Praise for Border Walk

The U.S.-Mexico border is one of the most politically contentious regions of North America, and potentially one of the most dangerous. Mark Hainds quit his job and set out in the fall of 2014 to walk the border between Texas and Mexico. And he did it – all 1,010 miles, mostly on his own. This is his story of that remarkable journey, replete with engaging narrative about the places, flora, fauna, and people he experienced. One finds many life lessons here.

Reed Noss, Conservation Biologist and author of many books including Forgotten Grasslands of the South.

BORDER WALK takes readers on a remarkable journey along the front lines of a misunderstood and misrepresented frontier. Check your border hype at the door and discover, as Mark Hainds does, the rich tapestry of life along our border with Mexico.

Keith Bowden, Author of The Tecate Journals: Seventy Days on the Rio Grande

Mark Hainds is a road warrior of an altogether new variety. You won’t find many books that mix observations of the local flora and fauna with drug smugglers. I’ve hiked through much of the same desolate stretches of Texas, yet Mark even had me guessing what would happen next. An entertaining read, authentic, and very hard to put down. 

S. Matt Read, the Texas Perimeter Hiker

Bio: Mark J. Hainds is a published author (Year of the Pig - 2011, Univ. of Alabama Press), who worked two decades as a Research Associate (Auburn Univ. School of Forest & Wildlife Resources) and as the first employee of The Longleaf Alliance - a nonprofit promoting the restoration of longleaf pine ecosystems. Mark is the first and only person to have walked the 2,000-mile US-Mexico Border. The Texas portion of his walk is featured in the film La Frontera, which played on PBS stations across the US. His second book, Border Walk, details his trek along the Rio Grande, where he walked the length of the Texas-Mexico border in the fall & winter of 2014. Mark lives with his family in Andalusia, Alabama, where he is an instructor of Forest Technology at LBW Community College. Mark is also the owner/operator of Sweetbill’s Enterprises, producing mushrooms, smoking woods, and specialty lumber that they carry on a weekly basis to the Palafox Market in Pensacola, Florida.