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Trespassing Across America: One Man's Epic, Never-Done-Before (and Sort of Illegal) Hike Across the Heartland
Winner of the Nebraska Center for the Book Award, Travel • A Sigurd Olson Nature Writing Award Notable Book • Honoree of the Society of Midland Authors Annual Literary Award for Biography/Memoir
Now that President Donald Trump has revived the Keystone XL pipeline that was rejected by former President Obama, Trespassing Across America is the book to help us understand the kaleidoscopic significance of the project. Told with sincerity, humor, and wit, Ilgunas's story is both a fascinating account of one man’s remarkable journey along the pipeline's potential path and a meditation on climate change, the beauty of the natural world, and the extremes to which we can push ourselves—both physically and mentally.
It started as a far-fetched idea—to hike the entire length of the proposed route of the Keystone XL pipeline. But in the months that followed, it grew into something more for Ken Ilgunas. It became an irresistible adventure—an opportunity not only to draw attention to global warming but also to explore his personal limits. So in September 2012, he strapped on his backpack, stuck out his thumb on the interstate just north of Denver, and hitchhiked 1,500 miles to the Alberta tar sands. Once there, he turned around and began his 1,700-mile trek to the XL’s endpoint on the Gulf Coast of Texas, a journey he would complete entirely on foot, walking almost exclusively across private property.
Both a travel memoir and a reflection on climate change, Trespassing Across America is filled with colorful characters, harrowing physical trials, and strange encounters with the weather, terrain, and animals of America’s plains. A tribute to the Great Plains and the people who live there, Ilgunas’s memoir grapples with difficult questions about our place in the What is our personal responsibility as stewards of the land? As members of a rapidly warming planet? As mere individuals up against something as powerful as the fossil fuel industry? Ultimately, Trespassing Across America is a call to embrace the belief that a life lived not half wild is a life only half lived.
Now that President Donald Trump has revived the Keystone XL pipeline that was rejected by former President Obama, Trespassing Across America is the book to help us understand the kaleidoscopic significance of the project. Told with sincerity, humor, and wit, Ilgunas's story is both a fascinating account of one man’s remarkable journey along the pipeline's potential path and a meditation on climate change, the beauty of the natural world, and the extremes to which we can push ourselves—both physically and mentally.
It started as a far-fetched idea—to hike the entire length of the proposed route of the Keystone XL pipeline. But in the months that followed, it grew into something more for Ken Ilgunas. It became an irresistible adventure—an opportunity not only to draw attention to global warming but also to explore his personal limits. So in September 2012, he strapped on his backpack, stuck out his thumb on the interstate just north of Denver, and hitchhiked 1,500 miles to the Alberta tar sands. Once there, he turned around and began his 1,700-mile trek to the XL’s endpoint on the Gulf Coast of Texas, a journey he would complete entirely on foot, walking almost exclusively across private property.
Both a travel memoir and a reflection on climate change, Trespassing Across America is filled with colorful characters, harrowing physical trials, and strange encounters with the weather, terrain, and animals of America’s plains. A tribute to the Great Plains and the people who live there, Ilgunas’s memoir grapples with difficult questions about our place in the What is our personal responsibility as stewards of the land? As members of a rapidly warming planet? As mere individuals up against something as powerful as the fossil fuel industry? Ultimately, Trespassing Across America is a call to embrace the belief that a life lived not half wild is a life only half lived.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published April 19, 2016
113 people are currently reading
3,349 people want to read
About the author
Ken Ilgunas
5 books268 followersKen Ilgunas was born in Ontario, and raised in Wheatfield -- a small town in western New York where his family still lives. At the moment, he's either tending a friend's garden in Stokes County, North Carolina, or traveling cross-country in his van.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 289 reviews
April 29, 2016
Ken Ilgunas hiked 1900 miles, from Canada down to Texas, along the Keystone pipeline (proposed XL version). That's amazing. He learned a lot about the land (mostly prairie) and a lot about people (mostly kind, some not so much). And dogs. Unfortunately, he didn't learn much about either the pipeline itself or global warming. He does a lot of thinking. But not about the pipeline.
Ilgunas has something of a writer's persona, in that he does a lot of listening and not much talking in this story. For most of the first half of his journey, he told those who asked that he was doing the hike because he simply wanted to go for a long walk. It took a local activist in Nebraska to poke him in the ribs and make him commit to a more meaningful answer. He repeated some arguments about what the pipeline may lead to, but he didn't investigate them. I'm an environmentalist, but I recognize that the real choice before us is probably not oil from tar sands or no oil from tar sands. It's pipeline or army of trucks carrying oil. And it's hard to argue for that army of trucks. Surely some sort of examination of the real issues here, of the claims of land owners both for and against the pipeline should be examined in more detail.
So I'm torn about how to respond to this book. On the one hand, it's just a good story. This Jesus-lecture hater learns that the best place to ask for shelter in a small town is the church. People extend hospitality to him while disagreeing with him and warning him that he'll get shot. But as an activist piece, it's limp. There's no real examination of what can actually be done to mitigate climate change, or even discussion of the evidence for the fact that global warming is happening. I would think there should be room for that in a book like this.
So hey, I toast this guy for his courage and his stick-to-it-iveness. He did something really impressive. I'm just not sure why. And I know that he's not sure why, either.
I got a free copy of this from First to Read.
Ilgunas has something of a writer's persona, in that he does a lot of listening and not much talking in this story. For most of the first half of his journey, he told those who asked that he was doing the hike because he simply wanted to go for a long walk. It took a local activist in Nebraska to poke him in the ribs and make him commit to a more meaningful answer. He repeated some arguments about what the pipeline may lead to, but he didn't investigate them. I'm an environmentalist, but I recognize that the real choice before us is probably not oil from tar sands or no oil from tar sands. It's pipeline or army of trucks carrying oil. And it's hard to argue for that army of trucks. Surely some sort of examination of the real issues here, of the claims of land owners both for and against the pipeline should be examined in more detail.
