Ep. 131: Will Skelton: Conservationist, Adventurer, World Traveler

This week Clint and Dawson sat down with Will Skelton. Will is an author, a conservationist, a champion for our public lands and has a lifetime of adventure and travel. Will has always loved travel of any kind and has traveled extensively throughout the world, including visiting all 50 states, including several times for most of them, and all the Canadian provinces, and has visited over 70 counties in all continents except Antarctica. His favorite countries world-wide are New Zealand, Canada, and Peru and his favorite US states are Utah, New Mexico, and California. 

Mountaineering:

In past years Will did a fair amount of moderate rock climbing and mountaineering, having climbed several high elevation mountains in North and South American, Africa and Asia, including Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Mt. Rainier and Mt. Whitney in the US, Pico de Orizaba, Iztaccihuatl and Popocatépetl in Mexico, Gokyo Kala Patthar in Nepal, and Mt. Chimborazo in Ecuador. His highest ascent was to a bit over 22,000 feet on Mount Aconcagua in Argentina.

Hiking, Backpacking and Canoeing:

Will has visited all but four of the US’s National Parks (still to go are Kobuk Valley, Cuyahoga Valley, Indiana Dunes, and American Samoa). He has also done multi-day backpacks or canoe/kayak trips in most of the large, designated Wilderness areas and National Parks throughout the US, including those in the Wind Rivers Mountains, Cascades, Sierra Nevada Mountains, Everglades, Sawtooth Mountains, White Cloud Mountains, Beartooth Mountains, Brooks Range, Southern Appalachians, and numerous others. His favorite places to backpack are the Southern Appalachian Mountains, the Brooks Range in northern Alaska, the Beartooth Mountains, and the Wind River Mountains. And canoeing favorites are the Boundary Water Canoe area and Buffalo River in Arkansas. 

 Will has been significantly involved in Cherokee National Forest trails and wilderness preservation issues since the early 1970’s.  He was a leader of the effort that led the United States Congress to protect significant portions of the Cherokee in the 1980's.  Will subsequently edited a hiking guidebook to the Cherokee’s trails, with the help of well over two dozen hikers and writers. It was published by the University of Tennessee Press in 1992 as Wilderness Trails of the Cherokee National Forest; a new and expanded edition entitled Cherokee National Forest Hiking Guide was published in 2005. Currently a third edition is in the works with the trails being hiked in 2021. Will has also been actively involved with the Cherokee National Forest in various trails and land use issues that have come up over the years.