A fascinating portrait of the community of people—and one cat—who've traveled the trail end to end, by the founder of the Appalachian Trail Museum.Countless hikers have walked stretches of the two-thousand-plus-mile Appalachian Trail, but only a small, deeply dedicated group has completed the trek all the way through from Georgia to Maine. This book explores the history of the trail through colorful profiles of those who are a part of this unique community and reve...

With a new preface by the author • As featured in the upcoming motion picture Everest, starring Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, John Hawkes, Robin Wright, Emily Watson, Keira Knightley, Sam Worthington, and Jake Gyllenhaal“I can tell you that some force within me rejected death at the last moment and then guided me, blind and stumbling—quite literally a dead man walking—into camp and the shaky start of my return to life.”In 1996 Beck Weathers a...

“You’ll never understand America until you’ve driven Route 66—that’s old Route 66—all the way,” a truck driver in California once said to author Rick Antonson. “It’s the most famous highway in the world.”With some determination, grit, and a good sense of direction, one can still find and drive on 90 percent of the original Route 66 today. This travelogue follows Rick and his travel companion Peter along 2,400 miles through eight states from Chicago to Los Angeles as they discover t...

Brothers often promise to do something together when they 'grow up." Do they always follow through? When war and a Purple Heart Medal alter those promises, should the surviving brother continue? My promise to my brother haunted me for over forty years. Finally, life stopped getting in the way and I set out on the Appalachian Trail to fulfill that youthful promise.Three Hundred Zeroes describes the Appalachian Trail (A.T.) as it meanders for almost 2,200 miles (3,500 km) through some...

Life Is a Wheel chronicles the cross-country bicycle trip Bruce Weber made at the age of fifty-seven, an “entertaining travel story filled with insightful thoughts about life, family, and aging” (The Associated Press).During the summer and fall of 2011, Bruce Weber, an obituary writer for The New York Times, bicycled across the country, alone, and wrote about it as it unfolded. Life Is a Wheel is the witty, inspiring, and reflect...

Average People Extraordinary Trail is written for anyone that has an interest in the Appalachian Trail (A.T.) or hiking in general. You don't have to be an experienced hiker or professional outdoorsman to enjoy a day or a year on the A.T. Enjoy a "desk hike" while reading the author's daily journal entries from his 2009 A.T. thru-hike. Prepare for your own hike or just learn a little about the Appalachian Trail. Each chapter has a planning section and an equipment section. Over 100 photogr...

Blending sage advice with personal experiences and anecdotes, this unconventional book is an unusually thoughtful account of long-distance trekking on the Appalachian Trail. Mueser draws upon interviews and questionnaire data gathered from over 100 long distance hikers hoofing it through the Applachian Mountains.

M. J. Eberhart, aka the Nimblewill Nomad, was a 60-year-old retired doctor in January 1998 when he set off on a foot journey that carried him 4,400 miles (twice the length of the Appalachian Trail) from the Florida Keys to the far north of Quebec. Written in a vivid journal style, the author unabashedly recounts the good (friendships with other hikers he met), the bad (sore legs, cutting winds and rain), and the godawful (those dispiriting doubts) aspects of his days of walking along what ...

Multiple races of marathon distance or greater in a month...or perhaps in a weekend. Several unsupported runs of 50 and 100 miles through the mountains and forests several times a year. Have you ever considered running through a desert, across a frozen tundra or over multiple mountain ranges? Why not run for three days straight to see how many miles you can accrue? Welcome to a place where no locale is too inhospitable and no distance impossible. Welcome...to the Darkside.The Darks...

By hiking 2,181 miles in 46 days, Jennifer Pharr Davis became not only the overall record holder on the Appalachian Trail but also the first female ever to set that mark.Yet, this is not a book about records or numbers; this is a book about endurance, faith, and, most of all, love. In her own words, Jennifer shares her story of how she embarked on a journey with her husband, Brew. With a deep love for hiking and each other, they overcame countless challenges – from ...

WHAT’S IT LIKE TO RUN FOR 30, 50, OR 100 MILES? This book is a great inspiration not only to current ultrarunners, and to marathoners looking for the next challenge—but also to runners of all abilities, who will see that there is nothing you can’t do if you have the desire. What makes ultrarunners tick? What goes through their minds at mile 93? How can you train for such a colossal undertaking? These questions and many more are answered in this inspiring collection of 39 pe...

For anyone who enjoys spending time in the great outdoors: hikers, mountain climbers, snowboarders, kayakers, campers, beach-lovers, tree-huggers and more.