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Home > Walking the Appalachian Trail
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Walking the Appalachian Trail
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By Larry Luxenberg
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 (26 Reviews)
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List Price: $19.95
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Publisher:
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Stackpole Books
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Edition:
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1st
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Date:
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December 31, 1969 |
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Binding:
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Paperback
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Pages:
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256
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Accounts by thru-hikers, organized by topic. Foreword by hiker Maurice Forrester and stunning color photos by Mike Warren.
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Customers' Reviews:
Add Your Own Review |
 Beware this book . . ., February 15, 2004
By spur238 (Atlanta, GA United States)
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. . . 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.
29 of 29 people found this review helpful
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It puts me there..., March 15, 2004
By Troy Shellhamer (prospect, ky United States)
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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.
24 of 24 people found this review helpful
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Great Read - Will need to have more to Hike the A.T. though, September 21, 1999
By A Customer
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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.
20 of 20 people found this review helpful
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 A fun attempt to showcase AT community, April 10, 2006
By Greg A. Locascio (DeKalb, IL USA)
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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.
12 of 13 people found this review helpful
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A book of great people not true people., May 2, 1999
By groovywill@aol.com (North Georgia)
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This book is great for those who want the taste of the appalachian trail and what it has to offer but does not bring the at to your house so you can feel it. When I read this book I never did feel him walking the trail. I do respect him for walking the trail but the format of this book does not walk the trail it explains it. He speaks of the super hikers not the average hikers like myself. I can't hike the trail in 50 days. I did not walk the trail blind. I experienced it. I stopped and smelled the wildflowers bloom with the fresh mountain dew. Thats the trail.
12 of 16 people found this review helpful
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Great book!! This one turned me into a hiker., September 23, 1998
By A Customer
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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.
10 of 11 people found this review helpful
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This book started it all for me. Great book!, January 1, 1999
By A Customer
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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.
9 of 9 people found this review helpful
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Motivation for Walking the A.T., March 11, 2004
By Scott Bell (Jacksonville, Texas)
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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.
9 of 10 people found this review helpful
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The pure essence of the Appalachian Trail, January 28, 2004
By A Customer
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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
5 of 5 people found this review helpful
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A little outdated..., September 23, 2008
By Crystal M. Russell (Little Rock, AR)
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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. :)
4 of 4 people found this review helpful
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A trail to inspire us, March 25, 2005
By George Alderson (Catonsville, MD United States)
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"Walking the Appalachian Trail" captures the inspiring qualities of our most famous long-distance hiking trail. The history of the trail is in this book, and so are plenty of anecdotes that make the A.T. seem like it's right next door. I'm a day hiker (never a long-distance hiker), but this book still inspires me to hit the trail again, be it on the A.T. or a regional trail.
4 of 5 people found this review helpful
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Forget Bryson's book, read this one!, May 4, 2004
By A Customer
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A pleasure to read the tremendous variety of experiences of people who did the AT and got something out of it. I may always remain an armchair adventurer, but ya never know... since I read this book, the old REI framepack has begun calling to me from the closet...
4 of 5 people found this review helpful
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Keen insights into the Appalachian Trail hiker, October 23, 2008
By Robert C. Ross (New Jersey)
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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
3 of 3 people found this review helpful
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a good read, May 14, 2007
By Page Turner (Indiana)
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i would read it again. you can tell that the author gets a little emotional about the trail. i was hoping for a more practical guide to hiking the A.T. this is difinitely not a book about equipment and doesn't include any maps.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful
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 Walking the Appalacian Trail, March 25, 2010
By Monk (Bamberg, Germany)
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Diappointing purchase. If you are a history buff and want to read about legends or those who have hiked the trail from 1930 to 1980, this book may interest you. However, if you are looking for either entertainment about those who have hike the AT recently or advise about the AT - forget it. Well written, but not, I suspect, what most readers are looking for with regard to hiking the Appalician Trail. A much better read is "AWAOL on the Appalacian Trail" by David Smith - also available on Amazon. :-)
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
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Totally related to why he was there, February 26, 2008
By James E. Shireman
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I totally related to the author and why he was out there on the trail. Well written and although the historical commentary sometimes bored me which I admit I skipped sometimes, I could not put this book down. The author's recollection and re cantering of being on the trail, it's hardships, on and off again friendships, losing 75 pounds, why he was out there in the first place, trying to find himself... well, again, I totally related to how he felt. I also give his wife a lot of kudos for sticking it out and letting the author do what he needed to do at that time of his life. I really liked how the book ended or should I say the author's quest ended? Those last few pages when he went to Trail Days in Damascus..said it all. I recommend this book to anyone considering the hike, thru, section, or day hiking does not matter. It's all still hiking isn't it?