So I'm torn about how to respond to this book. On the one hand, it's just a good story. This Jesus-lecture hater learns that the best place to ask for shelter in a small town is the church. People extend hospitality to him while disagreeing with him and warning him that he'll get shot. But as an activist piece, it's limp. There's no real examination of what can actually be done to mitigate climate change, or even discussion of the evidence for the fact that global warming is happening. I would think there should be room for that in a book like this.
So hey, I toast this guy for his courage and his stick-to-it-iveness. He did something really impressive. I'm just not sure why. And I know that he's not sure why, either.
I got a free copy of this from First to Read.
March 22, 2017
"Walk across America and see, within us all, the deep reservoirs of goodness, the wellsprings of love, our unthinking diligence, and our scientific genius, and you can't help but believe that--with nimble hands, inventive minds, compassionate souls, and, most of all, a good pair of feet--we can go far."
Also, Ken gets chased by cows.
Also, Ken gets chased by cows.
September 3, 2018
I listened to the audio version of this book. The narrator has a quiet and clear voice that is easy to understand and nice to listen to.
I very much enjoyed the author's walk across North America. It was relaxing and interesting. It is definitely not promoting the XL pipeline and the tar sands but even though he is an environmentalist which is mentioned a lot in the book the story is more about his experience with the people he meets on his walk.
I very much enjoyed the author's walk across North America. It was relaxing and interesting. It is definitely not promoting the XL pipeline and the tar sands but even though he is an environmentalist which is mentioned a lot in the book the story is more about his experience with the people he meets on his walk.
October 19, 2016
This was one of those books that Goodreads suggested that I read, and since I love travelogues, I figured I couldn't go wrong. And boy, did I enjoy this book.
For one thing, Ilgunas is a wonderful writer. I've read lots of books by people who have done a thing, and they're noteworthy because of this thing, so they write a book. It doesn't mean they can actually write. Ilgunas can write, and he writes well. It was truly a joy to read his musings on the beauty of the plains, the majesty of our flyover states, the state of our country and why so many people wish for this pipeline to be built when it will truly employ just a few workers when it's done. I thoroughly enjoyed his description of the evolution of the Great Plains, and found myself reading aloud most of that section to my husband, who also found it fascinating to hear about all the vast changes this "boring" piece of land has experienced over the years.
It's true that Ilgunas isn't hugely strident about his anti-pipeline stance, and rarely reveals his true feelings to people living along the pipeline's route. But as a fellow introvert who abhors conflict, I totally get it. I hold much different political views from most people around me, and instead of arguing (which does nothing more than anger everyone), I tend instead to keep quiet about them. So it doesn't surprise me at all that Ilgunas isn't "in your face" about his anti-pipeline leanings.
This book will, if nothing else, make you wish to see the plains for yourself, to feel the tips of the grasses under your fingers, to marvel at the wide open spaces and the never-ending sky. It will also make you aware that we need to stop being so dependent on oil, to figure out a way to live our lives in a more sustainable way. I have a feeling that Ilgunas wants to pique one's interest with this book, to give one a reason to do more research, and I feel that he hopes we pick up more information from credible sources on how to live more sustainably and what we can do to reduce our oil consumption.
Highly recommended to anyone who loves our country and wants to revel in its beauty.
For one thing, Ilgunas is a wonderful writer. I've read lots of books by people who have done a thing, and they're noteworthy because of this thing, so they write a book. It doesn't mean they can actually write. Ilgunas can write, and he writes well. It was truly a joy to read his musings on the beauty of the plains, the majesty of our flyover states, the state of our country and why so many people wish for this pipeline to be built when it will truly employ just a few workers when it's done. I thoroughly enjoyed his description of the evolution of the Great Plains, and found myself reading aloud most of that section to my husband, who also found it fascinating to hear about all the vast changes this "boring" piece of land has experienced over the years.
It's true that Ilgunas isn't hugely strident about his anti-pipeline stance, and rarely reveals his true feelings to people living along the pipeline's route. But as a fellow introvert who abhors conflict, I totally get it. I hold much different political views from most people around me, and instead of arguing (which does nothing more than anger everyone), I tend instead to keep quiet about them. So it doesn't surprise me at all that Ilgunas isn't "in your face" about his anti-pipeline leanings.
This book will, if nothing else, make you wish to see the plains for yourself, to feel the tips of the grasses under your fingers, to marvel at the wide open spaces and the never-ending sky. It will also make you aware that we need to stop being so dependent on oil, to figure out a way to live our lives in a more sustainable way. I have a feeling that Ilgunas wants to pique one's interest with this book, to give one a reason to do more research, and I feel that he hopes we pick up more information from credible sources on how to live more sustainably and what we can do to reduce our oil consumption.
Highly recommended to anyone who loves our country and wants to revel in its beauty.
April 4, 2016
A little less than half way through the book, a chapter ends with these sentences. "To travel alone, I'd learned, isn't to rely on yourself. To travel alone is to force yourself to depend on others. It is to fall in love with mankind." Those three sentences not only made want to keep reading but also said things to me that made me want to start traveling more. I would look back at travels I have taken and see them differently. Having a forestry background, I felt that there is a lot to be said for looking past the job creation and instantaneous economic impact of many things.
I likened the Keystone XL to fracking in my community or those near me. Did it bring jobs? Yes but many were filled by outsiders and definitely the higher paying ones were filled by company men from out of the area. It also brought more restaurant use, higher rents and other impacts. Does that make it good? No but it doesn't necessarily make it bad either.
To wrap up the book, this quote says it all. "And as E. O. Wilson might say, let's not save the world for the sake of saving the world. Let's try to save it for the sake of saving ourselves."
