Customer Reviews

Trial By Trail: Backpacking In Smokey Mountains

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Anyone who buys this book expecting a guide to the Great Smoky Mountains will be dissapointed. However, if you want to read a great collection of stories, stories that make you feel as if your on the trail, this is the book for you. Johnny Molloy probably knows as much about the how-to part of camping as anyone, spending over a hundred nights a year in the backcountry. But again, this book isn't a how to guide. This book is about his experiences in the Smokies. And it's more than just a diary. It makes you feel as if your are on the trail with him. Anyone who loves to camp, for more than just purposes of taking a vacation, will enjoy this book.

Johnny Molloy's Trial by Trail tells you what it's really like in the backcountry of the Smokies. If you're green, read Trial by Trail and find out what and what not to do. If you're experienced, read these exciting, fast-reading real life stories and remember when you were just as cold, lost, exhilarated or serene. This ain't no preachy guidebook, its a grainy portrait of life on the trail. After reading the first story, you'll be itching to pack up and hit the trail. Johnny Molloy knows what he's talking about, so read, learn, then go for it!

I ordered this book under the misconception that it was a guide to trails in the park. The title, I feel, is misleading. This book is actually a collection of essays about the author's experiences hiking the park.

This book was an interesting series of "challenges and stories" of what it's like in the "Johnny Molloy world" of experiences in the Smokie. It IS NOT a guide book, but rather a sharing of thoughts and ideas about the events on camping excursions as they relate to personal experience. Johnny "paints a picture" which is hard to not see, and brings you into the wilderness with him. I repeatedly found myself wanting to pick up the book and "share" in another experience with the writer. This is probably mostly about my wanting to be there, but not making that physical choice. Reading the book took me back to where I enjoy being. The physical struggling, sometimes touched on, was particularly interesting, as when we are up against our limits (a frequent theme in the stories), is when we learn the most about ourselves. It was an interesting "read"! Highly recommended.

This book shares the essence of the outdoor experience of the Great Smoky Mountains. I only wish it was longer and had more pictures. You can easily follow the authors' footsteps.. directions included.