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
Aliveness
“The goal of life … is not happiness, peace, or fulfillment, but aliveness.” —Hubert Dreyfuss
1. Sometimes curiosity about what’s around the next corner is enough to keep us exploring and moving forward.
2. Life doesn’t end once you’ve done “enough.” It keeps unfolding.
3. I hike because I am curious and because I can.
4. Here's a mantra I'll take with me on my next hike of the Great Divide Trail:
You’re not hiking for records, for ego, or for others.
You’re hiking because you still can—and that’s everything.
Each step is a declaration: “My body is capable. My spirit is willing. I am still in motion.”
There may come a day when this kind of journey is no longer possible.
But that day is not today.
Today, you hike.
MUSIC: "Poema del Pastor Coya" by Angel Lasala as played by Alison Young, flute and Vicki Seldon, piano.
