“I see the "How on earth do you make this happen?" question in various groups all the time. I'd love to just get this guide out there in response!” - Heather "Anish" Anderson. National Geographic Adventurer of the Year, record-setting long distance hiker, and author of Thirst: 2600 Miles to Home. Forget picket fences. Live your best life. Sleep in the dirt. Most people think that an adventure-filled life is only an option for the rich or the irresponsible. For the dirtbag, it is a birthright for the masses. In the spirit of classics like Thoreau’s Walden and Rolf Potts’ Vagabonding , The Dirtbag’s Guide to Life is both a celebration of an under-appreciated subculture and a practical how-to manual for building your own life of adventure. It distills the real-world experiences of hundreds of the most dedicated dirtbags to address the key challenges to creating a meaningful, flexible life outside, whether you’re a weekend warrior or a full-time nomad: How to stretch a small budget to accomplish big adventures through seasonal work, minimalist living, and dirtbag financial strategies. - How to build a career path that will support your passions rather than working against them. - How to keep your friendships and make your mother proud in a life punctuated by six month thru-hikes and overseas adventure. - How to manage grown-up responsibilities like debt, housing, and health insurance without giving up time flexibility . - How to live intentionally and make your life meaningful through a simple, adventure-centered lifestyle. Whether you want to travel the world, hike the Appalachian Trail, or just fit in more mountain biking on the weekends, The Dirtbag’s Guide to Life is an essential, inspiring, and consistently entertaining roadmap. A note on the 2025 revision: This book started as advice for a few friends who wanted to work less and go outside more. Somewhere along the way, it connected with thousands of readers. This updated edition is revised, polished, and expanded to keep the dirtbag dream alive. "I see the "how on Earth do you make this happen?" question in various groups all the time. I'd love to just get this guide out there in response!" - Heather "Anish" Anderson, 2019 National Geographic Adventurer of the Year, and author of Thirst: 2600 Miles to Home "Gosh I love your book! It resonates so much." - Kathy Vaughan, Co-author of 98 Days of Wind: The Greatest Fail of Our Life "If you're not a full-on dirtbag this book is for you. If you're interested in what it means to be a dirtbag, this book is for you. If you know someone that lives a weird dirty traveling lifestyle, but don't understand why, this book is for you. If you already are living like a dirtbag, this book is for you. If you have any sense of travel or adventure, you're going to get something out of this guide." - Snuggles of Darwin on the Trail and The Snuggle Diaries Tim Mathis was raised by working-class parents in small-town Ohio, and has since spent years traveling extensively in North and South America, Oceania, Europe and Australia. He's thru-hiked the Pacific Crest Trail and the Camino de Santiago, and with his wife Angel, he co-founded  Boldly Went , a podcast and event series that collected stories from hundreds of outdoor adventurers and athletes. He's written for  Trail Runner Magazine, The Intrepid Times, The Oru Kayak Blog, The Race to Alaska Podcast,  and has been featured on  The Art of Manliness Podcast . He is also the author of The Camino for the Rest of Us and  I Hope I Was Wrong About Eternal Damnation: An Absolutely True Memoir.