I really like reading hiking and outdoor memoirs because they combine personal insights and emotions with the writers' experience of everyday routine, physical trials, town encounters, and natural wonder. There's a richness in them that you don't often find in autobiographies or more episodic trail journals and trip reports.

I was working on my holiday gift lists this weekend and thought I'd pull together a list of my favorite hiking memoirs for you. I've read many of these and can recommend them. The rest – I hope someone will buy me!

Appalachian Trail

• AWOL on the Appalachian Trail
• Blind Courage
• As Far as the Eye Can See
• A Walk for Sunshine: A 2,160 Mile Expedition for Charity on the Appalachian Trail
• In Beauty May She Walk; Hiking the Appalachian Trail at 60
• DEAD MEN HIKE NO TRAILS
• Remember The Carrot: A Change Of Pace On The Appalachian Trail
• Appalachian Impressions (DVD)
• TREK – A Journey on the Appalachian Trail (DVD)

Pacific Crest Trail

• Dances With Marmots – A Pacific Crest Trail Adventure
• A Thru-Hiker's Heart, Tales of the Pacific Crest Trail
• A Blistered Kind of Love: One Couple's Trial by Trail
• Zero Days: The Real Life Adventure of Captain Bligh, Nellie Bly, and 10-year-old Scrambler on the Pacific Crest Trail
• Walk (DVD)
• Walking The West (PCT)

Other US

• Listening for Coyote: A Walk Across Oregon's Wilderness
• The Sierra High Route: Traversing Timberline Country
• The Man Who Walked Through Time: The Story of the First Trip Afoot Through the Grand Canyon
• A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf
• John Muir : Nature Writings: The Story of My Boyhood and Youth; My First Summer in the Sierra; The Mountains of California; Stickeen; Essays
• One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey
• Indian Creek Chronicles: A Winter Alone in the Wilderness
• The Last Season

International

• The Munros and Tops: A Record-Setting Walk in the Scottish Highlands
• Ten Million Steps: Nimblewill Nomad's Epic 10-Month Trek from the Florida Keys to Quebec
• Traversa: A Solo Walk Across Africa, from the Skeleton Coast to the Indian Ocean
• No Shortcuts to the Top: Climbing the World's 14 Highest Peaks
• Touching My Father's Soul: A Sherpa's Journey to the Top of Everest

If you have any other hiking or outdoor memoirs you'd like to recommend please leave a comment below.

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Winter camping, hiking, backpacking and mountaineering are not without peril. If you have never done them, it's best to receive some training from your local outdoor club or a professional guiding service before you try it yourself. I just started last year myself after a three day Intro to Mountaineering Class with a guide in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. It was an eye opening experience.

If you are located in New England and are interested in becoming a 4 season hiker, there are a few winter training programs that I'd recommend you look into. The Adirondack Mountain Club hosts an annual Winter Mountaineering School near Lake Placid, New York that typically covers the following areas of instruction:

• Trip planning and leadership
• Snowshoe, crampon, and ice axe technique
• Use of map, compass, altimeter, and GPS
• On and off trail navigation
• Winter backpacking skills
• Constructing snow caves, igloos, and other snow shelters
• Steep snow and ice climbing
• Safe above-treeline travel under winter conditions
• Wilderness first aid and safety
• Avalanche Awareness
• Hydration, nutrition, and winter backcountry kitchen skills

If you live in the Boston Area, the Boston Chapter of the Appalachian Mountain Club has a Winter Hiking and Backpacking Program which I will be attending this year along with Tom Murphy, a regular section hiker reader. Starting next Tuesday (11/10/09), it includes 4 lectures and 10 hiking, backpacking and cabin trips in New England and the White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire. I already know quite a few of the instructors and trip leaders including Mark Warren who has been a guest poster on section hiker. If you want to attend this program, you need to get it in gear and get registered.

If you can recommend other winter hiking and backpacking instruction programs that people should know about, please leave a comment below.

