The Dirtbag's Guide to Life: Eternal Truth for Hiker Trash, Ski Bums, and Vagabonds

Witty, useful, and inspiring, The Dirtbag's Guide to Life is your blueprint for an adventurous life, whatever your financial situation.

In the spirit of classics like Rolf Potts' Vagabonding and Alain de Botton's The Art of Travel, The Dirtbag's Guide to Life offers indispensable advice for building your own life of adventure, and life wisdom for anyone who finds inspiration in the outdoors.

Both a celebration of an under-appreciated outdoor subculture and a how-to guide for adventure on the cheap, the book explains how to make adventure your lifestyle, drawing on dozens of real-life examples of "dirtbags" - people who've organized their lives around outdoor pursuits like climbing, thru-hiking, trail running and surfing on the lowest possible budget. Tim Mathis offers the first detailed attempt to define this community, while distilling the lessons they can teach for the rest of us.

The book is honest about the costs associated with a life centered on adventure and exploration, and Mathis keeps you laughing about the subject matter. But his approach is consistently realistic, heartfelt and inspiring, and will leave you feeling like the dream of pursuing your passion is attainable.

Writing for the weekend warrior as much as the record-breaking athlete, The Dirtbag's Guide to Life is full of stories and resources, and draws essential lessons from decades of personal experience and thousands of encounters with some of the world's most interesting adventurers. Organized to be as accessible as possible, the book addresses the key challenges to building the type of life you want:

• How to effectively manage your money to support your current aspirations while also planning for the future
• How to make your career something that supports your passion rather than a barrier to doing what you want
• Ways to incorporate important relationships into your journey
• What to do with all those responsibilities you've accumulated
• How to live intentionally and make your life meaningful through the process
• ...and much more!

Whether you aspire to quit your job to travel the world, hope to someday hike the Appalachian Trail, or just want to fit in a bit more mountain biking on the weekends, The Dirtbag's Guide to Life is an essential, inspiring, and hilarious resource.

Praise for The Dirtbag's Guide to Life

"I see the "how on Earth do you make this happen?" question in various groups all the time. I'd love to just get this guide out there in response!"

Heather "Anish" Anderson. 2019 National Geographic Adventurer of the Year, and author of Thirst: 2600 Miles to Home

"Gosh I love your book! It resonates so much."

Kathy Vaughan, Team UltraPedestrian and co-author of 98 Days of Wind: The Greatest Fail of Our Life

"If you're not a full-on dirtbag this book is for you. If you're interested in what it means to be a dirtbag, this book is for you. If you know someone that lives a weird dirty traveling lifestyle, but don't understand why, this book is for you. If you already are living like a dirtbag, this book is for you.

If you have any sense of travel or adventure, you're going to get something out of this guide. It's definitely not one of those books you're going to read and be done with, you're going to find yourself referring back to it for information. I'm still going back and taking more notes! Mine will be close at hand and for you, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT."

Snuggles of Darwin on the Trail and The Snuggle Diaries