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
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better than A Walk in the Woods, June 4, 2007
By UTtreehugger
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As someone who grew up within a stone's throw of the AT in East Tennessee, I've had a lifelong passion for the trail and have spent a lot of time hiking it. Along those lines I've also read a lot about the trail, exhausting my library's scant collection of books on the AT.
I was eager to crack open Bill Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods" when it came out because so many people recommended it to me. Boy am I sorry I did! What I was hoping would be a thoughtful, enlightening, and entertaining story of a man's journey turned out to be a big disappointment. Bryson was exceedingly whiny and had an ugly, close-minded perspective on the trail, especially concerning people in the South. He even skipped one of the best sections of the trail: that along the TN-NC border north of the Smokies and south of Damascus! If you want to hear a city-raised yankee whining about the outdoors, then be my guest to that overhyped travesty of a book.
If you want to learn something about the AT, its people, and its culture, then read this book. As much time as I've spent on the AT, even I learned something! It's easy to read and you can pick it up, thumb to any chapter, and entertain yourself with fantastic stories and learn what it's really like to be a thruhiker. This a nonfictional masterpiece, and people from all walks of life, from urbanite yankee to downhome hillbilly, have something to learn from this book.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
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 A history book- not a guide book. Misleading title and description., November 17, 2009
By L-Train nobo '09 (Somerville, MA)
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I think its misleading to call this an "official guide" to the AT. Its a fun expose on various aspects of AT culture and community.
This is a nonfiction read that talks about the trail- yes- but if you're planning for an AT hike, you need to bring a guide book with you, and this isn't going to tell you how far you are from the next water source.
Also, its outdated.
Think about it. An entire CHAPTER named "The Thing with Two Heads - Women and Couples on the Trail"?! Its almost like its a revolutionary thought that a female should hike it solo. I guess I found that a little insulting.
While I recognize that this book has an audience of recreational readers and those who are not trying to gear up for their thruhike, I believe that consumers should be wary that the title and descriptions amazon gives us are misleading.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful
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Great book., October 26, 2005
By A. Bogdanowicz (Pleasant Hill , CA USA)
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This book is a must read for anyone interested in hiking part of or thru hiking the appalachian trail!
1 of 7 people found this review helpful
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Completely Dated, June 4, 2011
By Mikey (The woods of Tennessee)
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This would be a nice compilation of stories and anecdotes to read--if it were 1982. Reading it felt like I was being lectured by an old man in a nursing home telling me about how hard it was 'back in MY day'.
I judge a book about the Appalachian Trail by whether or not it makes me want to go out and hike it. This one did no such thing. It felt like sitting around listening to a bunch of old George Carlin-types, without the wit or humor.
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The real deal, December 16, 2008
By Bill Walker
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You hear so many myths, legends,stories and lore on the AT, and it's sometimes difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff. But Larry Luxenberg gives you the feeling that you're reading the real thing in this enjoyable book. Well-researched and the author is one of the mainstays of this national jewel, the Appalachian Trail.
It would be a good one for people to read who are contemplating anything from a day-hike to a thru-hike.
Skywalker--Close Encounters on the Appalachian Trail
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SOLID BOOK!, November 9, 2008
By MOM IM GOIN TO COLLEGE (CENTRAL MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY, MICHIGAN FIRE UP CHIPS!)
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GOOD book a lot about the history and first hand experience. The AT is sweet and they did a great job describing the overall experience! it was also cool to get an understanding of the people and culture. great book get it if you want to learn about the trail:)
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Walking the Appalachian Trail, September 10, 2007
By Blaine Mummert
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This was a book that was hard to put down once I got started reading, because I waned to know more about the trail and how to get started
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Good book wrong title, August 9, 2009
By Michael R. Bowman (Arab, AL United States)
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The book is well written, but the title is misleading. there are no official guides to the AT in the book; only tells of thru hikers and their experiences. If you're looking for guides go somewhere else, but if you want to relive the trail experience this is your book. I've enjoyed all my hikes on the AT, and I enjoyed this book as well!
Big Mike.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful
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A head for the hike, February 15, 2007
By Carl Harris
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Why do people hike the AT? How do people hike the AT. Where do they find the inspiration to start and carry-on? What adversity did they have to overcome? What trail magic did they encounter? I think if you are contemplating tackling the AT, this book takes looks from many different mental angles at the proposition. It does provide some practical insights as well, but I got the sense of determination and stubborness required to attempt the journey. If you want a book on the nuts and bolts of thru-hiking try a different title.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful
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This book is an attempt to cover the history of the AT, July 1, 1998
By A Customer
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The book provides the reader with an overview of the historical aspects of the trail. The reader is introduced to the early politics of the trail, and the feats of its more colorful "thru hickers". The book does lack the personal flavor and overall adventure aspect of many other publications.
0 of 2 people found this review helpful
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