Glory Days: Joe in his younger (thinner) career at radio station WMML. 

Joe has been a writer since his days at Mahwah High School in the town of Mahwah, NJ. He also had a passion for many other activities and past times including being an armchair historian.

Having grown up on a mountainside in northern New Jersey and with the Appalachian Trail virtually in his backyard, Joe fell in love with the outdoors and began 

hiking and backpacking, a sport that would eventually help him begin his writing career in earnest.

During his tour of duty in the Navy, Joe met his future wife, who is also a Navy veteran. After their service, the couple married and moved back to New Jersey where Joe began a career in radio broadcasting. They moved to Mobile, Alabama, soon after, his wife's hometown, where his career continued working in a variety of roles - news anchor/reporter/director, program director, music director, producer, and on-air talent - at stations including W.U.N.I, W.M.M.L., and 92Zew (WZEW).

Joe found that Alabama had a wealth of virtually unknown outdoor recreation opportunities including hiking and he fell in love with the state's incredible natural beauty and wonders. This love of the state's geologic and biologic diversity led him to publish his first outdoor guide, Hike America Alabama for Beachway Press in 2000. The book has since been re-released by Falcon Guides as Hiking Alabama and is now in its fifth edition.

That first book has led Joe to write 13 more outdoor guidebooks and put his love of history to good use having written five non-fiction history books for Arcadia Publishing, History Press, and Prometheus Books.

Joe currently writes for a variety of online and print publications including the travel website, TravelAwaits. 

His love of hiking led him to be the President of the Gulf Coast Chapter of the Alabama Hiking Trail Society and later the trail building organization's statewide president where he was awarded the 2006 South Region Volunteer of the Year Award by the American Hiking Society.