Camino Chronicle: Walking to Santiago

Since the publication of "We're in the Mountains Not over the Hill: Tales and Tips from Seasoned Women Backpackers," which included the author's adventures after taking up backpacking at the age of 48, Susan Alcorn has continued long-distance hiking. In September and October, 2001, the author and her husband Ralph, hiked 400 miles of the 500-mile Camino de Santiago. In spring 2004 and fall 2005, she and Ralph went to France and hiked a total of 350 miles of the LePuy route (aka GR65), one of the four major French pilgrimage trails that leads into the Spanish Camino de Santiago. In September 2006, they plan to hike 100 miles in France and the same distance in Spain, which will allow them to complete both trails. In addition to the trails in Europe, Susan Alcorn has continued backpacking in the U.S. She has hiked more than 800 miles of the west's scenic, challenging, mountainous, Pacific Crest Trail. The author is a resident of Oakland, California and has lived in the Bay Area most of her life. She attended local schools, and graduated from U.C. Berkeley. In 1986, after raising a family, she went back to school (Cal State University) to earn her teaching credential. She then began teaching fifth grade and continued in that career until her retirement in 2003. Nowadays, when she is not hiking, she enjoys spending time with friends, caring for her three grandchildren, or dancing Zydeco (the infectious music of Louisiana).