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Her Long Walk: 27,000 Miles

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Adventurer Sarah Marquis has walked from Siberia to Australia. Alone and fearless. She shares her story.

Explorer Sarah Marquis, out in the wild remote bush on a walk. (Courtesy Sarah Marquis)
Explorer Sarah Marquis, out in the wild remote bush on a walk. (Courtesy Sarah Marquis)

Sarah Marquis does what maybe you’ve only dreamed of. And maybe way beyond your dreams. Of walking out the door, from everything ordinary and humdrum, and just keeping on going. She is an epic walker. A woman, alone, intrepid, and – so far - unstoppable. She has walked the circumference of the Earth and more. Lived on snake blood and grubs. Gone to the outer limits. Her latest trek – from Siberia to Australia. This hour On Point, the woman who walks, Sarah Marquis.
-- Tom Ashbrook 

Guest

Sarah Marquis, Swiss adventurer and explorer. Author of the new book, "Wild By Nature: From Siberia to Australia, Three Years Alone In The Wilderness On Foot." National Geographic Explorer. (@sarah_marquis)

From Tom’s Reading List

New York Times: The Woman Who Walked 10,000 Miles (No Exaggeration) in Three Years — "A hundred years ago, when Robert Falcon Scott set out for Antarctica on his Terra Nova expedition, his two primary goals were scientific discovery and reaching the geographic South Pole. Arguably, though, Scott was really chasing what contemporary observers call a sufferfest. He set himself up for trouble: Scott brought Manchurian and Siberian ponies that quickly fell through the snow and ice; he planned, in part, for his crew to 'man-haul,' meaning that the men would pull sleds full of gear, instead of relying on dogs."

TED Ideas: Why walking is the ideal speed to see the world -- "Sarah Marquis will call her parents to let her know she’s coming to visit — and she’ll be there in a week. That’s because her preferred mode of transport is on foot, and from her house in the Swiss Alps to her folks up north is a seven-day, cross-country hike."

Guardian: Sarah Marquis walks the Kimberley: 'I love to be alone in the bush because I’m not alone in the bush' — "Her first long walk was along the Pacific Crest trail in the United States, the walk featured in Reese Witherspoon’s recent film Wild, based on writer Cheryl Strayed’s journey. Marquis’s experience on that trail was less Strayed than Jason Bourne – she was rescued by helicopter from the path of a wildfire, arrested by special forces for accidentally hiking into a snow-covered restricted area in Washington State, and had to run 75km through the night to get help for a fellow hiker dying of hypothermia after being dragged from a river."

Read An Excerpt Of "Wild By Nature" By Sarah Marquis

This program aired on February 29, 2016.

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