Rob Rogers
Author, attorney, backpacker, and lover of the outdoors
2025 Florida Authors & Association (FAPA) President’s Book Awards, Winner of the Bronze Medal for Autobiography/Memoir
2025 Independent Author Network (IAN) Book of the Year Awards, Finalist for Nonfiction: Mind/Body/Spirit
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop, Walmart, ThriftBooks, AbeBooks, and the Sunshine Book Co. in Clermont, Fla.
“The strongest part of Rogers’s writing is in his raw honesty regarding his emotions and moods; he balances an almost-compulsive devotion to nature with realistic responses to the conflicts that come when interacting with others, emerging on the other side with a curiosity and hopeful expectation of the future. The areas he hikes come alive, unfolding through candid descriptions and personal photographs that transport readers directly into his journey.”
Critic’s Report, The BookLife Prize
Essays (creative writing)
“The Poster in My Closet,” Under the Gum Tree, Summer 2026 (Issue 60)
“Mother Figure,” Empyrean, Summer 2026 (Vol. 5, No. 2)
“Road Trip to South Carolina,” Black Sheep: Unique Tales of Terror and Wonder, July 2026 (Vol. 35)
Thorn & Bloom
“Campfire Beside the Prairie,” Thorn & Bloom, Mar. 2026 (Issue 5)
“Cognitive Distortion,” Thorn & Bloom, Sept. 2025 (Issue 3)
The NightWriter Review
“Mardi Gras ’95,” The Night Writer Review, Mar. 2026 (Winter 2025/2026) (2025 Golden Quill Writing Contest–1st Place for Nonfiction)
Big Sky Journal
“The First Run of the Season,” Big Sky Journal, Feb. 2026 (Fly Fishing 2026)
Ponder Review
“Morning Coffee,” Ponder Review, Dec. 2025 (Vol. 9, Issue 2)–Nominated for Pushcart Prize
Articles on Backpacking, Hiking, and Travel
Go World Travel
“Why a Croatian Sailing Charter Is the Perfect Family Vacation,” Go World Travel (June 29, 2026)
Outdoors Unlimited
“Backpacking Beside the Baltic Sea,” Outdoors Unlimited (Fall 2025)
The Footpath Newsletter
“Tips for Road-Tripping on a Chartered Sailboat,” The Footpath Newsletter (Florida Trail Association, Central Florida Chapter), Sept. 2026
“Tips for Backpacking During Breaks, on Business Trips, or Family Vacations,” The Footpath Newsletter (Florida Trail Association, Central Florida Chapter), Aug. 2026
Articles (Backpacking and Hiking)
RECENT BLOG POSTS
After a long summer mostly spent away from the trails of Central Florida, my wife and I recently reconnected with our home forests by discovering a new set of trails tantalizingly close to our home in Winter Garden, on a peninsula on the southern shore of Johns Lake that was opened to the public only…
During my summer hiatus from backpacking in Central Florida, I’ve decided to spend the next several weeks posting about the towns and islands my family and I visited during our weeklong sailing trip in June on the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia. If you’re interested in learning more about what it’s like to charter a sailboat…
If you’ve checked back recently on my website (https://RobRogersWriter.com) or my blog (https://backpackingdeskjockey.blog), you may have noticed some changes to their home pages and menus, which I’m hoping will improve both sites. Tops on the list is the cover art for the blog, thanks to a good friend in Pennsylvania. My blog’s new cover art…
