Bio

This is what I am: A reader and a writer.  An outdoorswoman and tree-hugging nature lover. A musician. A teacher. A photographer. An adventurer. A traveler.

This patchwork career has taken me around the world — and onto the New York Times travel bestsellers list.

I gravitate to stories that make connections between art, nature, and culture;  stories that celebrate travel experiences that are authentic and unexpected.  My stories share my love for wild places, the arts, and my expertise in a variety of adventure activities.  Most importantly, I showcase people, programs, and travel opportunities that are making the world a little saner, healthier, more peaceful… better.

“When memory music turns off, mountain music begins… Water is the melody. High up, the water trickles and drips; lower down, it cascades and roars. Crossing over a creek that drains one of the Three Sisters peaks, I hear the water echoing against a nearby rock, and I wonder if it always echoes. Will this water sing to this rock for all eternity? Will the rock always answer?”

…excerpted from Along the Pacific Crest Trail, by Karen Berger

Adventure is a State of Mind

I’m best known for my writing about hiking an backpacking. (For starts, I’ve hiked 18,000 miles, and I’ve written 13 book about hiking.)  For the past 20 years, my books and magazine articles have explored long-distance hiking trails worldwide. I was one of the first women to thru-hike the so-called Triple Crown — the entire Appalachian, Pacific Crest, and Continental Divide national scenic trails.

At ATC headqarters

Signing books and chatting with fellow hikers at Appalachian Trail Conservancy headquarters in Harpers Ferry, WV.

International treks in Canada, France, Spain, England, Scotland, Italy, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Japan, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, Nepal, New Zealand,  Israel, and Iceland, form the backbone of my  book, Great Hiking Trails of the World, published by Rizzoli in 2017. This  one made it into the New York Times Book Review — in the December 2017 holiday guide. It also was included in People magazine’s holiday round-up and in a round-up of travel books shared nationally through the Associated Press.  America’s National Historic Trails, gave me a second listing in People magazine’s annual listing of the year’s best gift books, and earned a silver National Book Award.

In addition to hiking some 18,000 miles on six continents,  I’m a former outdoor education instructor and guide with worldwide experience in scuba diving, horseback riding, kayaking, climbing, and skiing. I’ve been on several extended expeditions in Africa, Asia, and North America, each lasting between 7 and 17 months. I’ve taught outdoor skills including horseback riding, kayaking, canoeing, orienteering, survival, skiing, leave-no-trace wilderness ethics, nature studies, and more.

Both my writing and my outdoor activities reflect my interest in environmental issues and sustainable travel. Before leaving the salaried world for the rickety rowboat of self-employment, I was a senior editor at Island Press, a Washington D.C. publisher that works with environmental organizations to develop books focusing on cutting edge environmental issues.

Karen Berger Outdoors Pictures

Clockwise: Dry-suit diving in Iceland, Skiing in New England, Cave diving in Mexico (photo by Yvette Cardoza),Hiking the Appalachian Trail, Winter backpacking in Tennessee, Horseback riding in Florida, Ice climbing in Alaska

Writing About Our World… 

Several other knowledge clusters —  history, environmental issues, cuisine, arts, language, culture, diet and health, and most especially music  — inform my travel articles.

I have a  degree in music from Northwestern University, where I studied piano and music journalism. I perform and teach classical, jazz, and pop/rock piano, and recreationally play bass, hammered dulcimer, cello, and guitar.  I am  the author of three Idiot’s Guides on music: The Pocket Idiot’s Guide to Piano Chords, the Complete Idiot’s Guide to Teaching Music on Your Own, and the Complete Idiot’s Guide to Piano Exercises (for which I also composed and recorded the musical examples).

sitting in in Mississippi
Sitting in with local musicians while at a travel writer’s conference in Mississippi

My writing, editing, photography and website work have earned more than 20 awards and finalist honors: Gold from  the Lowell Thomas Awards program, a silver National Outdoor Book Award, three golds from Foreword Magazine’s IndieFab awards program,  and multiple awards from the Educational Press Society of America, Banff Mountain Books Competition, the North American Travel Journalists Association, and the Society of American Travel Writers Eastern Chapter.  In addition to my  own books, my work has appeared in several collections and anthologies, including Journeys of a Lifetime (National Geographic) and The Appalachian Trail Reader (Oxford University Press).