About

Hello!  I’m the hike guy, Kolby Kirk.  The purpose of this site is to promote the hiking lifestyle through example (both my own and others), to provide tips on how to hike (from the very basic level all the way up), and to help others learn the importance of respectfully exploring our natural areas. Although this site is named after my favorite occupation, you might find some of my other interests among its pages: photography, sketching, journaling, international travel, and book collecting. I am a very goal oriented person, striving to resolve personal aspirations that seem beyond my limitations. I take my resolutions seriously. I fall short on some, but I have a terrible memory for such failures and continue to push my boundaries:

2009 GOALS

Hike #24

2009 was quite a benchmark year for me. In May of that year, I resolved to get into shape by hiking 100 times in 240 days. After 417 trail miles through 3 states and 3 countries, I lost 25 pounds and gained invaluable lessons about myself and hiking. This project predates TheHikeGuy.com and was blogged at my other site, 100hikes.com. I still have a lot of stories I intend on telling about that project.

2010 GOALS

500th Mile Club

By January, I decided to aim high again with a few lofty goals: To join a search and rescue team, to hike 500 trail miles by the end of 2010, and to hike with 150 people. I wasn’t able to complete all of them, but felt good at what I did accomplish. It was a fantastic feeling to hike my 500th mile of the year in New Zealand on my birthday… a full three weeks ahead of schedule.

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2011 GOALS

My Alter Ego: Condor

At the beginning of 2011, I had again thrown down the gauntlet and was energized at completing new goals for the year. All was on track until April, when I was laid off from my employer of six years. Things changed drastically for the better. I raised the bar and, instead of resolving to summit Mt. Whitney, I resolved to hike the Pacific Crest Trail as far north as possible. On October 6th, after hiking for 159 days and over 1,700 miles  (including the summit of Mt. Whitney), I proudly ended my journey and felt that I accomplished something beyond anything I’d ever done before.

2012 GOALS

Sierra Wanderer

I fell in love with the Sierra Nevada while hiking the PCT. I wanted to return and explore the mountains more extensively. In June, I headed in via Walker Pass and spent the next 42 days zigzagging up the mountain range. I had to cut my trek short, only hiking about 350 miles rather than the planned 500, but had an amazing time nonetheless. After exiting the Sierra at Bishop Pass, I hitchhiked home to central Oregon, an adventure unto itself!

2012-2013 GOALS

Art on trail

For my latest goal, I’m determined to hike 100 times and 700 trail miles by 2014. Instead of carrying a card with the hike’s number on it, as I did in 2009, for this project I will be making the number out of material I find on that particular hike. I am blogging the project here as well as at 100hikes.com.

I look forward to sharing my next adventures with you. Stick around!