Definitely give this book a read.
I likened the Keystone XL to fracking in my community or those near me. Did it bring jobs? Yes but many were filled by outsiders and definitely the higher paying ones were filled by company men from out of the area. It also brought more restaurant use, higher rents and other impacts. Does that make it good? No but it doesn't necessarily make it bad either.
To wrap up the book, this quote says it all. "And as E. O. Wilson might say, let's not save the world for the sake of saving the world. Let's try to save it for the sake of saving ourselves."
Definitely give this book a read.
July 9, 2018
Ilgunas writes readable memoirs and travel narratives, often with a humorous self-deprecatory tone. Ignore the negative reviews that insist he is judgmental; he shows a lot of self-awareness when he is critical of how we live, so it's not as if he can only dish it out.
It's only fitting that a review of an Ilgunas book include a brief confessional: I'm not an SUV person, but I like a longer shower and wish I used fewer paper towels. I wash dishes by hand, but I do it the wrong way. Often I drink bottled water, and I don't always refuse the plastic bag for a gallon of milk from the supermarket. I've destroyed the planet, I know. Sorry.
It's only fitting that a review of an Ilgunas book include a brief confessional: I'm not an SUV person, but I like a longer shower and wish I used fewer paper towels. I wash dishes by hand, but I do it the wrong way. Often I drink bottled water, and I don't always refuse the plastic bag for a gallon of milk from the supermarket. I've destroyed the planet, I know. Sorry.
October 24, 2017
I like to give thanks to my tax dollars for the support of public libraries that allowed me to borrow said book in exchange for an honest review, for which I returned well within the 3 week loan period.
dude was too all over the place for my taste, so much so I'd often forget about the hike and its purpose.
dude was too all over the place for my taste, so much so I'd often forget about the hike and its purpose.
December 2, 2017
Ken Ilgunas graduated from college with $32,000 in loans to pay off. To avoid further debt while in grad school at Duke, he lived in a 1994 Econoline van. After graduating, he took a series of unusual jobs in order to pay off his college loans. His first book was Walden on Wheels, which was a fascinating account of this period of his life. In Trespassing Across America, he ditched the van and hiked the Keystone XL pipeline, which took him 146 days and 1,900 miles. It's a tale of his adventures, and also a meditation on climate change, the beauty of our natural world, and the question of our responsibility as stewards of our land. A quote that stood out, for me, is "The battle over climate change, I thought, like the battle over civil rights, will not be won by convincing disbelievers of facts or appealing to their morality but by passing the torch of reason down to the generations to come, who will replace and laugh at us all."
March 11, 2016
Thanks to Netgalley and Blue Rider Press for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
While trespassing is not a foreign concept to me, the idea of not being able to walk across your own country is indeed a very strange notion. Over here in Portugal, and I believe the most of Europe, the countryside is out there for anyone who wishes to freely enjoy it. Since I was born I spent all my summers on my grandmother’s place in rural Portugal, and even though everyone had small patches of land, we could all walk freely through all of them, as long as we did not step on any of the crops, as that would make people mad.
This was a journey through North America to follow the path of a new oil pipe that will be/is being built, however it was also a journey into thought, into the heart of America, a reflection into what makes people have a specific set of beliefs that are so radically different than others, and sometimes so radically different than what they should be.
It’s no surprise that my views fall closer to the ones of the author. And it was refreshing to see that in some ways he did not let himself fall prey of his own judgement, and let himself enjoy the people he met, even when they were frankly against what he was doing and very outspoken about it.
Sometimes throughout the book we get a glimpse of despair, and that happens in my daily life as well, when I think we are so close to the edge, when no salvation for mankind will be possible. However, a ray of hope will emerge in the end, as it should be, as we cannot clearly predict the future, and we certainly cannot give up our efforts to make it better.
Someone asked me once: “what difference does it make if I’m here recycling a small water bottle when there are plans being made to start fracking on the Portuguese shore?” My answer will always be: every little bit helps, and not being able to stop one environmental danger does not give me green card to stop caring about what I do. My actions are my own to control, and up to my conscience.”
I have also the duty to be environmentally aware, and pass on the message, and that is the strength of books like this one and he hike that brought it to life.
Recommended to all of those who like travel reading, science and environment, a lust for life, but beware because you might stand up and walk, and never stop.
"When I think about our culture's addition to fossil fuel, its indifference to the natural world, and the sheer impossibility of any major change happening soon, I can't help but despair. Almost as depressing as an inevitable collapse is how powerless I feel as an individual."
https://peixinhodepratablog.wordpress...
While trespassing is not a foreign concept to me, the idea of not being able to walk across your own country is indeed a very strange notion. Over here in Portugal, and I believe the most of Europe, the countryside is out there for anyone who wishes to freely enjoy it. Since I was born I spent all my summers on my grandmother’s place in rural Portugal, and even though everyone had small patches of land, we could all walk freely through all of them, as long as we did not step on any of the crops, as that would make people mad.
This was a journey through North America to follow the path of a new oil pipe that will be/is being built, however it was also a journey into thought, into the heart of America, a reflection into what makes people have a specific set of beliefs that are so radically different than others, and sometimes so radically different than what they should be.
It’s no surprise that my views fall closer to the ones of the author. And it was refreshing to see that in some ways he did not let himself fall prey of his own judgement, and let himself enjoy the people he met, even when they were frankly against what he was doing and very outspoken about it.
Sometimes throughout the book we get a glimpse of despair, and that happens in my daily life as well, when I think we are so close to the edge, when no salvation for mankind will be possible. However, a ray of hope will emerge in the end, as it should be, as we cannot clearly predict the future, and we certainly cannot give up our efforts to make it better.
