Currents: Hiker and freelance writer Melanie Radzicki McManus

Today: Melanie Radzicki McManus, whose thru-hike of the Superior Hiking Trail this summer was chronicled in the Outdoors Weekend section for seven weeks in July. McManus, an award-winning travel writer and a regular contributor to the Star Tribune, will present on the "Feeling Superior" project Nov. 17 at Midwest Mountaineering's fall expo in Minneapolis.

Reading

I'm reading "The Year 1000" for a book club I'm in; it's an interesting read about what life was like back then. (Glad I live now!) I'm also reading "Ten Million Steps" by M.J. Eberhart, better known as Nimblewill Nomad. This guy has hiked all over America, and his book is about one particular hike from the Florida Keys to Quebec.

Following

I'm following Barbara Nash, aka Late Start, as she thru-hikes the Superior Hiking Trail and blogs about it. I met her when we both were hiking the Florida National Scenic Trail in 2017.

Watching

I'm watching the leaves turn. I love autumn! It's my favorite season of the year.

I'm listening to a lot of different podcasts produced by HowStuffWorks, since I write accompanying pieces for the website. There is a really interesting new one out called "Happy Face," which features the daughter of the Happy Face serial killer talking about what it was like to find out her dad's secret. I also like the podcast "Part-Time Genius," which is hosted by Will Pearson and Mangesh Hattikudur, the two guys who founded "Mental Floss." They're really funny.

Doing

My husband and I are headed to Italy for the first time, which I'm so excited about. We'll visit Florence, Rome and Cinque Terre, so there will be lots of walking around and hiking, which means I can eat lots of pizza and gelato. I'm also planning to hike the 800-mile Arizona National Scenic Trail in the spring. But the biggest endeavor is a total redo of my website/blog/trail journal. Stay tuned!