Compass Points Media founder, publisher and producer Dave Pidgeon (Compass Points Media)

FIND YOUR DIRECTION

Long-time journalist Dave Pidgeon founded Compass Points Media to produce high-quality Web-based content for outdoor adventure travel.

Compass Points Media produces a weekly television program called Compass Points TV, taking viewers on journeys down some of America’s best hiking trails. Compass Points TV stands out with superb composition and committed focus on what viewers need to know about seeing inspiring mountain vistas, wild waterfalls and more.

Compass Points Media also produces Trail Blazes, comprehensive and entertaining hiking guides for iPhones, iPods and Mp3 players. Trail Blazes aims to elevate a hiker’s experience by providing what they want to know about the natural, geological and cultural highlights of a trail or park. Compass Points Media uses a journalist’s eye for detail, photos and their own hiking experience to create something that will help other hikers find their direction.

About Dave Pidgeon

Dave Pidgeon (Compass Points Media / flickr)

Dave has pursued journalistic excellence since graduating in 2001 from Elizabethtown College, Pa. His career has taken him from the hotly-contested battleground state of Pennsylvania during the 2008 presidential contest to the wild backcountry of southern Arizona. You can read his work in issues of Backpacker, Budget Travel, American Cowboy, Fine Living Lancaster and Pennsylvania magazines.

Dave’s journalism career began in 2001 at the Lebanon Daily News, Pa., covering a diverse set of beats from health care to crime.

He accepted in July 2004 a position with the Intelligencer Journal in Lancaster, Pa., where he covered state government and high-profile elections until June 2009. He frequently appeared on Journalist Roundtable, Pennsylvania Cable Network’s state politics talk show.

Dave’s coverage of the 2008 presidential election in Pennsylvania  included time spent with Barack Obama’s traveling press corps, landing one-on-one interviews with Obama, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Mitt Romney and Joe Biden and firsthand coverage of Obama’s Inauguration. He provided for the Intelligencer Journal news reports and analysis, plus pool coverage for state and national media. He also appeared on WITF’s Smart Talk and XM Satellite Radio’s P.O.T.U.S. ’08.

Dave’s work can be seen at www.davepidgeon.net.

His experience goes beyond political reporting, though. He’s interviewed rock stars, shared dinner with a homeless man rebuilding his life, witnessed blind, impoverished Dominicans rejoice after sight-giving surgery, covered the aftermath of a devastating tornado, as well as many other rich and humbling experiences.

Dave is an avid backpacker and hiker having trekked across diverse environments from the Adirondacks to Arizona. His international travels have swept him from the impoverished Gold Coast of the Dominican Republic to the old battleground neighborhoods of Belfast, Northern Ireland, always in search of compelling stories to tell. He also enjoys giving hiking and traveling gear rigorous testing and is available to publications for regular gear testing.

Dave lives in Lititz, Pa., with his wife, Alison.