Someone asked me once: “what difference does it make if I’m here recycling a small water bottle when there are plans being made to start fracking on the Portuguese shore?” My answer will always be: every little bit helps, and not being able to stop one environmental danger does not give me green card to stop caring about what I do. My actions are my own to control, and up to my conscience.”
I have also the duty to be environmentally aware, and pass on the message, and that is the strength of books like this one and he hike that brought it to life.
Recommended to all of those who like travel reading, science and environment, a lust for life, but beware because you might stand up and walk, and never stop.
"When I think about our culture's addition to fossil fuel, its indifference to the natural world, and the sheer impossibility of any major change happening soon, I can't help but despair. Almost as depressing as an inevitable collapse is how powerless I feel as an individual."
https://peixinhodepratablog.wordpress...
Shelved as 'did-not-finish'
February 9, 2017Fell flat. I guess I'm confused as to the purpose of the trip. He wrote for the first 20 pages that it was all about the Keystone XL, yet once the trip starts, he rarely engaged with anybody he meets about the pipeline. He definitely has a "what": hike 1,700 miles on a route that's never been done. But the "why" fell flat, when it existed at all. Was he an environmental activist? Or just a young twenty-something with a major man crush on Chris McCandless? Seeing as he wrote an entire book about taking a "pilgrimage" to the stupid fucking bus (The McCandless Mecca: A Pilgrimage to the Magic Bus of the Stampede Trail), I am going to assume the latter and return this book to my local public library.
January 8, 2018
I appreciated his trek along the proposed route of the Keystone XL pipeline and enjoyed the stories of people he met, but really didn't like the author -- from a comment early on about holding hands with a male friend but "not in a gay way" to the racist stereotyping and reluctance to help, or even believe, a young black man (who asked Ilgunas if he had a cell phone he could use because his car skidded off the road a mile back), I found him to be judgmental and self-righteous, and just plain awful. So many strangers had helped him over the course of his 1,900-mile journey and he apparently learned nothing about kindness or the good in all, except a few hollow words uttered upon reflection of his actions. Blah.
April 19, 2017
Intriguing idea, and he has some interesting observations about life in the Great Plains that were new to me. I appreciate how open and honest the author is about his faults and shortcomings, but I do wish he bothered to spend more than a few lines about how only a white male could have undertaken a trip like this one and come out unscathed on the other end...but at least he did it and shared his discoveries with the rest of us? Anyway, it's a quick, escapist read that makes you think (and roll your eyes, tbh).
April 3, 2016
If you are interested in hiking and/or climate change, this is probably the book for you. In this book we get to tag along with Ken who hikes across North America. When doing so, he encounters the many faces of North America and a number of unique situations. The book is filled with stories that make you question the earth around you and how we take care of it. I enjoyed the book.
April 9, 2017
After graduating college, Ken Ilgunas headed up to Prudhoe Bay to work as a dishwasher for the workers of the oil fields. He spent his time:
cleaning for about fifty oil-field workers who stayed at our camp. Oddly enough, three of us had college degrees in English—a degree that clearly did nothing to prepare us for the duties of succeeding in the professional world but did, however, empower us to have impassioned forty-five-minute conversations about whether the film Scream does or does not fit within the horror genre.
In a land of remote beauty he became aware of how oil and the industrialized world ravaged the wilderness:
We saw the industrial squalor, the depraved lifestyles, the sad, empty eyes of the workers. We felt the emptiness within ourselves. This place was an Ayn Rand wasteland, the epitome of our country’s wrongheaded conception of “progress.” The thought of creating more such places, more such jobs, and more such planet-warming greenhouse gases defied, in our eyes, all the tenets of good sense and reason.
Looking for a cause and a release to his sense of adventure as well as a next step and more rewarding step for himself, Ilgunas decided to walk from the sand tar oil pits in Northern Alberta and follow the proposed route of the Keystone Pipeline south to Port Arthur, Texas. His book Trespassing Across America: One Man's Epic, Never-Done-Before (and Sort of Illegal) Hike Across the Heartland details this journey.
I love slow journey (walking, biking, rowing) travel tales, and with the topical nature of this journey, I was excited to read it. Ilgunas is not a chest thumping environmentalist and while he may appreciate some of the tactics of Greenpeace, he is definitely not of that ilk. He appreciates life and loves adventure, but he is savvy enough to know when it is a good idea to remain quiet and listen carefully. Part of the purpose of the journey was to take the pulse of the people of the Great Plains.
The start of the journey is a site of devastation. Just Google images for tar sands and there are no words necessary. Of that, Ilgunas says:
human mind struggles to sympathize with a devastated landscape, especially one that was never our home. A whole ecosystem removed from the earth is an unbelievable sight. It’s an abstract concept, and appreciating it requires more than just our eyes and ears. On first sight, we feel shock and awe and amazement, but I’d wager that only a few of us are overcome with the moral indignation that we’d originally expected to feel. It’s not until afterward, when we’ve had time to think it over, to reflect on industry’s shortsightedness, to imagine the exodus of animals, and to consider the implications for our climate—all nebulous, abstract things—that we begin to feel what we’d expected to feel and appreciate the enormity .
His journey reminded me a bit of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and Etta and Otto and Russell and James in that as he traveled people began hearing about him. He was interviewed by the media and on two occasions he had people who decided to join him on his journey.
Like many other slow journey memoirs, Ilgunas has plenty of time to reflect and he brings that to the pages of the book. He muses about the nature of the Great Plains, big agriculture, cows, private property and the difference and origin of rites of passage between the United States and other countries.
I think this was a worthwhile read. I enjoyed it.
cleaning for about fifty oil-field workers who stayed at our camp. Oddly enough, three of us had college degrees in English—a degree that clearly did nothing to prepare us for the duties of succeeding in the professional world but did, however, empower us to have impassioned forty-five-minute conversations about whether the film Scream does or does not fit within the horror genre.
