JOURNEYS is a continuing series on the Pilgrim Pouch Peregrinations blog and features interviews with Camino walkers, writers, artists, travelers, & creative seekers met in my wanderings. Guests are asked 5 questions that reflect adventures & discoveries on their unique life journey.
Today’s guest is writer, hiker/backpacker, and adventurer Susan Alcorn (a.k.a. “backpack45”) from Oakland, California. A retired elementary teacher, Susan & husband Ralph, who grew up in Yellowstone National Park, have their own publishing company, Shepherd Canyon Books. Susan’s writing focuses on hiking, backpacking, & walking Camino pilgrimage routes. Her books include We’re in the Mountains Not Over the Hill: Tales and Tips from Seasoned Women Backpackers, Camino Chronicle: Walking to Santiago, Healing Miles: Gifts from the Camino Norte & Primitivo, and a book about her & Ralph’s walk in Chile, Patagonia Chronicle: On Foot in Torres de Paine. Susan’s latest publication, Walk, Hike, Saunter: Seasoned Women Share Tales and Trails, tells the stories of 32 outdoors women & their explorations on foot. Through these inspirational tales, she encourages women of any age to discover the transforming power of hiking.
In addition to trekking over 3,000 miles of Camino paths, Susan & Ralph have walked Italy’s Cinque Terre, climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, and completed the Pacific Crest Trail, the John Muir Trail, and numerous paths around San Francisco. A recent adventure involves finishing the Sierra Club’s Nifty 90 Peaks’ Challenge, which encompasses hiking a list of peaks and high points in the Bay area. Her monthly online newsletter, Susan Alcorn’s Backpacking & Hiking Tales and Tips, includes updates about the Camino and other trails.
Along with publishing books, Susan & Ralph give presentations about their journeys at libraries, bookstores, & outdoor gear stores. Her website, Susan D. Alcorn, Writer, includes Camino packing tips & backpacking advice. When not on the trail or traveling, Susan enjoys gardening and spending time with sons Tom & Scott and grandchildren Madison & Logan.
I met Susan on a hike with the American Pilgrims on the Camino group during graduate studies in Berkeley. Her adventurous spirit was evident, & she graciously answered my many questions about walking the Camino. Over the years since then, Dad & I have joined Susan & Ralph for lunches overlooking the East Bay during our visits with family in the area. We admire the view while sharing Camino news & plans for the next walk.
Above: Susan ready to go on Camino del Norte
Right: Cover of the latest book published in 2020
Susan, you’re an accomplished long-distance hiker, including walking Camino trails in Spain, France, Portugal, & Switzerland. What inspired you to explore the outdoors, and how have your hiking journeys informed your perspective about travel?
I have always enjoyed the outdoors and for most of my life, I have been lucky enough to live where I could hike relatively close to home. Hiking has been a great way to combine healthy exercise, spend quality time with my husband & friends, and observe all that nature offers. When I met Ralph in my late forties, we started backpacking together & spent months completing the John Muir & the Pacific Crest trails in sections. As I became confident about being able to backpack long distances, I knew that I could travel relatively inexpensively most anywhere in the world.
Going on our first Camino walk — almost 500 miles across Spain on the well-known Francés route — reminded me that everything I needed to survive, I could carry in my pack. It is very freeing to learn that you don’t need fancy hotel rooms and Michelin-rated restaurants to be happy — hostels and albergues meet our basic needs and often bring us closer to learning about and interacting with the people who live there. On the Camino, you meet people from around the world: other hikers, hosts where you stay, and the townspeople. Life is simpler: you get up, eat, walk, eat, walk some more, find a place to sleep, and so forth. I am reminded every time I travel that most people are friendly and helpful—a real antidote to negative news we so often hear on the news. And, finally, spending time with people from different countries, who speak different languages, who may practice a different religion can teach us a lot about our shared humanity.
Above: Susan & Ralph on Camino del Norte, which they walked plus Camino Primitivo in segments from 2015-16. Susan’s book Healing Miles chronicles their experiences, including her navigation through physical challenges & family loss while persevering to complete the journey. Information about planning a Camino is also given.
Your books about walking the Camino are first person accounts and also offer information about the history & culture of the regions you trek. What is your writing process while on the Road, & how much cultural/historical research do you complete before starting the walks?
I do very little research before we start a walk. Ralph creates a tentative schedule. On a spread sheet, he lists the proposed mileage for each day. It shows the villages & cities along the way together with notes about places where we can eat or stay overnight.
When we are on a trip, I write notes in my journal (or on the computer) each evening. Several times during a trip I send group emails to friends and family describing where we are or what we are doing. In addition, both of us are constantly taking photos — so I have a visual record (which we also use later for public presentations).
