Appalachian Trail Books
One of my life goals is to complete a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail - a continuous hike from one end to the other, all done within a single year. Completing a thru-hike is a daunting challenge, with perhaps ten percent of those who actually start out finishing the entire distance. While I wait for the necessary six months or so to free up, I enjoy reading about others who've set out on this grand adventure. There are many accounts from which to choose, and I've hardly begun to get through them all, much less write even brief reviews.
 
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Most AT books are about hikes, but Winton Porter's Just Passin' Thru (2009) is about a place and a calvacade of rascals, lunatics, lost souls, and deliberate eccentrics who stop by for a while (or longer). Porter owns Mountain Crossings, an outfitter and hostel located about thirty miles from the southern terminus of the trail. Most northbounders make it at least this far, and Porter and his staff are legendary for helping hikers lighten their loads. By doing so, they also help many hikers make it much further down the trail than they might otherwise have gotten. At turns hilarious and serious, this is a refreshing read told from an altogether different perspective. |
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Jeff Alt thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail in 1998. In doing so, he raised thousands of dollars for the special needs facility in which his brother lives. A Walk for Sunshine (2007, first edition in 2000) is the story of that hike. Alt is a strong hiker, and he kept a blistering pace. Because he was moving so quickly, he often left others behind. Perhaps as a result, the story doesn't devote as much space as some other books to the relationships formed on the trail and the sometimes unusual characters who make this journey. That's not to say that he didn't encounter some doozies - he certainly did - but with a few exceptions the folks he met soon dropped out of the picture. Nevertheless, this is an enjoyable account, told with good humor. |
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Green Tunnel (2005, since retitled Trail Ways, Path Wise) recounts John Illig's 1993 through hike. Illig starts out with seventy-five pounds of stuff, including snow shoes, chess set, canned tomatoes, German textbook, and an Abdominizer. Even worse, he's hiking with a broken pack. He lightens his load considerably at Neel's Gap and from there on out picks up his pace; sometimes to the point where I wasn't sure if he was competing against the other hikers on the trail or just seeing what he could do. Either way, he finds more than his share of experiences on and around the trail. Illig has a great sense of humor about his mistakes, but he is also free with his opinions about others. If you are sensitive to criticism of meat consumption, evangelism, or hunting, you may find yourself annoyed. As for myself, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. |
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White Blaze Fever (2003) is the straightforward story of a through hike by a 50-something retired educator (Bill Schuette) from Ohio. It's written in journal style, with an entry for each day of the trip that describes where he started, where he finished, and what happened in between. There's not a lot of complicated psychology about searching for meaning here. Schuette just gets up each morning and hikes, facing each day and its circumstances with good cheer. There are some useful tips about gear and technique scattered throughout the text, some of which I've used to advantage on my own much briefer expeditions. |
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Walking Home (2001) by Kelly Winters is a personal journey set on the Appalachian Trail. More sensitive readers might be put off by the salty language and at least one of scenes described in this book, but if you can get past that and suspend a little of your disbelief at the amazing series of coincidences she reports, you'll likely be as engrossed as I was in a wonderful story densely populated with a variety of interesting characters.
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Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods (1999) doesn't describe a complete through-hike, but he and his companion Katz made it through about 800 miles or so of trail, mostly in the southern states. I found the book to be laugh-out-loud funny, though the text is leavened considerably with tales of outrageous crimes against people and the environment. Let's just say that he has a healthy - no, make that grossly distorted - fear of bears, snakes, and noises in the night, and his descriptions of the real and imagined hazards he encounters on his travels, along with plenty of "interesting" people, makes this an enjoyable and engrossing read. |
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Walking with Spring (1998) is the remarkable story of Earl Shaffer's first through-hike of the Appalachian Trail. Around the time Shaffer was doing his hike, the official journal of the governing body of the trail published an article describing the various reasons why a through-hike was impossible. Shaffer didn't read the article, and he managed to complete his journey in a remarkable four months, despite dealing with large sections of unmarked or destroyed trail. Fortunately, he was able to provide extensive documentation and third-party confirmation of his feat, and this book is his record of the trip. The trail has changed tremendously since Shaffer's first hike, but this book is of more than historical interest.
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The Wild Birds' Song describes a hike that began in 1995. Most books about hiking the Appalachian Trail (AT) chronicle trips that begin in Georgia and proceeded north to Maine. That’s probably because most hikers head north with the spring. Jim Coplen chose to hike south, and I found the change of perspective that his account offers both refreshing and a little disorienting. There’s less emphasis on the social aspects of the trail than is typical for these books, perhaps because the south bound community is much smaller and diffuse. Another factor may be that Coplen was 58 when he hiked, making him substantially older than most thru-hikers. Aside from a relatively small cast of characters, the emphasis is on the hiking. I can’t say much more without giving away important elements of the story, but suffice to say that Coplen has his shares of ups and downs, both literal and figurative, but he eventually makes his way to Georgia. In the process, he seems to have discovered more than a trail.
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There Are Mountains to Climb: An Inspirational Journey (1996) is a wonderful book by Jean Deeds, who left her life in the suburbs of Indianapolis to hike the Trail at age 51. This is an inspirational story of someone who had virtually no outdoor experience yet managed to accomplish amazing things. Highly recommended, and certainly one of the best AT books out there. Others must agree, because it's in its fifth (at least) printing.
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A Woman's Journey (1982) is the story of Cindy Ross' journey from Georgia to Maine, a trip that she spread out over two years. The book first appeared in 1982, and though many other AT books by various authors have appeared since, few are as good as this one. It's been through at least five printings. It's not long - only 127 pages; and the text is handwritten - but who cares? The whole thing is profusely illustrated with the author's own evocative drawings, and the honest and engaging account is impossible to put down. I don't know if it's still in print - I found my copy in a used book store - but it is well worth seeking out. |
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