In a land of remote beauty he became aware of how oil and the industrialized world ravaged the wilderness:
We saw the industrial squalor, the depraved lifestyles, the sad, empty eyes of the workers. We felt the emptiness within ourselves. This place was an Ayn Rand wasteland, the epitome of our country’s wrongheaded conception of “progress.” The thought of creating more such places, more such jobs, and more such planet-warming greenhouse gases defied, in our eyes, all the tenets of good sense and reason.
Looking for a cause and a release to his sense of adventure as well as a next step and more rewarding step for himself, Ilgunas decided to walk from the sand tar oil pits in Northern Alberta and follow the proposed route of the Keystone Pipeline south to Port Arthur, Texas. His book Trespassing Across America: One Man's Epic, Never-Done-Before (and Sort of Illegal) Hike Across the Heartland details this journey.
I love slow journey (walking, biking, rowing) travel tales, and with the topical nature of this journey, I was excited to read it. Ilgunas is not a chest thumping environmentalist and while he may appreciate some of the tactics of Greenpeace, he is definitely not of that ilk. He appreciates life and loves adventure, but he is savvy enough to know when it is a good idea to remain quiet and listen carefully. Part of the purpose of the journey was to take the pulse of the people of the Great Plains.
The start of the journey is a site of devastation. Just Google images for tar sands and there are no words necessary. Of that, Ilgunas says:
human mind struggles to sympathize with a devastated landscape, especially one that was never our home. A whole ecosystem removed from the earth is an unbelievable sight. It’s an abstract concept, and appreciating it requires more than just our eyes and ears. On first sight, we feel shock and awe and amazement, but I’d wager that only a few of us are overcome with the moral indignation that we’d originally expected to feel. It’s not until afterward, when we’ve had time to think it over, to reflect on industry’s shortsightedness, to imagine the exodus of animals, and to consider the implications for our climate—all nebulous, abstract things—that we begin to feel what we’d expected to feel and appreciate the enormity .
His journey reminded me a bit of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and Etta and Otto and Russell and James in that as he traveled people began hearing about him. He was interviewed by the media and on two occasions he had people who decided to join him on his journey.
Like many other slow journey memoirs, Ilgunas has plenty of time to reflect and he brings that to the pages of the book. He muses about the nature of the Great Plains, big agriculture, cows, private property and the difference and origin of rites of passage between the United States and other countries.
I think this was a worthwhile read. I enjoyed it.
May 18, 2024
I admire Ken Ilgunas as an author. And even more as a person. At the same age (29) as Ilgunas I did a similar journey to his. I rode a bicycle from Oregon to Wyoming, but, unlike him, I did not have a higher purpose in mind. I rode strictly for fun. He, however, journeyed to investigate and publicize the environmentally-questioned Keystone XL pipeline. His investigation was thorough and enlightening.
One point he makes about today’s rural Americans is odd and unfortunately true. Even though he was hiking on prairie with a population of less than 2 people per square mile, he encountered gun-toting ranchers almost every day with the message “git off my property”. Not surprising, his next book is “This land is our land: how we lost the right to roam and how to take it back”.
One point he makes about today’s rural Americans is odd and unfortunately true. Even though he was hiking on prairie with a population of less than 2 people per square mile, he encountered gun-toting ranchers almost every day with the message “git off my property”. Not surprising, his next book is “This land is our land: how we lost the right to roam and how to take it back”.
November 1, 2020
What could have been a really great adventure story or a really important topic piece ultimately left me wondering, "What was the point?" Ilgunas never commits to a narrative, which is ultimately the problem. He frames this as a sort of ecological discovery tour, an expose-big-oil adventure, but he doesn't commit to that message, not in the encounters he recalls and not even after the fact (when he is no longer at the mercy of strangers who might not agree with him). But at the same time, he doesn't just let this stand as the great wilderness hike story it could be without the narrative. The hemming-and-hawing that happens in this book makes for a not-so-great read when it had so much potential.
June 13, 2018
What starts as a hike to learn more about and protest the Keystone Pipeline becomes a discovery of the people across middle America. I’m embarrassed that Kansas was the most suspicious and least friendly. While the author had pre-conceived notions about the pipeline and people - and at the end of the journey hadn’t changed his feelings about the pipeline or environment - he was empathetic to most of the thoughts and decisions of those on the opposite side, making this an enjoyable trek for any reader.
April 27, 2017
An enjoyable tale of the author's hike from Canada to Port Arthur, Texas, following the route of Keystone XL pipeline. The memoir of the hike was a good read, and he covers the ecology of the Great Plains and the threat to the Ogalala Aquifer which supplies water to the Great Plains, without which farming would be impossible due to lack of rain. The stories of people he met along the way were also interesting. The book is well written and I would read another one by him.
June 1, 2016
He has a very liberal view of many things. Well written and not too preachy. True concern for the environment. It was nice reading a well written book with proper grammar (hard to find.) Amazing how much growth one can accomplish in a short time. Makes me wish I were younger and could just drop everything and do something like this.
April 29, 2018
I don't think I have ever read from such a self-righteous "author." The writing was weak, redundant, and, in my opinion, seemed embellished beyond belief. This journey as a whole could have been a fascinating deep-dive into the collective "us," but instead it focused almost entirely on "me."
February 14, 2021
Quite an enjoyable read, but in the end there wasn’t enough of a story there in my opinion. Nothing terribly exciting happens, not a lot of interesting conversations are described, none of the people he meets are fleshed out or in any way memorable, etc.
February 26, 2021
Decided to stop torturing myself and did not finish, stopped at 30%. The author is pretentious and annoying.
