Awol On The Appalachian Trail

A 41-year-old engineer quits his job to hike the Appalachian Trail. This is a true account of his hike from Georgia to Maine, bringing to the reader the life of the towns and the people he meets along the way.

Since 2010, The A.T. Guide, a.k.a. "The Awol Guide," has been the guidebook of choice for hikes of any length on the Appalachian Trail. The book contains thousands of landmarks such as campsites, water sources, summits and gaps. The trail's elevation profile is included and every landmark is aligned to the profile. Hikers using this guide know where they are on the trail, what views, streams and campsites are ahead, and whether they'll be hiking uphill or downhill to get there. The A.T. Guide answers all of your questions about how to get rides, where to stay, and where to get supplies. There are 94 maps of towns on or near the trail showing where to find these services and detailed listings for businesses.The A.T. Guide is the most innovative trail guidebook ever developed.

With breathtaking descriptions and humorous anecdotes from his 2,176-mile journey along the Appalachian Trail, Paul Stutzman reveals how immersing himself in nature and befriending fellow hikers helped him recover from a devastating loss.

Derick Lugo had never been hiking. He didn't even know if he liked being outside all that much. He certainly couldn't imagine going more than a day without manicuring his goatee. But with a job overseas cut short and no immediate plans, this fixture of the greater New York comedy circuit began to think about what he might do with months of free time and no commitments. He had heard of the Appalachian Trail and knew of its potential for danger and adventure, but he had never seriously considered attempting to hike all 2,192 miles of it. Then again, what could go wrong for a young black man from the city trekking solo through the East Coast backwoods? The Unlikely Thru-Hiker is the story of how an unknowing ambassador of one of the AT's least common demographics, unfamiliar with both the outdoors and thru-hiking culture, sets off with an extremely overweight pack and a willfully can-do attitude to conquer the infamous trail. What follows are eye-opening lessons on preparation, humility, race relations, and nature's wild unpredictability. But this isn't a hard-nosed memoir of discouragement or intolerance. What sets Lugo apart from the typical walk in the woods is his refusal to let any challenge squash his inner Pollyanna. Through it all, he perseveres with humor, tenacity, and an unshakeable commitment to grooming--earning him the trail name "Mr. Fabulous"--that sees him from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Katahdin in Maine.

God only knows what possessed Bill Bryson, a reluctant adventurer if ever there was one, to undertake a gruelling hike along the world's longest continuous footpath—The Appalachian Trail. The 2,000-plus-mile trail winds through 14 states, stretching along the east coast of the United States, from Georgia to Maine. It snakes through some of the wildest and most spectacular landscapes in North America, as well as through some of its most poverty-stricken and primitive backwoods areas. With his offbeat sensibility, his eye for the absurd, and his laugh-out-loud sense of humour, Bryson recounts his confrontations with nature at its most uncompromising over his five-month journey. An instant classic, riotously funny, A Walk in the Woods will add a whole new audience to the legions of Bill Bryson fans.

Everything you need to know to complete your thru-hike. The AT is a life changing experience and an amazing accomplishment. Half of the battle is proper preparation. This book is everything I wish I would have known before setting off on my thru-hike. Complete with personal tips and experiences. Learn how to budget wisely, save money and not waste cash. Know how to allocate 6 months of your time and plan your exit. Master your gear with a massive guide on everything from your spork to your tent. Understand clothing, layering and materials. Hear about what life is really like on the trail. Know which direction to go, when and why. Familiarize yourself with a state by state breakdown of the trail. Learn how to mentally prepare an optimistic framework for the "I-wanna-quit-days". Understand the physical demands and methods to prevent injury. Prepare yourself for the nutritional needs with food ideas and favorite meal plans. Know the REAL dangers on the AT. "Female Needs" section from AT record-holder Heather 'Anish' Anderson. And a whole lot more...

An account of the author's 2016 thru-hike of the 2,190-mile Appalachian Trail.