Long distance hiker Andrew Skurka

Finished the 2100 mile Appalachian Trail while a student at Duke.

Andrew Skurka in the Great Dvidie Basin in Wyoming

Host / Producer Jim Blum A man that's been called "Adventurer of the Year" by National Geographic Adventure magazine and "Person of the Year" by Backpacker magazine will give a talk this evening (Fri) at the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Andrew Skurka has completed three long distance hikes that totaled more than 16,000 miles, and he's only twenty seven years old. Click to Listen Other options: Realplayer / Windows Media / MP3 Download (7:51) Full Blum - Skurka interview Other options: Realplayer / Windows Media / MP3 Download (24:14)

Skurka has completed the 6,875-mile Great Western Loop, a journey that links together 5 long-distance hiking trails,12 National Parks, and over 75 wilderness areas and the 7,778-mile Sea-to-Sea Route. The latter trek is a transcontinental network of long-distance hiking trails from Quebec to Washington, and involved Andrew snowshoeing 1,400 miles. Skurka was named the 2007 "Adventurer of the Year" by National Geographic Adventure (which described him as "a Gen Y version of Henry David Thoreau or John Muir") and the 2005 "Person of the Year" by Backpacker magazine.

Web Resources

Andrew Skurka website