Brandon Wilson is an award-winning author
and photographer, explorer and peace walker whose inspiring
adventures have appeared in books, anthologies, international
magazines, newspapers and on the Internet.
A
voracious explorer of nearly one hundred countries, he is an expert
long-distance, ultralight trekker drawn to the world's pilgrimage
trails: the 4500-kilometer Templar Trail from France to Jerusalem,
the Camino de Santiago and Via de la Plata across Spain, and
Norway's St. Olav’s Way. He and his wife Cheryl were the first
Western couple to complete the pilgrimage trail from Lhasa, Tibet
to Kathmandu, and he was the first American to trek the Via
Francigena from England to Rome. In 2009, they trekked
1800-kilometers from Trieste, Italy to Monaco on the Via Alpina and
other trails. This eight-country adventure will inspire a new book
in 2010.
Wilson, a member of the prestigious Explorers Club and graduate of
UNC-Chapel Hill, is a peace and human rights
activist.
Recent
Works Include:
• Along the
Templar Trail: Seven Million Steps for Peace,
2009 Best
Travel Book Gold-Winner, Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism
Competition,
Society of American Travel Writers Foundation;
Book of the Year Award
Finalist,
ForeWord Magazine (book,
2008)
• Introduction to On a Donkey's
Back, a collection of poetry and paintings by and about the
lives of Nepalese porters, Yileen Press, (book,
2008)
• Essay with 50 Via de la Plata
photos featured in Naïve & Abroad: Spain, Limping 600 Miles
Through History by Marcus Wilder, (book,
2008)
•
"In the Steps of Romans, Pilgrims and Templars",
Backpacking
Light,
(feature article and photos, magazine, 2008)
• "Life When Hell Freezes Over"
(story), featured in They Lived to Tell the Tale: True Stories
of Adventure from the Legendary Explorers Club, The Lyons
Press/The Globe Pequot Press, (anthology, 2007)
• "Give Me My Pen" (poem), part of Voices for Africa,
(anthology, 2007)
• "Thoughts from Along Life’s
Trail: War and the Environment Within" (essay), appeared in
Wounds of War: Poets for Peace (anthology, 2006)
• "The Camino de Santiago: A Transcendent Walk Across
Spain", The
Maui News (feature article and photos,
newspaper, 2006)
• Dead Men
Don’t Leave Tips: Adventures X Africa (book, 2005)
• "Tropical Tango to Micronesia," and "On One Small Barrier
Isle", Ocean (feature articles, magazine,
2005)
• "St. Olav's Way: Trekking the Trail of Norse Kings",
Backpacking
Light (feature article with photos,
magazine, spring 2005)
• Yak Butter Blues: A Tibetan Trek of Faith, an IPPY
award-winner, now in its second edition (book, 2004)
• "Peaceful Reflections from the Pilgrimage Trail", Confraternity
of St. James Bulletin, London (booklet, 2004)
• "Via Francigena-Trekking the Forgotten Highway to Heaven",
International
Living, Ireland (article, 2004)
• Iubilantes
Annuario,
Italy (feature articles, booklets, 2002, 2003, 2006,
2008)
• Lowell Thomas Gold Award, Best Travel Book 2009, SATW Foundation, Along the Templar Trail
• Book of the Year Award Finalist (Adventure), ForeWord Magazine, Along the Templar Trail
• Independent Publisher IPPY Award (Travel Essay), Yak Butter Blues
• University of Pittsburgh Literary Award
Photo Awards:
• National Geographic Traveler
• Islands magazine
Memberships:
• The Explorers Club
• Artists Without Frontiers
• International Travel Writer's Alliance
• Templar Fellowship of America
Long Distance Lite
Trekker/Explorer:
• Trekked
the 2000-km Via Alpina and other trails the length of the Alps,
Italy to Monaco, 2009
•
Pioneered the 4217-km.Templar Trail, France to
Jerusalem
• Trekked Israel National Trail, Haifa to
Jerusalem
• Part of the
first Western couple to trek 1000-km pilgrimage trail from Lhasa,
Tibet to Kathmandu
•
Trekked 400-mile St. Olav's Way pilgrimage trail, Oslo to
Trondheim, Norway
• Trekked the 1,000-km Via de La Plata, Seville to Santiago,
Spain
• First American to
trek the 1150-mile Via Francigena pilgrimage trail, Canterbury,
England to Rome
• Trekked
the 455-mile Camino de Santiago (Frances) pilgrimage trail across
Spain twice
• Trekked Alps thru Switzerland and Italy
• Trekked 600-km. thru the Dolomites to Salzburg,
Austria and Prague
•
Trekked traditional regions of Greece, Turkey and Cyprus
• Trekked the Alps and Pyrenees, France and
Spain
• Trekked to Mount
Everest Base Camp, Tibet
•
Trekked High Tatras
• Trekked Croagh Patrick pilgrimage trail, Ireland
• Climbed Mt. Goldeck, Austria
• Climbed Mt. Valora, Italy
• Climbed Mt. Democrat, Colorado
• Climbed Mt. Zeus, Greece
• Climbed Mt. Olympus, Greece
• Climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
• Climbed Mt. Nyiragongo Volcano, Zaire
• Climbed Mt. Miyajima, Japan
• Climbed Te Rua Manga, Rarotonga
• Traveled overland by Bluebird bus from Venezuela to Mexico
• Independently traveled the West Indies, Montserrat to
Trinidad
• Trans-African safari, through 17 countries from top to tip
• Shot Zambezi River Class V Rapids, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
• Traveled the "gun-run" through civil war in Mozambique
• Photographed mountain gorillas in Zaire
• Chronicled Eastern Europe in transition in 1989 as the Berlin
Wall fell
• Independently traveled around the world from the South Pacific to
Asia to Europe
• Lived in an Inupiat Eskimo village for a year on the edge of the
Arctic Ocean
• Organized Pacific Northwest expeditions to investigate Sasquatch
sightings
• Circumnavigated US/Canada on a major roadtrip in a beat-up
stationwagon