Great Reads

Ok, I know I'm behind on this. I will have another update shortly on a hike I did with my dad and family up at Standing Stone in Pike County, but right now I wanted to quickly talk about three of my favorite books. All three of these books deal with the outdoors although in different ways. Maybe you've read one or more of these and maybe you'll be inspired to go check them out. Or if you're nice enough maybe I'll even let you borrow one of them!

First up is a great look at the Applachian Trail from a guy who actually tried to thru-hike the entire trail. Bill Bryson's "A Walk In The Woods" is easily one of the funniest non-fiction books I've ever read. A hilarious yet sobering tale of one man's quest to tackle the AT from Georgia to Maine with his overweight and out-of-shape friend. Tons of funny stories and anecdotes throughout and a lot of really good and interesting information about the towns, state parks, and other bits of Americana along the trail. Bonus points for the Danielsville shout-out.





Next up is Colin Fletcher's "The Complete Walker". I have volume 3, though I think he's up to volume 4 already. This is a backpacker's ultimate guide to gear, sprinkled with Fletcher's dry British wit and wisdom. He has a very funny and sarcastic writing style. As good as the gear reviews and suggestions are, I absolutely love the opening chapter about why he has the burning need to walk and to get away from all the modern day distractions. A great read if you're wondering what to take along on a hiking / backpacking / camping trip.





Finally, we come to a great little guide for the PA section of the Appalachain Trail. It's actually one of a series of books on the Appalachian Trail - not the official AT books sold by the AMC, but rather a smaller very affordable set. The series is called "Exploring the Applachian Trail: Hikes in the...". This one is "Hikes in the Mid-Atlantic States". It covers the entire section of the AT in Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. There are four other books in the series: Northern New England, Southern New England, The Virginias, and Southern Appalachians. This guide is small, fits into your backpack, and divides the section of the trail covered into a series of day hikes. It gives complete descriptions of everything you will see along the way, small topo maps (at 1:100000 scale) with the trail and landmarks clearly marked, cool little sidebars about interesting things in the area, and a great guide to hiking and backpacking the trail. I use this as my de-facto guide to the AT. Pick up a copy and pack it along - you should be able to get used copies for under $12.