blissful hiker ❤︎ inspiring you to hike your own hike
Long-distance backpacker Alison "Blissful Hiker" Young has walked over 13,000 miles on six continents including New Zealand's Te Araroa, Europe's Pyrenean Haute Route, Africa's Drakensberg Traverse and the Pacific Crest Trail in the United States.
In a series of personal essays coupled with found sound, this podcast explores her journey of self-discovery as a middle-aged titanium-reinforced cancer thriver, sharing the sometimes unglamorous but vital truth about empowerment, inspiring others to blaze their own trails in this journey we call life.
- Update frequency
- every 7 days
- Average duration
- 14 minutes
- Episodes
- 150
- Years Active
- 2020 - 2025
Te Araroa: movin' on
The Blissful Hiker is tripped by a branch, rolling her ankle and falling down hard. But miraculously, she can still walk and is offered many chances to start over on this hike, move on …
Te Araroa: trail angels exist
People show up right when the Blissful Hiker needs them in Northland, New Zealand on the Te Araroa trail, making her believe trail angels do indeed exist.
In this episode:
- The Blissful H…
Te Araroa: thru-kayaking
A risky kayak portion of the Te Araroa up the Waikare Inlet in the Bay of Islands leaves the Blissful Hiker wondering if, in the words of James Agee, kindness watches for her.
In this ep…
Te Araroa: "easy tramping" on sheep poo
A selfie reveals a face battered by a week of long distance backpacking and the Blissful Hiker considers her mortality and how to keep her hike – and her life – from being a bore.
In thi…
Te Araroa: Muir Woods of Australasia
It's not until the end of the day when the Blissful Hiker enters a magical forest preserve of towering Cathedral-sized Kauri does she realize here is precisely where she needs to be in …
Te Araroa: epic mud in the raetea forest
Slogging through epic mud in the New Zealand bush, the Blissful Hiker learns about plunging straight through difficult passages, never making assumptions and always looking for the beau…
Te Araroa: ninety-mile beach
The Te Araroa – or long pathway – dispenses with formalities, taking the Blissful Hiker onto an exposed start of drenching squalls, inconvenient tides and a never-ending roar of the wav…
Te Araroa: where the Tasman and Pacific meet
The Blissful Hiker flies to New Zealand, drives to the Meeting Place of the Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean at Cape Reinga and within 36 hours, she begins to walk the Te Araroa towards Blu…
Te Araroa: kia ora, be well!
The Blissful Hiker realizes there's no "there" to get to, learning to live in the moment, face vulnerability straight on – while at the same time, opening herself up to "the ecstatic ex…
Te Araroa: a flute for a hike
The Blissful Hiker sells her flute to make the dream of walking a long-distance thru-hike a reality before it's too late and arthritis takes over her body.
In this episode:
- Meet ex-profes…