Heading out in September for a two week section hike of the PCT. I know this has been posted before but its always a fun topic to revisit:
So, what’s your recommended favorite trail read.
I personally gravitate towards fantasy like The Hobbit but am also thinking of something more modern like The Monkey Wrench Gang.
Jala Jalan
3 of my all time favorites - small and relatively lightweight, but a read you can sink your teeth into:
Words for the Wild, edited by Ann Ronald
The Wild Muir, edited by Yosemite Associates
The Gentle Art of Tramping, Stephen Graham
-Duffy
Duffy
I’ll suggest two. First, Lonely Planet’s “Tales From Nowhere.” Great collection of short, non-fictional travel stories.
Secondly, Walt Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass” goes with me on every trip and would be the single book I would choose if stranded on a desert island. Read “Song of the Open Road.”
Suvid
I have a tiny copy of the Tao I take. Another fave (if you like mystic sci/fi-ish things with an earth-favoring bent) is Ursula K LeGuin’s “Always Coming Home” - about the experience a young girl has of the culture clash between her tribe (a peaceful/agricultural/spritual/matrilineal group) and her father’s tribe (warring/use-up-the-resources/patriarchal). LeGuin does a marvelous job of inmaging the cultures, down to ritual dress, stories, poetry and song descriptions. Worth reading evenif you are not hiking!
CarlieC
I’d recommend a wonderful little autobiography called “Lanterns on the Levee” by William Alexander Percy. I doubt many have heard of it, but this is a memoir of the highest order. Truly one of America’s greatest authors!
ldhiker
Why you’d want extra wait is a mystery, but to each their own hike. Right? So Ricola carried the entire hard back new Harry Potter book, racing to Tahoe to get it the first day. She hiked 30’s with that huge 10 pound thing. Think we convinced her to tear it up though. I started with the Maneaters of Tsavo and gave it to Chuckwagon who left it at the Tehachapi Mojave crossing in the register box, and it made
it to Out of Order who loved it but hated dusk afterwards.
Personally only ccarry something that doesnt deal at all with
the trail or nature. Maybe a 1001 best blonde jokes or something would be the best.
Penguin