Buying Options

Add to book club
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club?
Learn more
Join or create book clubs
Choose books together
Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.

![Thru-Hiking Will Break Your Heart: An Adventure on the Pacific Crest Trail by [Carrot Quinn]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51lTV1LQldL._SY346_.jpg)
Follow the Author
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.
OK
Thru-Hiking Will Break Your Heart: An Adventure on the Pacific Crest Trail Kindle Edition
by
Carrot Quinn
(Author)
Format: Kindle Edition
Carrot Quinn
(Author)
Find all the books, read about the author, and more.
See search results for this author
Are you an author?
Learn about Author Central
|
See all formats and editions
Hide other formats and editions
Price
|
New from | Used from |
Audible Audiobook, Unabridged
"Please retry"
|
$0.00
|
Free with your Audible trial |
MP3 CD, Audiobook, MP3 Audio, Unabridged
"Please retry"
|
$9.29 | — |
-
Kindle
$0.00 Read with Kindle Unlimited to also enjoy access to over 1 million more titles $4.98 to buy -
Audiobook
$0.00 Free with your Audible trial -
Paperback
$12.48 -
MP3 CD
$9.99
-
LanguageEnglish
-
Publication dateApril 13, 2015
-
File size1379 KB
Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Download to your computer
|
Kindle Cloud Reader
|
Customers who bought this item also bought
Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
- Bliss(ters): How I Walked from Mexico to Canada One SummerGail FrancisKindle Edition
- Thirst: 2600 Miles to HomeKindle Edition
- Hikertrash: Life on the Pacific Crest TrailKindle Edition
- Pacific Crest Trials: A Psychological and Emotional Guide to Successfully Thru-Hiking the Pacific Crest TrailKindle Edition
- Walking Thru: A Couple's Adventure on the Pacific Crest TrailKindle Edition
- Mud, Rocks, Blazes: Letting Go on the Appalachian TrailKindle Edition
Customers who viewed this item also viewed
Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
- Thirst: 2600 Miles to HomeKindle Edition
- Walking Thru: A Couple's Adventure on the Pacific Crest TrailKindle Edition
- How the WILD EFFECT Turned Me into a Hiker at 69: An Appalachian Trail AdventureKindle Edition
- Bliss(ters): How I Walked from Mexico to Canada One SummerGail FrancisKindle Edition
- Hikertrash: Life on the Pacific Crest TrailKindle Edition
- The Trail Provides: A Boy's Memoir of Thru-Hiking the Pacific Crest TrailKindle Edition
Amazon Business: Make the most of your Amazon Business account with exclusive tools and savings. Login nowAmazon Business : For business-only pricing, quantity discounts and FREE Shipping. Register a free business account
Product details
- ASIN : B00W4RICAM
- Publication date : April 13, 2015
- Language : English
- File size : 1379 KB
- Simultaneous device usage : Unlimited
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 371 pages
- Lending : Enabled
-
Best Sellers Rank:
#108,149 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #8 in Walking (Kindle Store)
- #11 in Mountain U.S. Regional Travel
- #154 in Travel (Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:
Customer reviews
4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
1,788 global ratings
How are ratings calculated?
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzes reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
Reviewed in the United States on February 20, 2019
Report abuse
Verified Purchase
I love reading about the PCT. This may be the worst I’ve ever read. Hiking is hard but she is relentless in her misery. Every page is filled with whining, complaining, neediness, lack of self-reliance, lesbianism, promiscuity, and cussing. There is so much beauty on the trail along with the bad but you don’t hear about it here. It’s the rock-bottom worst throughout. I made it to Oregon and couldn’t take it anymore. I feel awful for her trail companions. If she was anything like the thoughts on paper she would’ve been miserable to be around. I’m sure if she ever reads this review she won’t give a **beep**. I wasted four dollars on this read. It’s not worth reading it for free.
94 people found this helpful
Helpful
Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2019
Verified Purchase
While I did find it tolerable enough to read the whole thing and acknowledge the writing style finally improved 1/2 way through, I end this book just feeling like she makes hikers out to be selfish, disgusting, “takers” of others’ generosity and of the wilderness itself. The PCT just comes across as a dirty highway- overused and polluted by the hikers who claim to be conservationists. After reading it, my desire to thru-hike is OVER as it seems like a series of weeklong hikes where hikers return to the city and gorge and splurge like sloppy Americans. She comes across as running from reality and avoiding adulthood. Not the secluded triumph and challenge they claim it to be. Ewww... just ewww.
56 people found this helpful
Report abuse
Reviewed in the United States on August 5, 2018
Verified Purchase
Have I ever read a more unlikable book? Have I ever cared less about a main character? When you're three quarters of the way through a book and are virtually hoping that the author will finally fall off the next cliff and stop writing, you know something's wrong.
