Monday, February 25, 2008

Thru-Hiker Tapon's New Book

San Francisco Chronicle writer Tom Stienstra wrote the article "His life is a long, gratifying hike" in the Chronicle's 24 February 2008 issue. It recounts the story of hiker Francis Tapon. Tapon, it says, quit his $75,000 a year Silicon Valley job at Hitachi 7 years ago and hiked the Appalachian Trail with then partner Lisa Garrett.

The article makes out like Tapon is a walking machine. But he hasn't done nothing but hike. It wasn't until "Five years later, Tapon, working for Microsoft, quit his job again." And hiked the Pacific Crest Trail. Then is wasn't until last year that he completed the Triple Crown by hiking the Continental Divide Trail.

Okay, so he yo-yo'ed the CDT by turning around at Canada and hiking back to Mexico. That's pretty impressive.
"Over the years, Tapon has become more than the Forrest Gump of hiking. He's a writer and a traveler, what I call the enlightened rambler: His first book 'Hike Your Own Hike - 7 Life Lessons From Backpacking Across America' (SonicTrek Press, $24.95) is an unusual mix of how-to advice, self-help philosophy and trail stories."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the post about my article in the SF Chronicle! You're right, I've done more than just hike.

For example, in 2004 I went to Eastern Europe and spent 5 months visiting 20 countries. In 2009, you'll see a book about that experience hitting the stands!

In 2002, 2003, 2005 I visited dozens of other countries and did minimal hiking.

However, the writer of the article has his angle and that's what happens!

Thanks for the post!

Francis Tapon
www.FrancisTapon.com