Alaska Public Media © 2025. All rights reserved.
Donate
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

The Alaska Long Trail

Alaska Public Media | By Eric Bork
Published October 23, 2020 at 5:33 PM AKDT
A runner in an orange windbreaker and wearing a red running backpack descends a dirt trail with wet vegetation in the foreground and mountains rising into fog int he background
A runner descends the Crow Pass Trail, which could become a piece of the Alaska Long Trail, a 500-mile chain of trails from Seward to Fairbanks (Lex Treinen/Alaska Public Media)

Long trails are found all over the world and have given rise to thru-hiking, which is to travel a trail either straight through from end to end or to break it into smaller segments, returning over and over again until the hiker has completed the trail. In the United States, the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail are the most famous of the bucket list thru-hikes. Alaska already has one of the oldest National Historic Trails, the Iditarod Trail. We also have many mining and timber roads, waterways, and social trails, that if connected and maintained, would be one of the most ecologically diverse trails in the world. Our guests this week, Alaska Trails board secretary Chris Beck, former Governor Tony Knowles, and videographer Max Romey are going to share the planning process, the potential routes, and the economic benefits of the Alaska Long Trail.

HOST: Lisa Keller

Guests:

Segment 1: Alaska Trails board secretary Chris Beck, former Governor Tony Knowles, videographer Max Romey

LINKS:

BROADCAST: Thursday, October 29th, 2020. 2:00 pm – 3:00 p.m. AKT

REPEAT BROADCAST:  Thursday, October 29th, 2020. 8:00 – 9:00 p.m. AKT

SUBSCRIBE: Receive  Outdoor Explorer automatically every week via:
Outdoor Explorer
Eric Bork
Eric Bork, or you can just call him “Bork” because everybody else does, is the FM Operations Manager for KSKA-FM. He oversees the day-to-day operations of the FM broadcast. He produces and edits episodes of Outdoor Explorer, the Alaska-focused outdoors program. He also maintains the web posts for that show. You may have heard him filling in for Morning Edition or hosting All Things Considered and can still find him operating the soundboard for any of the live broadcast programs. After escaping the Detroit area when he was 18, Bork made it up to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where he earned a degree in Communications/Radio Broadcasting from Northern Michigan University. He spent time managing the college radio station, working for the local NPR affiliate, and then in top 40 radio in Michigan before coming to Alaska to work his first few summers. After then moving to Chicago, it only took five years to convince him to move back to Alaska in 2010. When not involved in great radio programming he’s probably riding a bicycle, thinking about riding bicycles, dreaming about bikes, reading a book, or planning the next place he’ll travel to. Only two continents left to conquer!
See stories by Eric Bork