I cannot understand why this book has so many high ratings. I've read a number of other day-by-day hiking journals, so I knew what to expect. I know there is a lot of repetition and monotony, because that's part of the real thru-hiking experience. (For example, I very much enjoyed Hikertrash by Elin Miller) But this book was in it's own league.
The author is thoroughly unlikable.The complaining is incessant. Reading about her expectations of and interactions with other people are solely cringey. She makes mistake after mistake, regularly runs out of food and water, and learns nothing as she goes. I mean, if four months into your hike you still haven't figured out your basic food and water needs, should you even be hiking?
I cannot understand why this book has so many high ratings. I've read a number of other day-by-day hiking journals, so I knew what to expect. I know there is a lot of repetition and monotony, because that's part of the real thru-hiking experience. (For example, I very much enjoyed Hikertrash by Elin Miller) But this book was in it's own league.
The author is thoroughly unlikable.The complaining is incessant. Reading about her expectations of and interactions with other people are solely cringey. She makes mistake after mistake, regularly runs out of food and water, and learns nothing as she goes. I mean, if four months into your hike you still haven't figured out your basic food and water needs, should you even be hiking?
75 people found this helpful
Report abuse
Reviewed in the United States on December 10, 2018
Verified Purchase
I tried, I honestly tried. I read about 50 pages and just can't take it...I have absolutely no idea how this book rates at the way it does. I should (and will in the future) read the 1 and 2 star reviews. One star is way too generous...
43 people found this helpful
Report abuse
Reviewed in the United States on December 23, 2015
Our journeys were completely different and yet, in most ways, exactly the same. When reading her book I was amazed at how eloquently she was able to capture the experience. She put words to my thoughts about the trail. Just reading the teaser paragraph excerpt at the front of the book about the wind in So. Cal., I was in that maelstrom of wind again and she got it exactly right. In forty years of backpacking I had never been in wind like that. I was unable to describe it and yet Carrot effortlessly pitches you into the chaotic scene in a few crisp sentences. I was "blown away"- pun intended. She gives us a glimpse at the day to day drudgery and the amazing bits of brilliant magic that was my experience on that "18 inch by 2660 mile highway." She crafts her story well and is not afraid to lay her soul bare.
If you want a well written true account of what a thru-hike of the PCT is like look no further. No two treks of the PCT are ever the same and yet they are. Thanks, Carrot, for put words to the shared experiences of thru-hikers everywhere. -SlowBro
Verified Purchase
First, full disclosure- I thru-hiked the PCT in 2014 and met Carrot briefly near Kennedy Meadows when she was hiking it for the second time. Now on with the review.
Our journeys were completely different and yet, in most ways, exactly the same. When reading her book I was amazed at how eloquently she was able to capture the experience. She put words to my thoughts about the trail. Just reading the teaser paragraph excerpt at the front of the book about the wind in So. Cal., I was in that maelstrom of wind again and she got it exactly right. In forty years of backpacking I had never been in wind like that. I was unable to describe it and yet Carrot effortlessly pitches you into the chaotic scene in a few crisp sentences. I was "blown away"- pun intended. She gives us a glimpse at the day to day drudgery and the amazing bits of brilliant magic that was my experience on that "18 inch by 2660 mile highway." She crafts her story well and is not afraid to lay her soul bare.
If you want a well written true account of what a thru-hike of the PCT is like look no further. No two treks of the PCT are ever the same and yet they are. Thanks, Carrot, for put words to the shared experiences of thru-hikers everywhere. -SlowBro
Our journeys were completely different and yet, in most ways, exactly the same. When reading her book I was amazed at how eloquently she was able to capture the experience. She put words to my thoughts about the trail. Just reading the teaser paragraph excerpt at the front of the book about the wind in So. Cal., I was in that maelstrom of wind again and she got it exactly right. In forty years of backpacking I had never been in wind like that. I was unable to describe it and yet Carrot effortlessly pitches you into the chaotic scene in a few crisp sentences. I was "blown away"- pun intended. She gives us a glimpse at the day to day drudgery and the amazing bits of brilliant magic that was my experience on that "18 inch by 2660 mile highway." She crafts her story well and is not afraid to lay her soul bare.
If you want a well written true account of what a thru-hike of the PCT is like look no further. No two treks of the PCT are ever the same and yet they are. Thanks, Carrot, for put words to the shared experiences of thru-hikers everywhere. -SlowBro

