“Border Walk,” by Mark J. Hainds, an Andalusia, Alabama native, documents his journey as the first individual to have trekked along the 1954 miles of the US/Mexico border.
While the Washington Post is getting clicks on their news feature story headlined “Is the border actually lawless? This father and son are hiking all 1,954 miles to find out.,” it was actually Mark J. Hainds, an Andalusia, Alabama resident, who was the first person to have ever hiked the length of the US/Mexico border.
In November 2014, the Research Associate and Research Coordinator with Auburn University and the Longleaf Alliance, resigned his 20-year-plus positions, and took temporary leave of his family, to hike the 1,954 miles of the US/Mexico border.
PBS documented his journey in a full-length feature film named “La Frontera,” which can be viewed for free at the link below:
https://southdocs.org/project/lafrontera/
His book “Border Walk” which describes his journey, was published in March 2018, and in April he authored an article which was published on Daily Kos website (“I Walked the Entire US-Mexico Border”) about his journey which also referenced his book.
He leads that story by writing, “On November 24th, 2017, I became the first person in history to have walked the length of the US-Mexico border.”
His feat was reported by:
• The Houston Chronicle in October 2016 (“A walk along the border: Man traverses Texas-Mexico line for documentary“)
• Vice in October 2016 (“We Talked to the Man Walking the Length of the US-Mexico Border“)
• The Associated Press April 2017 (“Day 14: Fellow border travelers meet, in the middle of nowhere“)
• The San Diego Tribune July 2017 (“For 700 miles, hiker kept the border in view, and on his mind“)
Warm Southern Breeze 