The Great Western Loop

Ryan — is there any way of posting how long the podcasts are, so that we know the amount of time to listen to them? I enjoy them, so keep up the good work. Thank you! John

I couln't find any podcast link for interview 2. The only thing I could access was the text from Andrew's site.

Richard,
Go to page 1 and you'll see page 2 right below it.

John,
It only takes about 10-20 seconds to down load the podcast.
All you need to do is grab and scroll to the end, (to the right) once it's down loaded and it will tell you how long it is.

Hey is there any way we can get the packlist posted?
He talks about most of his gear, but a list would be nice to see what he's using during the trip.

Aaron, check out the podcast interview we did with Andy were we talk about his gear. It came out last week and the companion article and podcast player are accessible from the GWL Portal page as well as the "podcasts" page. A gear list is included in the companion article.

Skurkas gearlist is also on his website.

I’ve just posted about 30 new photos for Andy’s Great Western Loop hike. Other the next few days I’ll be adding many more so keep an eye on the page for them.

To prevent confusion: Andy’s latest photos are here.

I can't find where you posted the pictures.

UPDATE:
I found the pictures. Thanks for posting!

Hey Andy & Ryan,

Huge thanks for this podcast.

It felt so relevant and important to take the discussion far beyond
just lightweight camping. I truly appreciated bringing up the very serious issues of simple living and our loss of wilderness.

A big reason that Lightweight camping appeals to me is because it's a very real chance to live simple. It's a renewal exercise for my soul, and with a revitalized "self" I can better change the world. Yes, I know that sounds lofty – but it's true.

This is an enormously important issue – but it can be hard to articulate, and Andy was wonderful at speaking his truth. It was refreshing and inspiring.

This web-site has lot's of cool tricks and specialized gear, but after listening to this podcast – I realize that it can achieve SO MUCH MORE!

well done!
M!

Phenomenal podcast.

Re: global warming and the lightweight lifestyle, the notion of Pascal's Wager comes to mind. To wit, that the expected value of believing (in god, as the wager goes) is always greater than the expected value of not believing.

If we choose to believe that global warming (and the net long-term negative impact of humanity on planet earth) is real and consequential, and if we, individually, take measures to address it (ie, by living a "lightweight lifestyle"), then the result is that we benefit both ourselves and the planet regardless of future outcomes had we chosen not to believe or to act.

But there's also a more sharply defined advantage to living simply, particularly as it relates to the skills we develop in order to, and as a result of, living with less. In Pascal's Wager, believing is at its least a harmless and contrived conviction, and at best it gets him to heaven. For us, today, believing in and following a simpler lifestyle is also a form of life insurance. It can increase our own individual odds of survival in the face of climate change and the "sudden" disasters it may spawn.

Planet Earth will almost certainly host life for a few more billion years. The life forms that hang around through and beyond humanity's growing crisis will be the Adapted Ones. And each of us, individually, has the power to adapt. Our power is our intelligence. On the grand scale, our collective power will always work both for us and against us, and chaos may rule. But individually, we have a choice in how we use our power. And so I say, choose wisely – for the planet, certainly, but also for you.

I've added 30 more photos to the colleciton. This brings us up to May 21, 2007. Enjoy.

Really awesome coverage of Andrew's journey.

It's nice having both the audio and visual.

Is the Interactive Map (BETA) up yet? I just get a white square – no map. Maybe I have browser issues.

Jason, you may indeed be having browser issues. Clear your browser's cache and try again.

Their was a problem for a few hours yesterday, but it was fixed mid-afternoon.

Map is up—-no problems w/ Safari on a Mac. Make sure you have latest version of whatever browser you use. Also make sure you have Adobe's Flash player installed and possibly download another browser if issues still not resolved. My back-up browser is the lean, mean "Opera".

Andrew getting skinny!

Andy has sent us more photos spanning a little more than a 2 week period from late May to early June.

Expect some new videos soon too.

I have not seen a new podcasts since July 13, yet I have received Andy's Update e-mail indicating that there should be more recent postings. The URL that I have been using is

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/andrew_skurkas_great_western_loop.html

What am I doing wrong?

As you have noticed by now we're undergoing a big change. Articles are a bit in flux and you should see the podcasts appear in the article shortly.

The best way to get the podcsts though remains subscribing to them via iTunes. This is especially true for the videos.

Sorry for all the dust.

I spoke with Andy today. He's in Anaconda, MT, and about to do a 380 mile section w/o resupply. His spirits are very good considering his past week. His body is holding up well, and he seems pretty excited to get the Montana smoke behind him, he made an interesting comment: that the smoke actually robs him of about 30 minutes of daylight each night. Go figure.

I have just uploaded 66 new photos covering the two week period of June 8 to 22.

More to come.

Even more photos. Another 2 week span tht takes us up to July 7th. Just think

Kenneth,

Just checked out your Web site and browsed through your Isle Royale pictures. I am 99% sure that I ran into you on the trail last year. I was taking a break with my brother and I on top of Mount Franklin. You briefly discussed your water craft.

It's a small world.

I'm sorry to say I don't recall. I'm lousy with faces, but I do recall a conversation like that lsat year. Yep, the Alpacka drew some attention during that trip. I'd planned on going back this year and checking some different spots but nether got the travel set up and now it's too late (well really just too expensive).

8/29/07

My dad and 2 friends were on a 5 day trip in the Wind River Range in Wyoming on a trip up to Squaretop mountain. We were resting in the shade when some dude came zipping by. By the size of his pack, I thought he was out for a dayhike. :-) We started asking him where he was headed and after a couple of minutes it was clear we were obviously dealing with some sort of nut who was trying to walk from Glacier down to the desert with hardly any gear. My dad, starting to get suspicious, asked his name and immediately recognized him, since my dad has been occasionally following Andy's journey. We had a good talk and Andy looked fit, happy, and was all smiles.

After he left us, we went through a variety of emotions. My dad informed me that he didn't actually start in Glacier, but that he walked up there from Arizona, up the PCT, and over from Washington. I felt dirty for having such a large pack. :-) We all felt inspired and legged out the next mile at record pace for our rag tag group. We also felt like total losers for only making 7 or 8 miles that day. The running joke is that everytime we talk to each other now (no matter what time of day), we say "Andy's still walking."

Good Luck Andy, Stay Safe,

Your pals laying under the tree in the Winds,
Don Taggart, Harvey Taggart, Craig Fitzparick, and Chris Pyle