"What Aaron Nicholson describes as 'a great and somewhat ridiculous project'—hiking the Pacific Crest Trail the length of Oregon without restocking food or supplies—becomes the adventure of a lifetime. You'll find yourself cheering him on as he tackles the physical and logistical challenges of his trek. If you have to carry all your food for five hundred miles, should you take marshmallows? . . . Read Nicholson's journal and find out."
—William L. Sullivan
Author of Listening for Coyote

"In Germany there is a long tradition of the wanderjahr, a period of learning-through-travel. In The State of Determination, Aaron Nicholson walks into his own trans-Oregon PCT quest as a self-proclaimed 'reckless, under-experienced, fool-hardy individual' . . . He went on a walkabout in the wilderness and emerged having found himself. I recommend his story as an example of the transformative power of walking toward a distant horizon."
—Ron Strickland
Author of Pathfinder: Blazing a New Wilderness Trail in Modern America