When we get home, I put it all together. If I decide to write a book, I then do a lot of background research to enrich what I already know or have experienced. For the Healing Miles book, I also took a course through UC Berkeley that focused on the history and culture of northern Spain
Besides writing about her adventures, Susan documents trips with photography. She took this photo at the “Dia Infantil de Cantabria” (Children’s Day of Cantabria) festival in Santander, a city along Camino del Norte.
Interest in exploring the outdoors has grown during the pandemic, and on your website you offer tips for people hesitant about hiking/backpacking. Which Northern California trails would you recommend for anyone new to hiking, and what suggestions about gear do you have for beginning backpackers?
We are incredibly lucky to have thousands of miles of hiking trails in such places as the Monterey Peninsula, Pt. Reyes National Seashore, Mount Tamalpais State Park, the Mendocino area. If we head east and away from the coast, we reach the Sierra where we can visit Yosemite, Lake Tahoe, Plumas Eureka State Park.
My favorite trail in Pt. Reyes (Marin County) is the trail to Tomales Point on the Tomales Point Trail. The trail is along a narrow peninsula, and as you hike along it, you have the Pacific Ocean on one side, and Tomales Bay on the other. The trail is five miles long, one way, but you will be able to view the majestic Tule Elk near a pond or in the grassland far short of that.
Gear: My two favorite pieces of hiking gear are my poles and my Smartwool top. Beyond that my advice: Keep the weight down. Your sleeping bag, pack, and tent should ideally each weigh less than two pounds—these are items on which you should spend the money (rather than on color-coordinated clothing). Avoid cotton clothing; learn about layering. For most situations, I wear trail runners rather than boots. Buy your shoes ½ -1 size larger than you usually wear and try them out before your big trip! Whenever you can, consider how items can be used multiple ways—a bandana, for example, can cover your head, wrap around your neck, etc.
Susan photographed the vista from a spot on the Tomales Point Trail, her favorite path in Pt. Reyes National Seashore park. This tranquil trail is popular for hiking, running, nature trips, and horseback riding.
In your latest book, Walk, Hike, Saunter, you share stories of women who “consider hiking to be an essential part of their lives.” What did you learn from the women you interviewed for the book, & how did their experiences resonate with your own hiking adventures?
What I enjoyed most about researching and interviewing the women was learning about their adventures, and their willingness to share their feelings and experiences. They told why hiking is so important to them. There was no bragging or competing. Five of the women have earned the Triple Crown of Hiking, which is awarded for completing the Pacific Crest, Appalachian and Continental Divide Trails — for a total of almost 8,000 miles. IMO, these are feats equal to those of any professional athlete.
Having hiked the Pacific Crest Trail, I have some idea of what hiking a long trail takes: facing thunderstorms, detours around wildfires, encountering bears, rattlesnakes, clouds of mosquitoes, water shortages! But because Ralph and I did the PCT in sections, we were able to cherry-pick for the best seasons — we could avoid some of the dangers that thru-hikers encounter.
Of course not everyone wants to spend months on a trail, & it was interesting to learn how others pursued a hiking life. Some would hike to every high point in their vicinity; some would live out of their car much of the year to start out from new trailheads each time. Some travel internationally to combine sightseeing with hiking. Some volunteer to work on trail building projects & then explore the local hiking trails. I loved the diversity of personalities & interests.
Susan & Ralph’s most recent international adventure was a 2 week trip to Antarctica during Christmas-New Year’s 2019-20. Their travels involved flying from Buenos Aires to the tip of Argentina, Ushuaia, where they boarded a ship to reach the frozen continent ‘way down under.’ Although it was considered summertime there, gear included rain pants, rubber boots, long underwear, & fleece-lined jackets that their tour company Quark Expeditions provided. Highlights were seeing the ‘sea’ of penguins on South Georgia Island (pictured above) & watching the humpbacked whales blow rings of bubbles, which corrals schools of krill & small fish for food.
This past year you & Ralph have been hiking local trails that were open. Once international travel resumes, where are you planning on going, & what will you appreciate most about being able to travel abroad again?
Ralph and I have walked a major portion of Vezelay route — one of the four pilgrimage routes of the Camino de Santiago beginning in France. It’s about 500 miles from Vezelay to the border of Spain; we have walked about 360 miles of it. Last year we had hoped to complete the remaining miles and reach the village of St. Jean Pied de Port in the Pyrenees. We had to cancel that trip because of COVID-19, but we now have tickets for this fall and are holding our breath to see how things go.
We are very eager to resume this hike. Each of the Camino routes is different (we have done all or part of ten of them). The Vezelay is a very quiet route. We see few other pilgrims, go through very few cities, and were often the only people staying at our accommodations. It is always fun to spend time with our hosts. Even though our French is only so-so, if everyone tries, we manage to communicate and enjoy each other.
The Vezelay route has many picturesque castles, fortresses, & old mansions. Susan’s photo captures the ruins of the medieval fortress of Crozant in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region.
Thank you, Amanda. I always enjoy talking with you, and hearing about your Pilgrim Pouch and your many adventures.