ABOUT PAUL-WILLIAM GAGNON
I grew up in New England, exploring its mountains and natural areas and those of eastern Canada (where my grandparents emigrated from). As I child, I spend my summers on a lake cabin in Maine and a cottage on the ocean in Rye, New Hampshire, and I explored the woods behind my house at home. My family took us on trips to parks and natural areas, where we mostly viewed nature from the road. I remember feeling drawn by the trail signs but forbidden to venture far. As soon as I was old enough to drive, I got in a car and drove to the White Mountains of New Hampshire to hike. There were no hikers in my family, so what I learned about hiking, backpacking, and nature, I learned from from books, from others, or I learned the hard way. I readily absorbed all I could about the natural history and geography of the northeast, and my journeys eventually took me as far north as Labrador. In 1994, dissatisfied with my career, I quite my job and through-hiked the Appalachian Trail. Eventually I began working for non-profit land trusts as a way to spend time in the woods and give back. I started writing poetry on the trail as a way of processing my experience. These days I write both poetry and fiction which I derive in part from my my interest in myth, folklore, eastern philosophy, my love for landscape and nature, and my varied vocational history (worked as an EMT, night manager of a homeless shelter, park ranger, construction laborer, teacher, and hostel manager, to name a few twists and turns; in my current incarnation I'm a stewardship and land transaction specialist for an environmental non-profit). In 2000, I took up shoeless (barefoot) hiking, and in 2013 I began to cultivate a yoga practice. Lately, I've started sharing my observations about hiking. My academic background includes a B.A., M.F.A (creative writing), and an M.R.P. (Master's in Regional Planning).
ABOUT THIS WEBSITE
This website contains blog posts about hiking in New England (and other places) including trip reports, gear reviews, advice, philosophy, how-to articles, humor, etc. It also contains a separate section which showcases some of my poetry and fiction (another interest of mine).
Licensing and Publication Information
Everything you read here is subject to change and revision, based on the author's whims. Works published here may make their way to other forms of media someday in the same or slightly altered states. All of my work posted on this website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution, Non Commercial, No Derivatives license. What this means is you're free to download, duplicate, and/or display my work wherever you like as long as you: (a) do not alter it; (b) you make certain you credit me for it directly and provide a link to this website (or link to the appropriate Creative Commons license in the event that this website ceases to exist); and (c) you do not use my work for commercial purposes without my explicit permission. Note: if you post my material on your own website, and your website is supported by banner ads which provide you income beyond nominally paying for the cost of hosting your website, or you're routinely selling stuff through your website (beyond selling an occasional piece of gear), those are absolutely commercial purposes and you need to have my permission to publish my material there. Details on the Creative Commons License can be found here.
Unless otherwise noted, images found on this website are either my own, are published here with permission from the authors (and credited as such), or are in the public domain and are chosen to complement the works herein. Information on visual artists featured here can be found on the Links page. Photographs taken by me are copyrighted under the same license as my written works. All photographs are my own unless otherwise credited.
I grew up in New England, exploring its mountains and natural areas and those of eastern Canada (where my grandparents emigrated from). As I child, I spend my summers on a lake cabin in Maine and a cottage on the ocean in Rye, New Hampshire, and I explored the woods behind my house at home. My family took us on trips to parks and natural areas, where we mostly viewed nature from the road. I remember feeling drawn by the trail signs but forbidden to venture far. As soon as I was old enough to drive, I got in a car and drove to the White Mountains of New Hampshire to hike. There were no hikers in my family, so what I learned about hiking, backpacking, and nature, I learned from from books, from others, or I learned the hard way. I readily absorbed all I could about the natural history and geography of the northeast, and my journeys eventually took me as far north as Labrador. In 1994, dissatisfied with my career, I quite my job and through-hiked the Appalachian Trail. Eventually I began working for non-profit land trusts as a way to spend time in the woods and give back. I started writing poetry on the trail as a way of processing my experience. These days I write both poetry and fiction which I derive in part from my my interest in myth, folklore, eastern philosophy, my love for landscape and nature, and my varied vocational history (worked as an EMT, night manager of a homeless shelter, park ranger, construction laborer, teacher, and hostel manager, to name a few twists and turns; in my current incarnation I'm a stewardship and land transaction specialist for an environmental non-profit). In 2000, I took up shoeless (barefoot) hiking, and in 2013 I began to cultivate a yoga practice. Lately, I've started sharing my observations about hiking. My academic background includes a B.A., M.F.A (creative writing), and an M.R.P. (Master's in Regional Planning).
ABOUT THIS WEBSITE
This website contains blog posts about hiking in New England (and other places) including trip reports, gear reviews, advice, philosophy, how-to articles, humor, etc. It also contains a separate section which showcases some of my poetry and fiction (another interest of mine).
Licensing and Publication Information
Everything you read here is subject to change and revision, based on the author's whims. Works published here may make their way to other forms of media someday in the same or slightly altered states. All of my work posted on this website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution, Non Commercial, No Derivatives license. What this means is you're free to download, duplicate, and/or display my work wherever you like as long as you: (a) do not alter it; (b) you make certain you credit me for it directly and provide a link to this website (or link to the appropriate Creative Commons license in the event that this website ceases to exist); and (c) you do not use my work for commercial purposes without my explicit permission. Note: if you post my material on your own website, and your website is supported by banner ads which provide you income beyond nominally paying for the cost of hosting your website, or you're routinely selling stuff through your website (beyond selling an occasional piece of gear), those are absolutely commercial purposes and you need to have my permission to publish my material there. Details on the Creative Commons License can be found here.
Unless otherwise noted, images found on this website are either my own, are published here with permission from the authors (and credited as such), or are in the public domain and are chosen to complement the works herein. Information on visual artists featured here can be found on the Links page. Photographs taken by me are copyrighted under the same license as my written works. All photographs are my own unless otherwise credited.
Unless otherwise noted, all content © Paul Gagnon, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs license.