February 23, 2025
Žygis pėsčiomis per Amerikos prerijas "Keystone XL" naftotiekio maršrutu. Labiausiai dominanti dalis buvo būtent tų mažų miestelių, kaimelių, vienkiemių gyvenimas. Yra kažkiek, bet ne tiek kiek buvau nusiteikęs gauti. Aplinkosauginė/klimato tema gana paviršutiniška ir čia pliusas knygai, kad tai nebuvo pagrindinis akcentas. Iš esmės aprašytas kelis mėnesius trukes žygis, kur na tiesiog nėra tiek dėmesį kaustančių įvykių.
January 30, 2018
I followed Ken's blog for years and quit reading as he was blogging about this "long walk" (note, I quit reading not because I didn't like the blog, but because I wanted to read more books and fewer blogs and internet articles at the time). I couldn't quite appreciate what he was doing or the experiences he was having at the time (this was 2012/2013 when he did his hike--he was 29 and I was a barely out of college 23yo). But now, beautifully rearranged and sharpened in book format, his experience on the trek, the people he met, and the adversity (weather, animals, people, suspicious law enforcement, etc.) feel so much more lifelike and relatable to me. He has a really poetic way of describing things sometimes, and an incredibly honest voice, whether he's recounting an event or sharing the weird and sometimes awkward thoughts that arise.
Maybe it's because I'm now the age Ken was when he started his journey. Maybe it's because I am way more environmentally conscious now than I was then. Or maybe it's because I also gained an appreciation for hiking, the world we live in, and the kindness of strangers over the past few years that I didn't have then. In any case, I really enjoyed this now, whereas I'm not sure I would have had I tried reading it even when it was first released, just a couple years ago (2016).
I listened to the audiobook, which was a bit difficult because I've seen Ken's interviews and know his voice, and it's always strange to listen to a memoir/autobiography type of story read by someone besides the author if you know what they sound like. Also I found the audiobook narrator to be a little too slow-paced of a speaker (he also reminded me of the radio DJ in Reservoir Dogs which was a strange association to have for this piece). But I got over it and powered through this thing in about 5 days of listening.
The big reason I finally decided to read this one was because I finished Walden on Wheels: On the Open Road from Debt to Freedom (finally) last year, and was really looking forward to the release of This Land Is Our Land: How We Lost the Right to Roam and How to Take It Back later this year. I figured since they're more memoir with philosophizing intertwined, I ought to fill in the gaps to better understand how he went from vandwelling to hiking the Keystone XL to positing a right to roam in the US. Anyway, if environmentalism, conservationism, US economics, small town America, hiking, or the heartland are of any interest, this is a good one to check out.
Maybe it's because I'm now the age Ken was when he started his journey. Maybe it's because I am way more environmentally conscious now than I was then. Or maybe it's because I also gained an appreciation for hiking, the world we live in, and the kindness of strangers over the past few years that I didn't have then. In any case, I really enjoyed this now, whereas I'm not sure I would have had I tried reading it even when it was first released, just a couple years ago (2016).
I listened to the audiobook, which was a bit difficult because I've seen Ken's interviews and know his voice, and it's always strange to listen to a memoir/autobiography type of story read by someone besides the author if you know what they sound like. Also I found the audiobook narrator to be a little too slow-paced of a speaker (he also reminded me of the radio DJ in Reservoir Dogs which was a strange association to have for this piece). But I got over it and powered through this thing in about 5 days of listening.
The big reason I finally decided to read this one was because I finished Walden on Wheels: On the Open Road from Debt to Freedom (finally) last year, and was really looking forward to the release of This Land Is Our Land: How We Lost the Right to Roam and How to Take It Back later this year. I figured since they're more memoir with philosophizing intertwined, I ought to fill in the gaps to better understand how he went from vandwelling to hiking the Keystone XL to positing a right to roam in the US. Anyway, if environmentalism, conservationism, US economics, small town America, hiking, or the heartland are of any interest, this is a good one to check out.
March 9, 2017
Following the Keystone XL
He went for a walk and ended up 1900 miles from where he began a stronger, more hopeful person for the experience. It’s quite an astounding adventure, especially when you consider what a chore it is to get off the sofa for a snack.
If Ken Ilgunas had done nothing more than recount the rigors of his trek, he would have a tale to tell worthy of a reader’s time. But Ilgunas hiked with a purpose in mind: seeing that portion of North America before the Keystone XL wrought whatever damage and change it might. So, in addition to everything entailed in taking a half-year’s hike, Ilgunas educates readers on a variety of subjects, among the geological history of the region, the complexities of satisfying America’s energy needs, the environmental damage caused by tar sands excavation, the difficulty of sustained farming on the Plains (an issue that may be new to many), and a variety of other subjects.
Some of these will make you pause and think, none more than Ilgunas’ discussion of private property rights. Property rights are something we take for granted here without a thought to how they restrict our passage and bar people from experiencing the full wonder of nature in America. Yes, we have national parks, particularly in the East and West. But none in the Plains states. Everything there is held privately; thus Ilgunas’ need to trespass daily to traverse the Plains north to south. Not much of a loss, you might think, if you have never lived on or visited the Great Plains for any extended time. If you have, though, you know, as Ilgunas learned, they are anything but flat and featureless, but they are open, wide, wide open in a way Easterners and Westerners might find either boring or uncomfortable, or both.
As to the Keystone XL, the word most often heard by Ilgunas and by just about anybody with even a nodding acquaintance with the pipeline, is jobs. Jobs, jobs, jobs. This in the face of a reality that Keystone will produce only around thirty-five permanent jobs once completed. True, a few thousand people will be put to work for a short time building it, but after that, nada. Of course, states derive property tax and other revenue from the pipelines and landowners receive payments, as well. The question, however, is at what price to the environment and the potential for contamination of the great Ogallala Aquifer (already endangered by depletion), a very real concern given the proliferation of pipeline breaks and spills.
So, thanks, Ken Ilgunas, for a combination stirring adventure and an eye opener to the people of and the threat to the Great Plains.