5.0 out of 5 stars
Best written book about a thru-hike of the PCT!
By SlowBro on December 23, 2015
First, full disclosure- I thru-hiked the PCT in 2014 and met Carrot briefly near Kennedy Meadows when she was hiking it for the second time. Now on with the review.By SlowBro on December 23, 2015
Our journeys were completely different and yet, in most ways, exactly the same. When reading her book I was amazed at how eloquently she was able to capture the experience. She put words to my thoughts about the trail. Just reading the teaser paragraph excerpt at the front of the book about the wind in So. Cal., I was in that maelstrom of wind again and she got it exactly right. In forty years of backpacking I had never been in wind like that. I was unable to describe it and yet Carrot effortlessly pitches you into the chaotic scene in a few crisp sentences. I was "blown away"- pun intended. She gives us a glimpse at the day to day drudgery and the amazing bits of brilliant magic that was my experience on that "18 inch by 2660 mile highway." She crafts her story well and is not afraid to lay her soul bare.
If you want a well written true account of what a thru-hike of the PCT is like look no further. No two treks of the PCT are ever the same and yet they are. Thanks, Carrot, for put words to the shared experiences of thru-hikers everywhere. -SlowBro
Images in this review

190 people found this helpful
Report abuse
Reviewed in the United States on June 7, 2017
Verified Purchase
Carrot succeeds at writing a detailed yet emotional story of hiking the PCT back in 2013. I am no expert but i have read a decent amount of these PCT/AT stories and most fail for a number of reasons. It is in the form of a daily journal, sort of, but she keeps it's playful and colorful. Carrot is 30-31 when she hikes the trail back in 2013 so it is one of the newer PCT books and I think her language is relatable and fun. I will say the back half of the book from oregon to washington really shines. She becomes more poetic and expressive and I think her writing style shines. I see some people frown at the graphic parts with her and Ramen or maybe other parts but she is just being honest and raw and i didn't have a problem with it.
Like i mentioned this is one of the better thru-hike books i have read, most of the others are bland and only focus on flora and fauna or are gruelling because it is a rigid daily journal. Carrot infuses the daily journal with insight and silliness but doesn't take aways from how long and repetitive a 2600 miles hike it. Understanding how difficult the hike is can be hard to grasp but as a writer i would think you would need to convey how serious this hike is without boring us to death.
Some might ask, is this like Wild? no not really. I would say Wild is beautiful but it doesn't illustrate the length of the PCT very well. Wild is stylized to be a good novel and it succeeded but it doesn't give you "daily life" feel that is so characteristic of a thru-hike. I think Wild and this book are just two different approaches.
One that same token if you are not into hiking or the PCT the book probably won't resonate as well, but that kind of goes without saying.
Like i mentioned this is one of the better thru-hike books i have read, most of the others are bland and only focus on flora and fauna or are gruelling because it is a rigid daily journal. Carrot infuses the daily journal with insight and silliness but doesn't take aways from how long and repetitive a 2600 miles hike it. Understanding how difficult the hike is can be hard to grasp but as a writer i would think you would need to convey how serious this hike is without boring us to death.
Some might ask, is this like Wild? no not really. I would say Wild is beautiful but it doesn't illustrate the length of the PCT very well. Wild is stylized to be a good novel and it succeeded but it doesn't give you "daily life" feel that is so characteristic of a thru-hike. I think Wild and this book are just two different approaches.
One that same token if you are not into hiking or the PCT the book probably won't resonate as well, but that kind of goes without saying.
41 people found this helpful
Report abuse
Top reviews from other countries