If you want to learn more about winter camping, hiking, backpacking and mountaineering, here are a few online resources and books that I have found very helpful:

• Princeton University Outdoor Action Guide to Winter Camping
• Jim Muller's WinterCampers.com
• Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills
• NOLS Winter Camping
• Allen & Mike's Really Cool Backcountry Ski Book: Traveling & Camping Skills for a Winter Environment
  
• How to Build an Igloo: And Other Snow Shelters

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(All photos courtesy of Martin Rye)

Some big news last week. I was selected to participate in the 2010 TGO Challenge. This is an annual coast-to-coast hike across Scotland held every May. As you can imagine, I am very excited about this since only a handful of Americans participate each year. This year's event will be held from May 14-28 and approximately 300 hikers will attempt the traverse.

The object of the TGO Challenge is to foster good fellowship among walkers within the framework of a challenging expedition. It is not a competition, but a demanding, self-supported trek across Scotland from the west coast to the east coast. Participants plan their own cross-country routes and must walk them without external support.

Route plans vary widely and include high, medium, and low routes that reflect the number of mountain ascents attempted during a walker's hike. Scotland has 283 munros of height 3,000 ft or higher, which despite their modest size, can be treacherous to climb year round due to bad weather and rugged terrain. My own route, about 150 miles long, will be a low one (recommended for first time challengers), but weather-permitting, will provide me with the opportunity to bag a half-dozen or more of these peaks.

Challengers can camp during the entire traverse or stay in B&B's and Inns if they like. I'm planning on camping mostly, but will probably stay in a few B&B's along the way to dry out and resupply. Another type of shelter, unique to the UK is also available, called a bothie. These are old buildings, donated by landowners, that are used by hikers for shelter and maintained by an organization called the Mountain Bothies Association.

The idea for the Challenge first came from the Scottish writer and mountaineer, Hamish Brown, best known for his book Hamish's Mountain Walk. Having hiked across Scotland himself, Brown felt that this was a journey that could be accomplished by others within the framework of a organized, non-competitive event. Brown presented the idea to Roger Smith, then editor of The Great Outdoors Magazine (TGO), an excellent UK walking magazine, and the first Challenge was held in 1980. Since then, a remarkable 6,493 have finished the crossing.

Many Challenge participants use the walk to raise funds for charity. A hiking friend of mine was diagnosed with Leukemia this year and her illness has touched me deeply. Before that, I knew little about Leukemia and other forms of blood cancer, which account for 9.5% of all cancer deaths in the United States.

Therefore, I am finalizing the paperwork now to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and I hope you will support my efforts. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society is committed to finding cures for leukemia and related diseases and improving the lives of those affected by these diseases. In addition to funding research and education outreach, they provide financial assistance and sponsor support groups for patients and families.

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When the weather starts getting a little colder and darkness falls before 6PM, I add a few luxury items to my pack on overnight backpacking trips, like a mini-lantern and a paperback book to pass the time at night.

On my last backpacking trip, I tested a Black Diamond Orbit Lantern and really liked it. It weighs just 4.8 oz, including 4 AAA battiers, and retails for $29.95. I own other LED camping lanterns like the Brunton Lamplight, but the Orbit is a little better for reading at night because it has a built in dimmer switch and a frosted glass globe to diffuse light.

Rings at the top of the Orbit let you suspend it from the roof of your tent and it has a telescoping body that collapses when not in use. The manufacturer reports that battery life is 10-24 hours depending on dimmer usage. A rechargeable battery kit is also available including international power outlet adapters.

For larger groups, Black Diamond manufactures a larger lantern called the Apollo ($49.95, 11 oz.) which lights a 10 meter circle, and the Titan ($79.95, 24 oz without batteries) intended for basecamps, which lights a 14 meter circle.

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The main reason I bring a camping towel on a backpacking trips is to wipe down the outside of a wet tent or shelter before packing it away for the day.  It's a neat little trick to cut down on extra water weight and leaves you with a drier shelter when you set it up the following evening.

I rarely use one on myself and just dry myself off with my clothes using my body heat to dry them out. Body heat is really good for that.

I also don't bother with a commercial camping towel like ones from MSR or REI that cost $12 and up. Instead, I use a dish towel, like the ones you can buy at Trader Joe's or supermarkets for 2 or 3 bucks. These are made using a slightly thicker absorbent fabric than camping towels but perform exactly the same with almost no extra weight penalty. If you're a complete fanatic, you can probably cut one of these down to 1/4 if its size and use it like a sponge.

I've been think of doing that myself to save a few grams. Haha!

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