He went for a walk and ended up 1900 miles from where he began a stronger, more hopeful person for the experience. It’s quite an astounding adventure, especially when you consider what a chore it is to get off the sofa for a snack.
If Ken Ilgunas had done nothing more than recount the rigors of his trek, he would have a tale to tell worthy of a reader’s time. But Ilgunas hiked with a purpose in mind: seeing that portion of North America before the Keystone XL wrought whatever damage and change it might. So, in addition to everything entailed in taking a half-year’s hike, Ilgunas educates readers on a variety of subjects, among the geological history of the region, the complexities of satisfying America’s energy needs, the environmental damage caused by tar sands excavation, the difficulty of sustained farming on the Plains (an issue that may be new to many), and a variety of other subjects.
Some of these will make you pause and think, none more than Ilgunas’ discussion of private property rights. Property rights are something we take for granted here without a thought to how they restrict our passage and bar people from experiencing the full wonder of nature in America. Yes, we have national parks, particularly in the East and West. But none in the Plains states. Everything there is held privately; thus Ilgunas’ need to trespass daily to traverse the Plains north to south. Not much of a loss, you might think, if you have never lived on or visited the Great Plains for any extended time. If you have, though, you know, as Ilgunas learned, they are anything but flat and featureless, but they are open, wide, wide open in a way Easterners and Westerners might find either boring or uncomfortable, or both.
As to the Keystone XL, the word most often heard by Ilgunas and by just about anybody with even a nodding acquaintance with the pipeline, is jobs. Jobs, jobs, jobs. This in the face of a reality that Keystone will produce only around thirty-five permanent jobs once completed. True, a few thousand people will be put to work for a short time building it, but after that, nada. Of course, states derive property tax and other revenue from the pipelines and landowners receive payments, as well. The question, however, is at what price to the environment and the potential for contamination of the great Ogallala Aquifer (already endangered by depletion), a very real concern given the proliferation of pipeline breaks and spills.
So, thanks, Ken Ilgunas, for a combination stirring adventure and an eye opener to the people of and the threat to the Great Plains.
October 10, 2016
I received a copy of this book through Goodreads Giveaways program. Thank you to Blue Rider Press.
My partner does stand-up comedy which means I watch a lot of stand-up comedy. We often talk about the comic who is a funny person who can make their friends laugh with their random stories, but totally bombs during a stand-up set. As it turns out, the ability to make one's friends laugh does not a stand-up comic make. This is how I felt about Ilgunas's book. He has some great stories to tell friends about his hike but this does not make him an author.
In my opinion, this is a classic case of great concept - poor execution. The story is intriguing: A man hikes the entire length of the Keystone XL pipeline just to see what he can see. He seeks to experience both the landscape and the people and he truly does both. The problem is this: he isn't a great writer. I don't mean to sound mean or haughty but it's the truth. This story works well as a series of blog posts but not as a coherent almost-300 page book.
While I admire Ilgunas's motivations, determination, and good humor, there were a couple of things that really rubbed me wrong about the book. First of all, some of his stories were sort of non-stories. For instance, he writes about a night in backwoods Oklahoma where he sees a creepy horror-movie-like character slumping towards his tent in the middle of the night. And, that's literally the whole story. He also writes about watching NCIS or some other procedural cop drama with a family one night. Seriously? Those seem like details that you could leave out. Secondly, and this is a bit more substantial of a complaint, he is very minimally self-reflective about his privilege in undertaking this adventure. Being a young, white, middle-class man meant that he was able to get away with trespassing all across the heartland without experiencing violence. Had he been a woman or not white, I feel like the story could have gone very differently. And, of course, he had at least enough class privilege to be able to afford the gear and sustenance along the way. I know this wasn't the point of the book but his lack of attention to this while also coming across as rather preachy at times just irritated me.
In the end, I definitely learned some stuff about pipelines and climate change and the even midwest (where I live) and I was mildly entertained for a few months. Overall, however, the book (much like his hike) felt like a bit of a slog.
My partner does stand-up comedy which means I watch a lot of stand-up comedy. We often talk about the comic who is a funny person who can make their friends laugh with their random stories, but totally bombs during a stand-up set. As it turns out, the ability to make one's friends laugh does not a stand-up comic make. This is how I felt about Ilgunas's book. He has some great stories to tell friends about his hike but this does not make him an author.
In my opinion, this is a classic case of great concept - poor execution. The story is intriguing: A man hikes the entire length of the Keystone XL pipeline just to see what he can see. He seeks to experience both the landscape and the people and he truly does both. The problem is this: he isn't a great writer. I don't mean to sound mean or haughty but it's the truth. This story works well as a series of blog posts but not as a coherent almost-300 page book.
While I admire Ilgunas's motivations, determination, and good humor, there were a couple of things that really rubbed me wrong about the book. First of all, some of his stories were sort of non-stories. For instance, he writes about a night in backwoods Oklahoma where he sees a creepy horror-movie-like character slumping towards his tent in the middle of the night. And, that's literally the whole story. He also writes about watching NCIS or some other procedural cop drama with a family one night. Seriously? Those seem like details that you could leave out. Secondly, and this is a bit more substantial of a complaint, he is very minimally self-reflective about his privilege in undertaking this adventure. Being a young, white, middle-class man meant that he was able to get away with trespassing all across the heartland without experiencing violence. Had he been a woman or not white, I feel like the story could have gone very differently. And, of course, he had at least enough class privilege to be able to afford the gear and sustenance along the way. I know this wasn't the point of the book but his lack of attention to this while also coming across as rather preachy at times just irritated me.
In the end, I definitely learned some stuff about pipelines and climate change and the even midwest (where I live) and I was mildly entertained for a few months. Overall, however, the book (much like his hike) felt like a bit of a slog.
