It’s the birthday of Colin Fletcher (1922-2007), who went on insanely long hikes—e.g., Mexico to Oregon—and then wrote books about it, including The Complete Walker (1968), often called the hiker’s bible, which bible is considered responsible for jumpstarting the entire backpacking industry.

Fletcher was born in Cardiff, Wales, served with the Royal Marines in WWII, and went to Africa after the war, where for several years he worked in farming and construction. In 1956, he moved to California and within a couple of years did that Mexican-border-to-Oregon walk, and just to clarify, that was on purpose. (The only reason I would walk from Mexico to Oregon is if I were somehow laboring under the constant misapprehension that my car was only a quarter mile up ahead.) He then wrote his first book about hiking, The Thousand-Mile Summer (1964).

Fletcher’s next book, The Man Who Walked through Time (1968), chronicled his 1963 experience as the first person to walk the length of the Grand Canyon National Park entirely within its rim and in one shot. (You know, they have mules. And jeeps, for that matter. Just saying.) Fletcher also published his first edition of The Complete Walker that year, which is jampacked full of sage advice, expert recommendations on equipment, and personal anecdotes. The Complete Walker hit the shelves in time to help many returning Vietnam vets who were trying to recover some meaning in life. The book has been through three more editions, most recently one in 2001 coauthored with Chip Rawlins (another one of these people who does extended things in nature).

Fletcher’s other books include The Winds of Mara (1973), about his time in Kenya; The Man from the Cave (1981), about his investigation into who left a trunk and various belongings in a cave in Nevada; The Secret Worlds of Colin Fletcher (1989); and River: One Man’s Journey Down the Colorado, Source to Sea (1997), which chronicles, well, exactly what it says. He was the first person ever to hike and raft the entire length of the Green River/Colorado River. On purpose.

In 2001, Fletcher was walking near his home in Monterey County, California, and was struck by a car. He survived in spite of serious injuries but died six years later of complications from a head injury sustained from that accident. He was 85.

Have a splendid, weirdly warm Thursday and stay scrupulously honest to the data.