Gear Review: The Healthy Knees Book

Nothing stops me dead in my tracks faster than knee pain.  I have suffered with knee pain since hiking a section of the Appalachian Trail and not stopping to deal with the accumulation of pain.  My pain management was poor as was my dedication to the fact that I must be healthy since I am hiking daily.  Repetitive injuries, not solely limited to computer users, over developed my hiking muscles to the detriment of my supporting muscles.  Coming off my long hike, I was diagnosed with Patellofemoral Syndrome.  What, you say?  That's exactly what I said.  Until I discovered this little book.

Gear Review: The A.T. Guide: A Handbook for Hiking the Appalachian Trail

The A.T. Guide front cover

The A.T. Guide back cover

Does your New Year’s Resolution involve spending more time hiking the Appalachian Trail? Have you always wanted to thru or section hike the AT? Will you be doing a lot of day hikes anywhere along America’s most famous Long Distance Trail? If you fall into any of these categories one piece of gear you should consider adding to your ‘essentials list’ is David ‘AWOL’ Miller’s The A.T. Guide: A Handbook for Hiking the Appalachian Trail.
 

Gear Review: The Northern Forest Canoe Trail

Following in the paddle drips of the fur traders, settlers and Indians, this 740 mile paddling trail winds its way through some of the most rugged forests the northeast coast offers.  The trail spans New York, Vermont, Québec, New Hampshire and Maine, meandering from ponds to lakes, streams to rivers.  This book opens the possibility to explore this trail in many ways.  Breaking the trail down into easy to manage sections, this book gives a paddler many choices in terms of length of paddling and possible destinations.