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Footprint of a Heart
Imagine having your needs reduced to the things you can't live without; food, water, and shelter.
In Footprint of a Heart , Shayla Paradeis, whose trail name is Kiddo, ventures off the path of musical theater at age 21 and moves from Manhattan to Montana. Trading tap shoes for hiking boots, she sculpts a life outdoors as a long-distance hiker. By age 34, she walked over 18,000 miles between 4-month treks known as thru-hikes and thousands of joyful miles running across the land of her dreams, Glacier National Park. All without a smart phone.
Kiddo shares the trailside moments of five long journeys, including barren deserts, windy ridges above tree line, ocean tides in estuaries, narrow spaces between the painted lines of highways and guardrails, and countless peaks, passes, meadows, and valleys. Her ventures take her through swarms of bugs, knee-deep mud, every kind of precipitation imaginable, and the threat of rattlesnakes, bears, charging bulls, and one angry mama turkey.
It's the unmeasurable that truly makes it special. As her journeys transpire, she learns that counting miles can be as toxic as expectations around body-image or money. The need to connect is the true north. With an openness taught through the trees, she experiences a fulfillment she never dreamed possible. Trails are no longer a thing to do, they're a place to be.
In Footprint of a Heart , Shayla Paradeis, whose trail name is Kiddo, ventures off the path of musical theater at age 21 and moves from Manhattan to Montana. Trading tap shoes for hiking boots, she sculpts a life outdoors as a long-distance hiker. By age 34, she walked over 18,000 miles between 4-month treks known as thru-hikes and thousands of joyful miles running across the land of her dreams, Glacier National Park. All without a smart phone.
Kiddo shares the trailside moments of five long journeys, including barren deserts, windy ridges above tree line, ocean tides in estuaries, narrow spaces between the painted lines of highways and guardrails, and countless peaks, passes, meadows, and valleys. Her ventures take her through swarms of bugs, knee-deep mud, every kind of precipitation imaginable, and the threat of rattlesnakes, bears, charging bulls, and one angry mama turkey.
It's the unmeasurable that truly makes it special. As her journeys transpire, she learns that counting miles can be as toxic as expectations around body-image or money. The need to connect is the true north. With an openness taught through the trees, she experiences a fulfillment she never dreamed possible. Trails are no longer a thing to do, they're a place to be.
170 pages, Paperback
Published June 22, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 19, 2024
Shayla (trail name Kiddo) is a free spirited thru-hiker; one who does the longest of hikes. By age 34, she walked over 18,000 miles - twice completing the Appalachian Trail as well as the Pacific Crest Trail, most of the Continental Trail and the Te Araroa – the trail from the northernmost part of New Zealand to the southern tip. Although not included in this book, she has also hiked the European Haut Route across Europe with overnight stays in chalets and villages.
She grew up in Minnesota. At age fourteen she traveled to Glacier Park and hiked to Sperry Glacier and Chalet – and found her spiritual birthplace there. Although she returned to New York City to major in musical theater, she soon returned to Glacier Park and became convinced that her soul belonged to the woods and the long hikes which she soon began to undertake.
Although there are many stories of her trail experiences, this book is more about the feeling of her journeys. She is a bubbly and musical free spirit who does all her hiking in a dress. She believes that the best types of hiking, music and writing have all occurred when she “didn’t have to do anything – just happened. Just stay in your heart.”
If you have read stories by other hikers whose stories, like the trails they travel, have a beginning, middle and end. You will find this a different experience. In this book, the trails go on and on and completion is not the only goal.
The recording of the author talking to the Glacier Conservancy Book Club is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s57-2...
She grew up in Minnesota. At age fourteen she traveled to Glacier Park and hiked to Sperry Glacier and Chalet – and found her spiritual birthplace there. Although she returned to New York City to major in musical theater, she soon returned to Glacier Park and became convinced that her soul belonged to the woods and the long hikes which she soon began to undertake.
Although there are many stories of her trail experiences, this book is more about the feeling of her journeys. She is a bubbly and musical free spirit who does all her hiking in a dress. She believes that the best types of hiking, music and writing have all occurred when she “didn’t have to do anything – just happened. Just stay in your heart.”
If you have read stories by other hikers whose stories, like the trails they travel, have a beginning, middle and end. You will find this a different experience. In this book, the trails go on and on and completion is not the only goal.
The recording of the author talking to the Glacier Conservancy Book Club is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s57-2...
July 13, 2023
I read a review copy shortly before the book was published. I know Shayla from the wonderful community of wilderness travelers.
This is not simply a book about walking on trails. This is a book about being alive. We are, all of us, marching onward on our own trail. We’ve been force-fed a complex set of examples of what matters and what it means to succeed, yet we’ve been led astray by an endless chorus of voices that are not our own. With this book, Shayla has given us something beautiful, a more authentic example. She has shown us how to live.
And there’s no need to read between the lines, nothing is hidden. It’s right there, shining on every page.
I love this book!
Mike Clelland!
This is not simply a book about walking on trails. This is a book about being alive. We are, all of us, marching onward on our own trail. We’ve been force-fed a complex set of examples of what matters and what it means to succeed, yet we’ve been led astray by an endless chorus of voices that are not our own. With this book, Shayla has given us something beautiful, a more authentic example. She has shown us how to live.
And there’s no need to read between the lines, nothing is hidden. It’s right there, shining on every page.
I love this book!
Mike Clelland!
January 13, 2024
Shayla's voice sculpted by her time spent outdoors doing what she loves inspires readers to follow what's in their hearts. Her impressive hiking resume represents the premise of her debut book, but it's her love of others and the environment that shines through. Not only do you follow along for thousands of miles on her adventurous journeys on trails but you also witness her personal growth over the years. Her writing is a song that she has generously gifted the reader and just like a catchy chorus, will remain in my head and heart for years to come.
July 13, 2023
Shayla’s stories are an invitation to experience a variety of trails in a way that reminds us how we thrive in the wilderness. Part poetic ode to the outdoors, part personal reflection, the words on the pages transport you away from the shackles of concrete and congestion; it’s the next best thing to stepping out there yourself. Furthermore, Shayla has a tenderness about her, making you want to schedule an afternoon tea with her to talk about anything and everything!
September 6, 2025
I loved loved this book and her writing. She is very introspective and very descriptive in regards to her moments on the trail and what it all means to her. I loved how she spoke about love, compassion, thoughtfulness, time and I could go on and on. I have done one through -hike and I related 100% with her story. Being out on the trail helps you to face all the things in yourself & in life. She has a lot of wisdom and uses her words beautifully.
July 28, 2023
I am not a thru-hiker, but really enjoyed the stories and the writing. It is a refreshingly accessible story that welcomed me into an unfamiliar world in a very gracious way. The writing is clean and personal … no pretense or ego at all. A really nice book that gives me hope about our world.
July 3, 2024
Good story about hiking the long trail!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews