Joey Shonka is a relentless adventurer, biochemist, and storyteller whose life reads like the epic tales he crafts. With a camera in hand and a backpack on his shoulders, Joey has conquered continents on foot—from thru-hiking the iconic Appalachian Trail to forging an unbroken chain of footsteps across the wild heart of South America, spanning from the jagged fjords of Patagonia to Colombia’s Caribbean shores. Along the way, he’s scaled Andean peaks, documented vanishing glaciers for citizen science, and chased reptiles as an amateur herpetologist, all while grappling with the raw intersections of faith, freedom, and the untamed world.

A University of Georgia alum, Joey traded the lab bench for the open trail, embracing a nomadic existence that echoes the spirit of the great explorers. His writing captures the thrill of reckless abandon—the blistering sun, the howling winds, the profound solitude that strips life to its essence. In his debut series, The Triple Crown of Trails, Joey plunges readers into the shadows and light of long-distance hiking, blending visceral memoir with philosophical musings on ditching the 9-to-5 for the “true world” of minimal gear and maximum grit.

When he’s not pounding miles or penning dispatches from the edge, Joey calls Thailand home, a reminder that even wanderers need roots. His words don’t just recount adventures; they ignite them, urging you to lace up, step out, and discover the wild within.