Learn about ‘Exploring Europe on Foot’ when author Cassandra Overby visits Tri-Cities
If you fantasize and dream of walking around the best trails in Europe, then you will be making tracks to experience the breathtaking photography and hear the amazing stories from author and photographer Cassandra Overby.
In a special presentation sponsored by the Intermountain Alpine Club Overby will put on a colorful and educational presentation filled with mouth-watering visually stupendous slides and stories chronicling her experiences hiking and writing her books, Explore Europe on Foot and Home Base Hiking Europe (Mountaineers Books) and three specialized regional trail guides.
This presentation is open to the public at The Reach Museum, on Thursday March 6, starting at 6:30 PM.
“There are lots of cultural hiking adventures that you can choose to match your interests and passions,” she said. “Everything from epic village-to-village and hut-to-hut routes to charming village home bases where you can unpack your bags and day hike the area’s most rewarding trails. All you need to do is choose a region and go!”
Born in Washington and raised in Bellingham by a moderately outdoorsy family, she didn’t become an avid hiker until college, where she became a traveler and studied abroad in Vienna, Austria as a sophomore. She was so enamored with traveling Europe she almost dropped out of college, but instead combined a couple of internships in Europe with an education in business at the University of Washington and turned her passions into a career.
“Home base hiking,” Overby explains, “also called “star” hiking by Europeans, means staying in a village and doing day hikes from there, rather than walking a long trail that has you in a new area—and new accommodations—each night.”
“It’s a comfortable way to adventure for families with young kids, older hikers and anyone else who wants to minimize their travel logistics and maximize their comfort. You can walk with just a light day pack rather than a heavier backpack.”
“You don’t have to compromise on quality of experience to do it! There are many charming villages with incredible, jaw-dropping, beautiful trails and along the way you can savor really interesting cultural and historic sights.
“It takes me about two years to research, write, and publish each book. The research is my favorite part, because I hike every trail (and more) and I talk to European hikers about their favorite regions and routes. I like to feature European, not international, hotspots—and that dictates what I focus on and publish. I spend every other summer in Europe and now that I am married and have two little girls, everyone comes along for the adventure.”
“I really enjoy exploring small towns that most travelers overlook, hiking through the incredible landscapes. I feel really grounded while I do it. There’s something so peaceful and settling about walking, especially when you do it hours a day. It’s not just slow travel but physically slow travel, and it really is an antidote to living in our modern, uber-fast society.”
She likens choosing her favorite destinations to trying to choose a favorite child. “I love so many places for wildly different reasons.”
“The areas that currently light me up the most are the Dolomites, in Italy; Costa Brava, in Spain; and the Swiss Alpine Pass Route, in Switzerland,” she said.
“I always feel safer walking in Europe—even alone. There aren’t very many animals over there to be worried about, and you don’t have sketchy people or break-ins at parking lots.”
“The worst thing that ever happened to me was actually food poisoning, which happened on a research trip”
“Years ago, before I started hiking with GPX, a hike that I thought was 12-miles long turned out to be 25-miles, which definitely made my hiking companions grumpy. But technology has reduced things like that from happening.”
Overby has some helpful recommendations for serious travelers.
“Travel burnout can reduce your enjoyment of and motivation to travel. If you want your explorations to be more satisfying on a deeper level, it can help to travel in different ways. “
“Travel burnout is what launched me hiking-based travel and that has changed everything for me.”
“The hiking experience in Europe is much more civilized than it is here. There are a variety of ways to lessen the elevation gain/loss with gondolas and lifts, and most routes have either mountain huts or small enclaves along the way where you can get a warm meal and a cold mug of beer.”
Learn more at www.exploreonfoot.com
You can hear Cassandra Overby in person at The Reach Museum on Thursday March 6, 2025. Presentation starts at 6:30 PM. Tickets are $7.00. Catered dinner 5:30 to 6:20 PM available for an extra fee. Seating will be limited so get there early.
Reserve your seat at the Inter-Mountain Alpine Club website
Link: https://imacnw.org/events/i-mac-annual-banquet-open-to-the-public/
This story was originally published February 26, 2025 at 5:00 AM.