Customer Reviews

Walking the Appalachian Trail

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

. . . unless you're willing to risk a life-altering experience. Indeed, 5 months after reading this book, I was sleeping on the ground at night and walking 15-20 miles every day. It inspired me to start a thruhike of the AT, and after finishing the first one, I did another, and then another. Almost surely I'll do it again. Life will never be the same. This book started it all for me. Not just about Luxenberg's own hiking experiences, the book distills the stories of many different hikers, from the first thruhiker (Earl Shaffer) to "ordinary" hikers of today, plus several who were not at all ordinary. Many, many books have been written about the AT. This one is a powerful classic.

This book is a wonderful vehicle to take you back to trail, or there for the first time. It isn't a guide book in any way, which is actually what I wanted when I bought this... but I am very pleased that I ended up with this also (if you want a guide book, get the 'Thru-Hikers Companion')... Along with the details of planning for my upcoming thru-hike,it is great to pick this book up and instead of dealing with technicalities I can just take my mind to the finer aspects of trail life, which is nice when I'm not planning. It is one of the few books I have ever started and actually finished all the way through before getting bored. -Contains vivid accounts of famous and not so famous thru hikes of the past, some humorous and some touching, and offers an unbiased view of just enjoying the trail regardless of all variables.

I really enjoyed the read, lots of history and interesting stories of people on the trail. The book points out many ways to do the trail without stressing one method over another. Further enticed my desire to do the trail but this book is by no means a how to or a what you'll need type book.

I just couldn't put this book down. Before I'd even finished the book, I decided that I was going to hike the Appalachian Trail. It covers all aspects of "thruhiking" the AT, not just facts but the feel. In August, I finished my thruhike and still feel that Luxenberg's book is right-on. If you love hiking and adventure, this book will give you future dreams.

I read this book before my 2000 AT thru-hike and found the use of trail names confusing and kind of silly. I still feel that way now.

When I finished the trail I came back to this book and read the last chapter about adjusting to the real world. It really helped me cope with that difficult time when the daily endorphin rush ends, replaced by the confusion and noise of civilization.

In the final analysis, Luxenbourg talked to hundreds of hikers and did his best to convey a sense of what it is like to thru-hike. He mostly succeeds. Because the chapters are arranged by topic, with nothing connecting them, it is a great book to keep in the bathroom or coffee table, to pick up and look through when, Midwest-bound in winter, one longs for the trail.

This was the first book I read about hiking the Appalachian Trail, and I was entirely transformed by it. I have bought and read thirteen books on the subject since (but found none quite as enticing), and I have now hiked several sections of the trail. My longest has been a 75-mile stretch. Hopefully, I will one day become a thru-hiker.

Retired my backpack many years ago. I had thought about walking the A.T. but never did. Recently a work buddy suggested we thru-hike the trail on retirement in a few years.
Fortunately, this was the first book I read about the trail. This is not the definitive book about the trail but is an excellent motivator for day hiking or thru-hiking it. The author discusses many aspects of planning, walking and finishing but this is not a book about details. Informative and entertaining experiences of past hikers featured after every chapter are the focus of this book.
I have more reading and research to do about the A.T. Thanks to this book, the Good Lord Willing, I'll be at Springer Mountain for my thru-hike someday.

As a Thru Hiker of 2001, I have read most everything on the Appalachian Trail. This book gives not only facts about the AT, but is able to capture the life of the Trail, and its people. I haven't seen anything that captures the essence of the Trail so well since the newly released documentary, TREK

Luxenberg's AT Guide delves into many aspects of hiking the trail. It examines the art of trail names, named notables, life on the trail, as well as its history. It serves as a decent historical guide to the AT.

However, it was published in 1994. Luxenberg spends a great deal of time outlining the best of/fastest/slowest/etc, and much of this has changed in the past 14 years. It understandably spends a great deal of time on named notables on the trail in the 70s and 80s, which was applicable when written in the early 1990s.

If you want a current review of life on the AT, this guide isn't it. If you want a decent history of the AT, then go for it. :)

Larry Luxenberg is an excellent public speaker, deeply committed to the outdoors and to the community of people who have hiked the Appalachian Trail from end to end. This book is an excellent survey of the history of the AT and into the personalities of many of those hikers, at least through the early 1990s.

Luxenberg interviewed over 200 hikers for this book, and it is a great joy to pick it up, read a chapter or two, and think about the personalities. Luxenberg emphasizes that there is no single model; people from all walks of life, men and women, many different motivations have taken on the challenge. He argues that usually people take on the challenge at important turning points of their lives: loss of a spouse, divorce, loss of a job, a search of identity. He is less clear on his own motivation, but didn't have to ask permission to go -- he met his wife three years after he completed his hike.

There are some really appealing people who have made the journey. For example, Isis and Jackrabbit, two sisters from Maine, also known as Susan Letcher and Lucy Letcher hiked the entire Appalachian Trail from Maine to Georgia and then "yo-yoed," turned around and headed back the other way. (They are planning to release a book early next year on their experiences, Barefoot Sisters Walking Home.) "Trail names" are worthy of a special study; some people are known only by those names, others deny that they use one (but insiders disagree).

Factoids fascinated me:

A pound of boots "cost" as much as five pounds on your back; barefoot hiking makes sense except in the snow.

Food was an overwhelming concern; 3500 calories a day in summer, 6000 in winter. Luxenberg was one of the few hikers to gain weight on the trail; most lose 20 to 50 and as much as 75 pounds.

Early hikers were hermits, rarely meeting other people; nowadays, hikers hike in informal packs developing strong relationships with each other and with the trail itself.

Many through hikers develop a strong relationship with the trail, starting guiding services, or businesses, or becoming trail maintainers after their return. Luxenberg is devoting much of his time to establishing the Appalachian Trail Museum at Harpers Ferry (go to [...] if you are interested).

This book is a treasure trove of information about the Appalachian Trail and many of the people who have walked it. Luxenberg's enthusiasm, excellent writing and outstanding bibliography make it a joy to read for anyone interested in the AT.

Robert C. Ross 2008