ALISON'S SPEAKING TOPICS
Travelogues
Alison Young is the Blissful Hiker and has walked over 12,000 miles on six continents. Her stories on trail are a mix of awe-inspiring photos, riveting story-telling and plenty of laughs.
Pluck and a Whole Lotta Luck
Pacific Crest Trail
The Pacific Crest Trail is a 1,600-mile trail from Canada to Mexico taking the hiker through the glorious mountain scenery of the Cascades and Sierras, volcanoes and deserts and three states on one of the most spectacular routes in the world. Join Alison Young, the Blissful Hiker, for spectacular images, video, sound and stories on this thrilling adventure of a lifetime.
New Zealand’s Long Pathway
Te Araroa
Q: What motivates a middle-aged woman to brave extreme weather, precarious river crossings, swarms of sandflies and epic mud?
A: Breathtaking scenery and a renewed sense of wonder.
New Zealand’s 2,000-mile “Long Pathway,” Te Araroa (TAY ah-dah-DOH-uh).
New Zealand’s Long Pathway
Te Araroa
Q: What motivates a middle-aged woman to brave extreme weather, precarious river crossings, swarms of sandflies and epic mud?
A: Breathtaking scenery and a renewed sense of wonder.
New Zealand’s 2,000-mile “Long Pathway,” Te Araroa (TAY ah-dah-DOH-uh).
the throne room of the gods
Karakorum Pakistan
High in the Mountains that separate Pakistan from China sit the highest mountains in the world, including K2, the most dangerous of all to climb. Happenstance would bring Alison Young there, first to visit her father, serving in the diplomatic core in Islamabad, and then connecting with strangers on a trek to this incredible place. It was one of the most dangerous yet electrifying experiences of a lifetime.
off-trail on the Continental Divide
Wind River High Route
It had been a dream for a long time – to walk Wyoming’s Wind River High Route, considered one of the finest, non-technical, end-to-end alpine journeys in the United States. But how could a middle-aged hiker with new hips and deteriorating knees make it happen? By picking an awesome set of girlfriends to hike with and taking it all one step at a time. The reward was spectacular granite towers, wildflower-covered meadows and hundreds of glacier-fed lakes and streams, plus deepening friendships.
off-trail on the Continental Divide
Wind River High Route
It had been a dream for a long time – to walk Wyoming’s Wind River High Route, considered one of the finest, non-technical, end-to-end alpine journeys in the United States. But how could a middle-aged hiker with new hips and deteriorating knees make it happen? By picking an awesome set of girlfriends to hike with and taking it all one step at a time. The reward was spectacular granite towers, wildflower-covered meadows and hundreds of glacier-fed lakes and streams, plus deepening friendships.
an adventure to renewal
Arizona Trail
Transitions like the New Year, Advent, and Lent bring with them anticipation and opportunity. It’s a time we prepare for joy and inner peace, feelings that can often prove elusive. As arid desert gave way to lush forest, deep canyons to “sky islands,” surprises were revealed and steps became more grounded with the spirit and ones of meditative wonder.
Moose and wolves and otters
Isle Royale
On an enchanted and remote island in the middle of the largest lake in the world, Alison Young went from FOMO – the Fear Of Missing Out – to JOMO – the Joy of Missing Out. It was a time of pandemic, of shutdowns and uncertainty, of general restlessness. Still, she flew across Lake Superior with enough time to walk the island end-to end. Although trails were closed, rain obscured views and her body was breaking down, it was a journey that surprised her with joy.
Moose and wolves and otters
Isle Royale
On an enchanted and remote island in the middle of the largest lake in the world, Alison Young went from FOMO – the Fear Of Missing Out – to JOMO – the Joy of Missing Out. It was a time of pandemic, of shutdowns and uncertainty, of general restlessness. Still, she flew across Lake Superior with enough time to walk the island end-to end. Although trails were closed, rain obscured views and her body was breaking down, it was a journey that surprised her with joy.
South africa
Drakensberg Traverse
In one of the most extraordinary off-route hikes of her life, Blissful joins another intrepid hiker in walking the 120 miles on a magical escarpment of the “Dragon’s Back” into Lesotho and up the highest mountain in Southern Africa, Thabana Ntlenyana, “the pretty little mountain.” The wind never let up in this deserted and silent landscape, and the stars of the Milky Way were spectacular.
patagonia
Torres del Paine
Located in Southern Chile, Torres refers to the three immense and distinctive granite towers and Paine (PIE-nay) means ‘blue’ in the native Tehuelche language. But what caught my attention was the Cuernos – or horns – del Paine, spectacular spiky and multicolored magma-intruded peaks that tower some 6,000 feet above the Patagonian Steppes. Appearing as if whipped into a froth by giants, its tight group exemplifying a feeling of all things being extreme in this part of the world – the wind, the rain, the snow, the ice – and their power to shape everything in their path.
Boundary waters
The Border Route
It’s a land of moose, wolves, and bear crossed by Native Americans then Voyageurs along super-sized lake highways. Sitting on the international border between Minnesota and Ontario, this 70+-mile wild trail challenged and delighted with its beaver dam crossings, rugged track and spectacular boreal forest at the edge of the world.
at the speed of andante
Composers finding their Muse on Trail
Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Mahler, Britten and Bach are just a few of the composers who used walking in nature as a tool for inspiration. They only intuited its power – especially when at a leisurely pace or andante (on-DON-tay) – but science bears out the benefits to our bodies and minds. –
