As 2020 is ushered out the door, author David Smart wins my applause for writing the best book out of the 50 or so I read this year.

As a distance trekker, I am in awe that he walked more than 2,600 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mexican border to Canada. He earns his trail name, Stayin’ Alive, many times over. As a fellow writer, I admire his honesty and entertaining narrative. He earns my hope that this is not his last book (nor distance trek).

If circumstances again keep me from a distance trail in 2021, I will pick up The Trail Provides: A Boy’s Memoir of Thru-Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, for an adventure that will not feel as vicarious as it is.

Check out my review here.