Need a suggestion for a book about backpacking or the outdoors in general? Try Booksforhikers.com
With the recent interest in Cheryl Strayed’s Wild, the upcoming A Walk in the Woods movie and the popular The Way about the Camino, there seems to be an upswing in interest in the long hiking trails and the journeys on them.
After a person reads the usual suspects they may have more interest in reading about the Appalachian Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail or other trails. Or perhaps you are looking for a new documentary or even a movie based on a long trail?
Enter Books for Hikers.
A great website for finding some reading and viewing material for a person’s long trail interests.
Maintained by Linda Patton, the “about page” puts the background of Linda succinctly:
“eArThworm is a university reference librarian, retired. Her new career is all trails-and-hiking related: hike leader, Publicity Coordinator, and Webmaster for her local chapter of the Florida Trail Association; and collecting books for the Appalachian Trail Museum’s future library.”
Besides the sections on the website grouped by trail names, there are sections for books on hiking with pets, women in the outdoors, first aid and so on.
Overall, the website is a very good resource for finding some viewing and reading ideas.
Though not all trails are listed (an impossible task to say the least! Though some missing trails, such as the increasingly popular The Colorado Trail, maybe should be included?) a long trail junkie should have plenty of material for a long time.
So give Books For Hikers a look once you are done with Wild and want some more reading material. 🙂
Paul this is a great find.
I find myself on the road a lot for business and think fondly of my personal trail experience. I recently read Wild and thought it was interesting to compare and contrast my Colorado Trail experience with that of another thru hiker. I have been recently thinking this would be wonderful to get out of my own head and into the head of other thru hikers. Your pot is timed very well to my own interests.
Thanks
Mags: Thanks for the plug! Funny you should mention the Colorado Trail just when I was thinking of adding it. One of the criteria I try to follow is that there should be at least one published memoir by a thruhiker before I add a trail to the list. Now that Bill Cooke’s book “Shades of Gray, Splashes of Color” has been published, maybe it’s time for the CT to be added.
As I said earlier, thanks for the website! 🙂 Bill’s book is a great addition. There is also Along the Colorado Trail. Published a bit ago, but a good read with excellent photos! http://www.amazon.com/Along-Colorado-Trail-John-Fielder/dp/1565790103