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Andrew Skurka is as close as they come to a professional hiker, with big-name outdoors sponsors and a 92-stop speaking tour underwritten by gear manufacturer Go-Lite.

Skurka, an accomplished 27-year-old professional backpacker, is best known for two monumental long-distance hiking firsts - the 6,875-mile Great Western Loop and the 7,778-mile Sea-to-Sea Route. He was named the 2007 "Adventurer of the Year" by National Geographic Adventure - which described him as "a Gen Y version of Henry David Thoreau or John Muir" - and the 2005 "Person of the Year" by Backpacker.

In November 2007, Seekonk native Skurka completed the Great Western Loop, a journey that links five long-distance hiking trails, 12 national parks and more than 75 wilderness areas. He blazed it in 208 days, an average of 33 miles per day.

In July 2005, the 1999 graduate of Seekonk High, who now lives in Boulder, Colo., completed the Sea-to-Sea Route, a transcontinental network of long-distance hiking trails from Quebec to Washington. It took him 11 months and involved 1,400 miles of snowshoeing.

In addition to expanding the limits of long-distance backpacking, the former two-time All-State cross-country runner has defined the light-and-fast style of backcountry travel. The contents of his pack cumulatively weigh a mere 6.5 to 8 pounds, without food, water and fuel; and he regularly logs 35 to 45 miles per day, day after day. For the 2003 graduate of Duke University, backpacking has become his preferred means of connecting with the natural world that both enlivens and humbles him. He has appeared in numerous newspapers and television broadcasts, including the Wall Street Journal and the Fox News Channel.

Eschewing a traditional career, he has instead managed to become a sponsored athlete, articulate speaker and capable writer, giving more than 140 presentations about his adventures.

SUN CHRONICLE: What outdoor site in the Sun Chronicle area inspired you to hike?

ANDREW SKURKA: I thankfully grew up in a neighborhood that was surrounded by swampland that could not be developed and by a school/sports complex that had some untamed pockets, including around the foundation of an old dairy farm, which allowed my friends and I to build tree forts, search for monarch caterpillars and sun turtles, and construct mountain bike trails - the exact kind of unorganized play that helps children to develop a relationship with the natural world around them.

The official "hiking" that I did took place mostly up in New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont, where my parents regularly took my sisters and me for family vacations. Later, in high school, we made annual summer trips up to the White Mountains in order to climb Mt. Washington, which was always a highlight of our summers.

SC: When and where did you realize that you wanted to do this with you life?

SKURKA: During the last years in college, I began looking at job opportunities with outdoor companies and environmental groups, thinking that I could combine my passion with an occupation. But I did not realize that I could become a professional backpacker until after I graduated from college, after I had hiked the transcontinental 7,800 mile Sea-to-Sea Route and after I had spent six months giving slide shows all around the country. Until then, I didn't know that it was possible to actually make a living from backpacking - no one had done it before.

I'm not a Tour de France cyclist or an NBA player, and people do not line the trails to watch me walk by. But I can pull together a living from sponsor stipends, public speaking, magazine submissions and photography. Note that I do not need much income to get by. I intentionally minimize my cost of living so that I can stay footloose and avoid ever getting a "real job."

SC: Did your family try to talk you out of this kind of life - i.e., getting a real job - or were they all for it?

SKURKA: My parents and other family members were very opposed to my hiking endeavors. They thought I was throwing away my Duke education and not giving back to society. But they have all come around. I'm doing exactly what I want to be doing with my life, which is something that we should all be striving for; I'm financially sustainable; and I'm contributing far more to society than I would be able to if had "used my Duke education" by working in a cubicle on Wall Street.

SC: You hiked two monumental long-distance hikes. How many pairs of shoes, socks, etc. did you go through?

SKURKA: I generally get about 400-500 miles per pair of shoes, and about 350 miles per pair of socks. I wear lightweight trail running shoes, not clunky hiking boots, because they are lighter, more comfortable, and more breathable, and they dry faster.

SC: What's the toughest part of that kind of incredible walk?

SKURKA: The most difficult parts of my hikes have always been when arduous physical demands, tough environmental conditions and prolonged mental fatigue all hit at the same time. On this last hike, the most difficult section was in the Cascades of Oregon and Washington.

The trail was partially or completely snow-covered for 900 miles. To stay on schedule, I was having to average 37.5 miles per day. I could not take a break without being attacked by swarms of mosquitoes, and almost every day I encountered some sort of stressful hazard - raging snowmelt-fed creeks, steep icy snowfields and wet-and-cold rain- and snowstorms.

SC: What do you usually keep in your backpack for that kind of haul?

SKURKA: Everything I "need," and hardly anything I just "want." Without food and water, my pack weighed a mere 6.5-8 pounds on the last trip; with food and water, it hardly ever surpassed 20 pounds. That allowed me to move well, to stay injury-free, and, most important, to actually enjoy my surroundings.

It's unfortunately been assumed that carrying a heavy pack is an inherent part of backpacking, but there have been tremendous improvements in gear over the last 10 years that allows backpackers to be safe and comfortable, and to have FUN, with a much lighter load.

SC: What would readers be surprised to know that you don't keep in your backpack?

SKURKA: I do not carry a cell phone, iPod, Blackberry or a GPS unit. And, believe it or not, life is actually pretty good when I'm off the network. People should try it more often.

SC: What's the most important thing you carry?

SKURKA: I grow attached to a few items during every long trip. One favorite is my backpack, which weighed 16 ounces, yet was durable enough to go all 6,875 miles, and it could probably go for another loop if a pair of legs were willing to carry it around again.

My stove weighed .3 ounces, gave me about 175 hot meals, never broke and never clogged up, and it cost me nothing. I made it out of a Fancy Feast can.

SC: What other anecdotes do you usually share in your paid speeches?

SKURKA: I want people to feel alive, not just be alive. It's too easy to just go through the motions and to never experience the totality of life. There is a world of adventure and learning out there; go explore it.

I feel most alive when I'm backpacking; like when I'm catching the sun's last rays during an alpine ridgewalk at 12,000 feet in Colorado, or when I turn the corner to see a grizzly bear feasting on huckleberries in Montana, or when I'm walking across the bleak unforgiving desert of southeastern California and realizing the vitality of water.

SC: What is the most breath-taking sight you've ever beheld?

SKURKA: I've seen so many amazing things. On this last trip, I was particularly impressed with the volcanoes in Oregon and Washington. They are topographical freaks. They stand up to 7,000 feet above the surrounding mountains, and many are still capped with glaciers, which are melting abnormally fast right now.

SC: What's your one-day mile hiking record?

SKURKA: Somewhere in the low-50's, maybe 51 or 52. I try to avoid long days like those because they are not sustainable over the long term. They're a bit too hard on the body, and they cut into sleep. A sustainable long-term pace for me is in the upper-30's and low-40's.

SC: What's left for you to do?

SKURKA: Do you have space in the newspaper? Well, I'm 27 years old and have managed to hike 20,000 miles in the Lower 48. But there are six other continents, about 194 other countries and dozens of other ways to explore that I have not mastered. Real adventure never ends.