我花了四年跑遍全美，只为写出《美国50条经典越野跑路线》

To understand why you undertake something as complex and demanding as writing a book, you need to start at the beginning.

I started running in the fall of seventh grade as a pimpeled, slightly-overweight, late-blooming pre-teen. Middle school wasn’t a kind place for kids like me, but I found solace in the cross country team. None of us were cool. Or particularly athletic. None of us knew how to dance. Or flirt. Or talk to girls. But on the team we found community, and that is just about all you need in life.

I’m not sure why I showed up to the first practice, but, if memory serves, it was a con job by my friend Reed, who we’ll bookmark for later. The two of us grew up in a rural Minnesota county where 90% of the land is public and whitetail deer easily outnumber humans. There were plenty of downsides to living in the literal middle of nowhere, but one upside was limitless outdoor access, including running.

Many of our weekend long runs were on the Superior Hiking Trail, which is riddled with roots and rocks, and generally horrible for running. Our coach made us do it anyway. At the time we didn’t call it trail running. No one did. The “trail” denomination was in its nascence, if existent at all. This was well before large-lugged shoes, pro trail contracts, or the now-ubiquitous cultural catalysts like Strava, UTMB, carb-maxxing, and Scott Jurek memes on social media. You might say we were early adopters, but we certainly didn’t know it at the time.

This might all sound like a poetic genesis for a book about trail running, but that’s not how the real story goes. I didn’t fall in love with trail running then. In fact, I hated it. I quit cross country after a few years and didn’t return to trails until after college, almost a decade later. So, why start with that origin story?

Because my why for returning is also my why for writing The 50 Classic Trail Runs of America.

What is The 50 Classic Trail Runs of America?

This is the most straightforward question, so I’ll tackle it first. The Fifty is a beautiful coffee table book that aims to do for trail running what The 50 Classic Climbs did for climbing and The 50 Classic Ski Descents later did for skiing: establish the definitive list of classic trails to inspire generations of runners to come.

Wanting to be sure we picked the absolute best routes, we decided to go a step further than our literary forebears and run every trail on the list, some of them many times. There were quite a few surprises, like the remoteness of the Rogue River, stumbling into bears on North Circle, last minute wildfires closures in the Wind Rivers, and snow on multiple desert runs. There were big bonks and even bigger rallies, an entire grocery aisle of gummy bears consumed, and a grueling solo mission on the longest and hardest trail, Wonderland.

Ultimately, we selected each classic for something unique—stunning alpine views, ethereal geological formations, or important pieces of indigenous history. Together, we wanted the fifty to tell the full story of America’s public lands, both good and bad. Each trail also comes with a story of our experience running it, a mix of moving meditations, physical challenges, and forging deeper connections with friends.

Who wrote The 50 Classic Trail Runs of America?

You may notice that I’m using “we” in the section above, which is not by mistake. Writing this book was a team effort and there is no way I would have finished without my co-authors, Rickey Gates and Ian MacLellan. The three of us joined forces almost by accident, but I’m forever grateful that we did.

Not long after moving to Oregon in 2022, I went for a run with my childhood friend and lead con man, Reed, at Smith Rock. Legendary professional skier, Cody Townsend, had just released an episode of The Fifty and, as avid skiers, we spent a mile or three chatting about it. Connecting the dots, I wondered if there was a parallel book about “fifty” trails. I assumed it existed, but a quick Google search on the drive home proved me wrong, so I decided to craft it myself–encouraged, of course, by Reed (who ended up running seven of the trails with me, to his credit).

The first step was recruiting a handful of coconspirators, including Ian, a professional photographer and avid runner who lives in Portland, Maine. The rest eventually dropped out, but Ian’s commitment never wavered. Then, in early 2024, we learned through a friend that Rickey, a professional runner based in Santa Fe, was working on a similar book, so we set up a phone call with him. It was a come to Jesus moment for us—either we were going to team up or we’d be racing to finish. Fortunately, our lists were similar and the vibe felt right, so we agreed to join forces to make an even better book.

When did we write The 50 Classic Trail Runs of America?

The book took Ian and me over four years to write–and Rickey, who started before us, has been working on it for more than ten years! The first year was mostly planning, researching routes, and running a few trails to pressure test the vision. Over the next three years we ran north of 2,000 miles to make sure we picked the very best trails. This meant six to ten trips a year for each one of us. Including travel to–often flights but sometimes a drive if we were lucky–at least a month on the road every year for each of us.

As we were running trails, we were simultaneously researching, writing, and peer editing. Then came finding a book agent and pitching publishers, which I knew nothing about. We were thrilled to get a great offer from Rizzoli, a New York City based publisher known for their beautiful, large format books. It took three rounds of revisions with their editors and another four rounds with the graphic designers to get the layout the way we wanted. Every one of these steps was exciting, but hard earned.

At the same time, the sport of trail running was exploding. Participation has grown by almost 15% year-over-year for the last two decades, with more than 15 million Americans hitting the trails in 2025 according to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association. Many trail runners are seeking adventures outside of the race course, whether it’s new routes in their backyard or far-flung run-cations. Suffice to say, the timing of the book couldn’t be more perfect. Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than smart.

How did we write The 50 Classic Trail Runs of America?

Writing the book has been a journey almost as long as the classic trails within. We began by collectively soliciting hundreds of recommendations from pro runners, local legends, and friends all over the country. From that list, we paired it down using homemade criteria, then ran each trail to be sure they were worthy of classic status. I don’t know the exact number of trails we ran, which might be a good thing.

We had five criteria that trails had to meet to be considered classics. The first three are simple: Can it be run in 24 hours or less? Does it have a clear beginning and end (i.e. no sections of longer trails)? Is it mostly runnable, with little off-trail, scree, or scrambling? Those first few narrowed the list to around seventy. Then came the hard parts. Does it help paint the full ecological picture of the country? And finally, do we recommend traveling across the country to run it?

In the end, our classics range from 19 to 95 miles in length and are spread across 25 states. You’ll find them in the mangroves of the Everglades, the extreme weather of the White Mountains, the lush forests of the Cascades, the tropical beaches of Kauai, and the grandeur of the Grand Canyon, where the Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim route is a lifetime achievement akin to biking Alpe d’Huez or climbing El Capitan.

Why write The 50 Classic Trail Runs of America?

I can’t answer this for Rickey or Ian, but I’ll try for myself. A four-year project like this book requires an almost insatiable hunger, no matter the cost—late nights, sweat stains, gas receipts, nagging pains, hall passes from my wife, and a few close calls with large animals, to name a few. Why pay that price?

I think back to that kid in Minnesota’s Northwoods who was searching, but never found what he was looking for. I tried a lot of activities growing up—team sports, video games, art classes, and even partying—but none filled my soul. Sure, I ran trails during cross country practice, but I only saw them as workouts. That changed when I moved to the Bay Area and followed friends to the trails in the Oakland Hills and Marin Headlands. It was hard to put into words at first, but easy to feel. I was alive.

I wrote this book for any kid like me who’s searching for that thing that lights them up. There’s a magic to trail running that you can’t find anywhere else. I hope the book inspires more people to get out the door and explore both their local trails and further into their mind. As far as I can tell, there’s no better teacher than a long day running in the woods, and I want to share that gift with everyone.

For those interested, The 50 Classic Trails Runs of America is available for pre-order today and will be published March 9th, 2027. After one hell of a journey for Rickey, Ian, and me, it’s almost here.