The Trail Less Traveled: Jon Turk
Circumnavigation of Ellesmere Island
In the summer of 2011, Jon Turk and Erik Boomer circumnavigated Ellesmere Island: 1,485 miles in 104 days. Jon is 67 years old, and still blessed with fantastic health. Jon's body and he have an agreement. Jon will take it to places where they have fun; it takes Jon to places where they have fun. They're a team, Jon's body and he.
Listen as John joins the Trail Less Traveled to tell his story of adventure and exploration, he also share some of his insights on what it means to be an adventurer and outdoor athlete. Although he is largely a skier and sea kayaker, his view on the philosophy of adventurers is particularly of interest to athletes in the rafting world. Within all subsets of extreme sports exists a similar philosophy that comes from the nature of pushing yourself to the limits of human endurance.
Who is Jon Turk?
Jon grew up on the shores of a wooded lake in Connecticut, and he attended Phillips Academy, Andover and then Brown University. Jon earned a Ph.D. in organic chemistry at the University of Colorado, in 1971. The same year, in honor of Earth Day 1, Jon co-authored the first environmental science textbook in the United States. It sold 100,000 copies and speaheaded the development of environmental science curricula in North America. Jon Turk has written over 27 books in his lifetime. Jon began wandering the globe, visiting people and places that were so far from my childhood upbringing. Over the decades, Jon has kayaked across the North Pacific and around Cape Horn, mountain biked through the Gobi desert, made first climbing ascents of big walls on Baffin Island, and first ski descents in the Tien Shan Mountains in Kyrgyzia.
