to complete just one of the north-south routes he used). While speed was a consideration, completion was the goal. And probably the distinction of being the first to do the GWL -- three years before, he became the first to complete the transcontinental Sea-To-Sea route from Quebec to Washington state. As you can see in his sidebar, he enjoys several sponsorships, including GoLite and Backpacking Light magazine, both of whom he's worked for.

Skurka's GWL podcasts are hosted at Backpacking Light. They include mostly audio episodes, with a few video eps. The same BL page also has a few interviews with Skurka about his trek plan, his gear, and his philosophy. I enjoyed listening to them all for the vicarious experience, or course. But they also inspire me to keep my lifestyle and physical being light and uncomplicated, so that when opportunities for adventure arise, I can accept them.

[image via Andrew Skurka]
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