Read the Preface to "The Ordinary Adventurer"


ABOUT THE BOOK AND AUTHOR:



   "The Ordinary Adventurer" is a true account of a 2002  hike
of Vermont's rugged, often-remote, 270-mile Long Trail,
and is based on journals posted online in near-real time.


Undertaken by hiking friends Jan Leitschuh ("LiteShoe") of North Carolina and Clyde Dodge ("MAF Man") of Florida, the journey took the two novice long-distance hikers nearly a month.

The Long Trail stretches from the Massachusetts state line all the way up the Green Mountain spine to the Canadian border. A thru-hike of the entire trail is called an "End-to-End" and each year only a small number of hikers achieve it.

Jan Leitschuh is a freelance writer, award-winning newspaper feature writer and journalist, columnist, professional horse trainer, judge and long distance hiker.


In March of 2003, bolstered by the experiences chronicled in "The Ordinary Adventurer," she set off to walk the entire Appalachian Trail, from Georgia to Maine. She succeeded, summitting the final mountain, Katahdin, on September 18, 2003.

 When not off adventuring, she gardens in a cottage on the edge of the woods in Southern Pines, North Carolina.
She sometimes shows up in other places too:

National Park Services A.T. Junior Ranger brochure