Footpaths of the World – How It Began

David and Phebe Novic became the owners of The Warming House, an outdoor outfitting store in Estes Park, Colorado in 1983. Both being former educators, they found teaching people to hike and buy the proper gear an enjoyable experience. David always said, “Teachers make great retailers. When people come in and actually ask for help and want to be taught, we fall all over ourselves.”

Phebe and David Novic

After hiking in Colorado and spending 11 years traveling to Nepal and many parts of Europe, they discovered long-distance hiking “inn to inn-style” on a trip across England. Here was a great opportunity for walkers who didnt want a backpacking experience, but loved to hike and travel.

In 2003, they began Footpaths Of The World, introducing Americans to the joys of long-distance walking – an established favorite way of traveling by the Europeans.

In January of 2005 they put together a long-distance route from Estes Park to Allenspark primarily for fun and for an article for The Estes Park News. “It was supposed to just be a concept about how a long-distance hiking trail would look here,” said Phebe. As lodging is always an important part of the experience, she met with the B&B association in Estes Park where the idea caught on immediately. “Before I knew it they were saying- forget the article, let’s do it.”

Much has happened in the last couple of years.  The Novics sold the Warming House building and closed that business down at the beginning of 2020.  Footpaths lives on and is very busy especially with the onset of COVID.  Trips are all private and are in the US- characteristics that have turned out to be very important.

“The last two years have been very satisfying, ” says Phebe.  “We’ve gotten people outdoors.”