NicM
3.0 out of 5 stars
Engaging, personal and (but?) not all that much about the trail
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 15, 2019Verified Purchase
I've read several PCT books and this is by far the most personal. The author focuses more on her relationships with others than providing you with much detailed information about the hike. I don't say this to put future readers off, I'm just telling you what to expect if you get the book. While many other books have been littered with historic anecdotes, this is a bit more "I'm super hungry and a reallllllly miss my friends right now..." At times this can be juvenile and I occasionally found myself getting irritated at the author. eg: she will complain about things that are entirely within her control. But then she's done the PCT and I haven't. And if her stories about her childhood are true, it's amazing that she's a functioning adult at all. Her "blog" style of writing is, for the most part, entertaining and engaging and I enjoyed reading the book despite my criticism.
5 people found this helpful
Report abuse

monxton13
3.0 out of 5 stars
More A Social Account - Than A Trek Diary
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 23, 2020Verified Purchase
These type of books work when they are the right level of mixed content, comprising tips and geograhic/trail info ( without straying too far into guide book territory) with a splash of engaging social content. This book is not that with a strong social bias, but still a decent read. Carrot ( her PCT trail name) certainly did "engage" regularly and gives fairly detailed literary accounts of this! Those of a prudish nature be aware LOL.
How anyone can walk 2600 miles living on trail mix, corn chips and salami is beyond me. The Washington section stands as a grave warning about the consequences of attempting this trip with inadequate kit. So there are some definite learnings here. A good effort and a great physical accomplishment on and off the trail....
How anyone can walk 2600 miles living on trail mix, corn chips and salami is beyond me. The Washington section stands as a grave warning about the consequences of attempting this trip with inadequate kit. So there are some definite learnings here. A good effort and a great physical accomplishment on and off the trail....

Sarah J.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Addictive Reading
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 18, 2018Verified Purchase
Thank you Carrot for this honest and very real account of your epic first thru-hike. Out of the many thru-hiking memoirs I've read this is one of my favourites. I found the clarity of your writing captivating and a real antidote to all the fake stuff we have to wade through in life. It was difficult to put the book down. A love story on several levels your account made me cry more than once. This book is a real achievement and I look forward to reading the rest of your stuff.
2 people found this helpful
Report abuse

Andrew
5.0 out of 5 stars
thank you
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 25, 2018Verified Purchase
For anyone who has undertaken an epic journey this book brings to life the memories of the beginning, describes the simplicity of it's universe, the highs and lows of the physical endeavour, and the relationships formed in an uncomplicated environment. The emptiness of the end and realisation that the "real" world is still out there. It brings to life a an experience that only someone who was there will ever truly understand.
For those who are yet to take that journey it shows you that the most ordinary people can do the most extraordinary things....by taking one step at a time.
I have read many books... this the first review I have been inclined to write.
For those who are yet to take that journey it shows you that the most ordinary people can do the most extraordinary things....by taking one step at a time.
I have read many books... this the first review I have been inclined to write.

Atomica
4.0 out of 5 stars
Raw and honest account of hiking the PCT and finding yourself along the way
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 6, 2015Verified Purchase
I don't recall how I came across the author's blog, but as soon as I did I spent (and still do) hours poring over her writing, which is raw, honest, and flows incredibly well.
This book, which is the account of the author's hike along the Pacific Crest Trail in 2013 has some excellent writing. There are points during the second part where the flow of the narrative breaks up, but things pick up nicely in the final parts where the quality of the prose is just excellent. I haven't been reading as much as I have liked recently, but I raced through this book, first too quickly because I wanted to slow down and savour the adventure. I consistently felt as though I was in the author's shoes, to the point where having read her experiences I want to plan a similar trip in the near future.
In a word, inspiring.
This book, which is the account of the author's hike along the Pacific Crest Trail in 2013 has some excellent writing. There are points during the second part where the flow of the narrative breaks up, but things pick up nicely in the final parts where the quality of the prose is just excellent. I haven't been reading as much as I have liked recently, but I raced through this book, first too quickly because I wanted to slow down and savour the adventure. I consistently felt as though I was in the author's shoes, to the point where having read her experiences I want to plan a similar trip in the near future.
In a word, inspiring.
2 people found this helpful
Report abuse
What other items do customers buy after viewing this item?
Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
- Thirst: 2600 Miles to HomeKindle Edition
- Pacific Crest Trials: A Psychological and Emotional Guide to Successfully Thru-Hiking the Pacific Crest TrailKindle Edition
- Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail (Oprah's Book Club 2.0 1)Kindle Edition
- Walking Thru: A Couple's Adventure on the Pacific Crest TrailKindle Edition