December 19, 2017
"Things I fantasize about doing, and probably won't (but are fun to think about doing anyway)." Like the author, this phrase pretty sums up too much of my free time, but I have fun dreaming.
While at my local library looking up books about scenic drives in Colorado for my own realistic family adventures, Trespassing Across America was one of those random display books propped up in the corner of a shelf. As a kid, my mom read "Walk Across America" to me, so the title was a quick hook. It seems like this is an aim for Ilgunas. I figured I'd give this book a try. I was hooked just thinking about the adventure that would ensue.
The author does a great job to resurrect the ideals of exploration that used to be funded by kings and share his creative shoestring budget "long walk." Ilgunas impressed me early in the book with his descriptive talent for his situations. Frankly, I was glad when he laid off the Twain-level description about half way through the book to really get the story moving. As you can imagine, walking through a sparsely populated area would not have too much to comment on, so the author creatively blends in history to give some contrast to the personal connections he made along the way. One note to any perspective readers, have your Google Map in satellite mode ready for when you read. You will feel more like you are on a walk with Ken.
Five stars means...I just checked out the author's first book, Walden on Wheels. Let's see what it's got.
While at my local library looking up books about scenic drives in Colorado for my own realistic family adventures, Trespassing Across America was one of those random display books propped up in the corner of a shelf. As a kid, my mom read "Walk Across America" to me, so the title was a quick hook. It seems like this is an aim for Ilgunas. I figured I'd give this book a try. I was hooked just thinking about the adventure that would ensue.
The author does a great job to resurrect the ideals of exploration that used to be funded by kings and share his creative shoestring budget "long walk." Ilgunas impressed me early in the book with his descriptive talent for his situations. Frankly, I was glad when he laid off the Twain-level description about half way through the book to really get the story moving. As you can imagine, walking through a sparsely populated area would not have too much to comment on, so the author creatively blends in history to give some contrast to the personal connections he made along the way. One note to any perspective readers, have your Google Map in satellite mode ready for when you read. You will feel more like you are on a walk with Ken.
Five stars means...I just checked out the author's first book, Walden on Wheels. Let's see what it's got.
March 23, 2017
I heard of this book when looking for an alternate to another hiking book I wasn't able to get at my local library, and I'm do glad I did. I chose to listen to the audiobook over a set of 8 hour drives, and it was the perfect time to do it. The long drive helped me feel like I was hiking with him, and his descriptions of the people and places he saw helped to paint a secondary vision for my own trip.
I saw a few other reviews mention that they felt the author "lost touch" with the original intent of bringing awareness to the Keystone XL, but I don't feel like it's the case. Firstly, because the KXL was really a secondary motivation for the walk in the first place and remains in that secondary position throughout the book. In addition, the author dips back into the KXL whenever there's an opportunity to, such as the rally, and presumably throughout his blogging. However, as he mentions, on long walks or hikes, it really it all about the walking. The minutiae is front and center, and I feel he does a great job of bringing that to the reader.
I loved the book so much, I bought it.
I saw a few other reviews mention that they felt the author "lost touch" with the original intent of bringing awareness to the Keystone XL, but I don't feel like it's the case. Firstly, because the KXL was really a secondary motivation for the walk in the first place and remains in that secondary position throughout the book. In addition, the author dips back into the KXL whenever there's an opportunity to, such as the rally, and presumably throughout his blogging. However, as he mentions, on long walks or hikes, it really it all about the walking. The minutiae is front and center, and I feel he does a great job of bringing that to the reader.
I loved the book so much, I bought it.
August 4, 2018
Part hiking/adventure story, part environmental wake-up call, Trespassing Across America was a wonderfully engaging read that felt comfortable while also perceptive. Ken Ilgunas, a wandering, go-where-the-wind-takes-him, thirty year old, was likable, if not downright relatable, as he described feeling woefully overwhelmed, disillusioned, and kind of "bummed out" on the issue of climate change.
Following up on a friend's idea to hike along the controversial TransCanada XL Pipeline, Ilgunas marched, limped, and trekked across the prairies of Alberta, all the way down to the pipeline's terminal in Port Arthur, Texas, receiving a first-hand experience of the region, its people, and what the pipeline will mean for all of them, good or bad.
Informative, tenacious, as well as empathetic to both sides of the environmental debate, Ilgunas is someone to admire for his courage and willingness to hear both sides of the argument. A truly delightful memoir.
Following up on a friend's idea to hike along the controversial TransCanada XL Pipeline, Ilgunas marched, limped, and trekked across the prairies of Alberta, all the way down to the pipeline's terminal in Port Arthur, Texas, receiving a first-hand experience of the region, its people, and what the pipeline will mean for all of them, good or bad.
Informative, tenacious, as well as empathetic to both sides of the environmental debate, Ilgunas is someone to admire for his courage and willingness to hear both sides of the argument. A truly delightful memoir.
January 20, 2019
The hiker in me wants to gripe about Ken's foolishness at so many moments in the book, but it also admires the endeavour and the growth he experiences over the course of his journey.
There's some beautiful stuff in this book, some surprisingly appealing descriptions of the plains land that made me wonder if a someday trip to that kind of environment might not be in my future. There are also the inevitably heartbreaking moments, where the magnitude of the fight for a healthier world reveals itself. Ultimately, the power of this book and others that might be like it is in the reminder that the people we most need to convince speak an entirely different language from those who value conservation. To make strides, more needs to be done to engage with them in a way they can understand.
There's some beautiful stuff in this book, some surprisingly appealing descriptions of the plains land that made me wonder if a someday trip to that kind of environment might not be in my future. There are also the inevitably heartbreaking moments, where the magnitude of the fight for a healthier world reveals itself. Ultimately, the power of this book and others that might be like it is in the reminder that the people we most need to convince speak an entirely different language from those who value conservation. To make strides, more needs to be done to engage with them in a way they can understand.
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