About Us

My name is Forrest Mallard and I’ve been on a non-stop traveling odyssey since 2005.

Welcome to my blog! Here I will regale you with stories of crazy adventures and I’ll reveal some of my secret travel hacks. I hope through this blog I can share with you everything you need to know to get off your butt and head out on your own incredible journeys.

I hope to inspire you and motivate you to attempt something extraordinary on your next holiday. I want to give you a preview of off-the beaten-path discoveries you can find, and I’ll help you plan trips to wonderful places you have never heard of.

In 2005, I left the USA and began a journey that would take me around the globe several times.

To support myself along the way, I’ve done everything from producing and managing international celebrity concert tours (glamorous) to scrubbing public toilets (not so glamorous).

There have been brief moments when I felt like a posh jet-setter, but I never would have fully appreciated those times if I hadn’t also had some absolutely humbling experiences along the way. THAT, my friends, it true travel. The good AND the bad. It is not all selfies on a beach, sipping Piña Coladas. It is figuring out how to get to the beach, worrying about your budget, and how to make the best of things when nothing goes as planned.

I encourage people to share ALL of their stories. The stories about how you used your problem solving skills to get through some tough situations are so much more interesting than fluff pieces listing off the 10 best beaches of some place that everyone has already been to.

After almost a decade on the road, I finally had some time and a little bit of money saved. I wanted to do something extraordinary, but I didn’t want to spend all of my money. So what is cheap? Walking! Walking is free!

My first long-distance trail, the West Highland Way, was a disaster. This 9-day journey through the Scottish mountains was stunningly beautiful, but I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I was wet, miserable, and I was tragically unprepared. It was also one of the best things to ever happen to me.

One week after the West Highland Way, I started walking on the Camino Frances, a one-month historical pilgrimage across Spain. I was better prepared, and I had my head in a better place. My love for trekking was then solidified. Now, I plan my travels around the trails I will get to walk.

I hope to inspire people to get off their butts and go far a walk. Around the block or across the continent. With this blog, I can hopefully build a great resource for you to plan your hikes, select your gear, and share your own stories.

I’ll try to keep everyone updated as to which trails I will be on, so if you would like to join me on a trek, I would love that!

Forget the vulgarities. The original definition of ‘Tramp’ was not always so scandalous.

Verb

• “to walk heavily or noisily.“
• “to walk for long distances in rough country for recreation.“

Noun

• “a person who travels from place to place on foot in search of work or as a vagrant or beggar.”

Tramping: known elsewhere as backpacking, rambling, hill walking or bushwalking, is a popular activity in New Zealand. Tramping is defined as a recreational activity involving walking over rough country.

Tramps or Trampers often carry a backpack and wet-weather gear, and may also carry equipment for cooking and sleeping.

Another awesome word is Coddiwomple, which means “to travel in a purposeful manner towards a vague destination” But to call myself a ‘Coddiwompler’ would just be silly.

Trampy (@tramposaurus) is the Tramposaurus Treks travel mascot.

• He doesn’t eat much.
• He is a good listener when I have something to gripe about.
• He is way more photogenic than I will ever be.
• He also appeals to the kid in all of us that loves dinosaurs.

Trampy has no problem making friends wherever he goes.

Being a plastic reptile, Trampy prefers warmer climates, but I did get him to Iceland and the Faroe Islands a few times, and he is currently traveling with me in Alaska.

There is something deeply cathartic about trekking, whether it be a short hike through the woods lasting only an hour, or a more epic adventure of crossing a country or continent, lasting maybe weeks or months. Every city, town or village that you reach by the power of your own feet, creates a deeply satisfying sense of accomplishment, and thus every sight you see and every meal you eat upon your arrival, becomes a rich reward for a job well done. Absolutely every moment that you experience during your journey has personal meaning for you and these moments will remain with you forever. Distance suddenly becomes exceptionally relevant in your journey and the concept of ‘travel’ becomes quite vivid and extremely literal.

In 2017, Canada completed The Great Trail (formerly known as the Trans-Canada Trail), the world’s largest network of recreational trails (14,000 miles or 23,000 km) from the Atlantic to the Pacific, then north to the Arctic Ocean. This is one gigantic example of the increasing passion and popularity for recreational walking. The conversion of canal banks and disused railways around the world to mixed-use walk and cycle-ways, enables us to have unprecedented access to cities, urban and rural heritage.