Brian Patrick Higgins

By the age of 26, Brian Higgins had already won back-to-back Associated Press sports stories of the year writing for the Savannah (GA) Morning News. He went on to cover sports for the Phoenix (AZ) Gazette, Fort Worth (TX) Star-Telegram and Oakland (CA) Tribune.

In California, he started a program to guide NFL players to better media relations. He counts Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers among his clients. The program expanded to include politicians, CEOs and other public-facing figures.

Brian began exploring California's hiking scene soon after relocating from Texas in 1995, cataloguing thousands of hikes in the past two decades. In 2012, he founded The Circle of Trust & Beer Hiking club, which today numbers more than 1,200 members. The agenda: hiking to the Bay Area's most breathtaking vistas ... then sacrificing some of those burnt calories to the beer gods at local craft breweries and brewpubs.

Brian is a native of Columbus, Ohio (and rabid Ohio State Buckeyes fan). His uproarious memoir, A Good Look Before Dark, will be published in September 2015.