About Bernie Harberts
Bernie Harberts has sailed alone around the world, ridden mules across America, and pedaled a $10 bike around Tasmania. PBS North Carolina followed him and his mule Polly on one of those rides. That episode, “Mule Rider,” won a regional Emmy Award and can be streamed here.
His memoir Two Mules to Triumph — about riding 2,300 miles from North Carolina to Idaho with mules Brick and Cracker — drew this from author Rinker Buck (The Oregon Trail):
“A beautiful, emotive book that sings with the uniqueness of America.”
— Rinker Buck, author of The Oregon Trail
His solo circumnavigation aboard Sea Bird is where he cut his teeth as a writer. He’s been writing ever since.
His 14-month solo covered wagon crossing of the Great Plains with mule Polly became the Lost Sea Expedition documentary series, which premiered on Rocky Mountain PBS. Bernie is a Long Rider, having completed over 10,000 miles by horse and mule, and a Long Driver, having completed a 2,500-mile covered wagon journey from Canada to Mexico with mule Polly, one of the first to do so in the modern era.
“Swan Song,” his hour-long PBS NC special about a final winter ramble with Polly around Lake Mattamuskeet, can be streamed on PBS and YouTube.
RiverEarth.com is his journal. It’s been running twenty years.
Two Mules to Triumph
Two Mules to Triumph is Bernie’s memoir about his 2,300-mile saddle voyage from North Carolina to Idaho with mules Brick and Cracker. 306 pages.
Amazon · Barnes & Noble · Apple Books · Kobo · Kindle
Bernie’s Travels
Bernie tackles big trips in small bites, simple equipment, asking for help along the way, not waiting for perfection before heading out. His journeys include:
- 1993: building and sailing an 18½-foot sailboat down the Hudson River to Florida and the Bahamas
- 1998–2003: sailing alone around the world aboard Sea Bird
- 2004–2005: riding 13 months with mule Woody and pony Maggie from North Carolina to San Diego
- 2007–2008: 395 days with mule Polly from Canada to Mexico by covered wagon, the Lost Sea Expedition
- 2011: six months pedaling a $10 bike around Tasmania, trying to avoid leeches
- 2011: mule cart across Newfoundland tracking down 4 photos on an album cover
- 2017: sailing from the Falkland Islands toward Antarctica, patching a hole in the hull within sight of Shackleton’s grave
- 2019: seven months riding mules Brick and Cracker from North Carolina to Idaho, Two Mules to Triumph
Home
When he’s not rambling by mule, boat, or bike, home is Shoe Box Canyon in western North Carolina. Bernie and his wife Julia live in a cabin under 500 square feet. They heat with wood, drink gravity water, sleep with their bedroom window open year-round and share their lives with two border collies, three mules, two ponies, and thousands of wild-caught bees that live in homemade horizontal hives.
Free Download: 19 Million Mule Steps
19 Million Mule Steps is 134 pages of photos, sketches, letters, and short essays from Bernie’s 2,300-mile mule journey through America. Sign up for Bernie’s newsletter and download your free copy.
Twenty years of dispatches from the trail, the water, and home. Start reading here →
Contact
Email Bernie right here. Or break out the stamps, mailing address here.
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