8,000 Miles Across Alaska by Tim Hewitt
In North America's Last Frontier, there are still untrammeled wildernesses where a man can stand alone in a region the size of entire states, where deep cold quiets every whisper of life and vast emptiness reigns. Alaska remains a mysterious place that, thanks to reality television, has captured the imagination of millions. Yet a minuscule fraction have acquired an understanding of the land afforded by exploring in their most vulnerable state - on foot, towing all of their supplies, wholly independent. This is the perspective of Tim Hewitt, an employment lawyer from Pennsylvania with a unique hobby - racing across Alaska on the Iditarod Trail. What compels a man to run, walk, and trudge a thousand miles across Alaska? Because it's there isn't an adequate explanation. As a challenge or for the adventure of it are closer, but still too vague. The thousand-mile dog sled race on the Iditarod Trail is often called The Last Great Race - but there's another, more obscure race, where participants don't even have the help of dogs. The Iditarod Trail Invitational challenges cyclists, skiers, and runners to complete the distance under their own power and without much outside support. Tim Hewitt is the only person to have completed it more than three times. His actual number? An astonishing eight. Six of those, he won or tied. But no one who sees Tim Hewitt on the street near his law firm in Pittsburgh would ever suspect that battling hurricane-force blizzards is something he does in his spare time. Fifty-nine years old with a slim build, a bright smile, and cropped gray hair, he isn't the stereotype of a grizzled Arctic explorer. He's a talented amateur runner, a father to four daughters, a husband to an equally adventurous wife, and achiever of a truly distinctive accomplishment. Far more people have reached the summit of Mount Everest than Nome under their own power, and it's incredibly unlikely that another person will ever try for eight. 8,000 Miles Across Alaska: A Runner's Journeys on the Iditarod Trail chronicles Tim Hewitt's adventures across Alaska - the harrowing weather conditions, breathtaking scenery, kindness of strangers, humorous misadventures, humbling setbacks and heroic victories. From fierce competition with his fellow racers, to traveling backward on the trail to ensure the safety of his wife, to battling for his own survival, Tim Hewitt has amassed a lifetime of experiences amid the harsh miles of the Iditarod Trail. This is his story.Jill Homer grew raised in Sandy, Utah, and earned a journalism degree from the University of Utah in 2000. She began her career in Utah and Idaho, where she worked for weekly and daily publications. She relocated to Homer, Alaska, in 2005 in search of excitement in the Last Frontier. She had never thought of herself as an athlete, but she was looking for a different kind of outlet that offered both physical and mental difficulties. Cycling for endurance fit the bill.
Two years of (mostly mis)adventures put her in one of North America's most grueling endurance competitions, the Iditarod Trail Invitational, a 350-mile winter crossing of Alaska wilderness. Her debut book, Ghost Trails: Travels Over a Lifetime, was inspired by the remarkable experience. Be Brave, Be Strong: A Trip Across the Great Divide, her second book, is a continuation of her previous exploits. She is currently based in Los Altos, California, where she works as a freelance writer and editor.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780692263365 |
| ISBN 10 | 0692263365 |
| Title | 8,000 Miles Across Alaska |
| Author | Tim Hewitt |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Arctic Glass Press |
| Year published | 2014-08-17 |
| Number of pages | 200 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |