Making a summer of it? It’s off to the North Country National Scenic Trail for a 4,500-mile trek from New York to North Dakota. For more information, hop on the North Country Trail Association site at www.northcountrytrail.org. If you’re more of a West Coast type, the 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail awaits. The route stretches from Mexico to Canada and passes through six eco-zones along the way. Find out more from the Pacific Crest Trail Association at www.pcta.org.

Have a year to spare? Talone suggests you map out a route that joins roads to trails and walk across the entire United States: “There isn’t a better experience,” he says.

Don’t have time for a long haul? Try tackling the aforementioned routes one section at a time, or visit www.americantrails.org to find a trail near you.

Read On >

You can read journals new and old online from our adventurers:

Track Carlin “Buckwheat” Donahue’s progress at www.buckwheat.info or www.heartbeat­trail.com.

Get all the details of Ed Talone’s trek across the United States at www.americanhiking.org/news/ journal/hj3_5.html.

Find out where Joe Bowen is today at www
.appalachianheritagealliance.org/ rediscover_america.htm.

Learn about Dan Rogers’s ongoing journey at www.sheltoweehikes.com.

Read Doug “Mainframe” Mathews’s online trip journals at home.att.net/~canbike/­journeys.htm.

Jenna Schnuer