Hiking Books (entertaining not informational)

[Laura]

The regional differences in how the terms hiking/backpacking, etc. are interesting. In my region, hiking is used more as a broad, general term and is used interchangeably with backpacking. Here, hiking can be used to describe a multi-day trip, hence the need for the term dayhiking. For example, people here would say they are "hiking the Appalachian Trail". When I first signed up to BCP I had to google hiking and backpacking because I wasn't sure why there were 2 different forums for the TR's. We also use the term section-hiking and thru-hiking more than you guys it seems. Just an observation.

Interesting. Yes, people here hike the PCT, but if you're going hiking it's a day trip. Backpacking is anything overnight, but I can't remember anyone saying they were backpacking the PCT. Never really thought about it until now.

 

[Vegan.Hiker]

If anyone's looking for ideas on their next read, this might help.

http://www.outsideonline.com/1928591/25-essential-books-well-read-explorer

I'm thinking of picking up a copy of The Snow Leopard by Matthiessen for when I'm done with my current book. Has anyone read it?

Also, has anyone read Emeral Mile by Kevin Fedarko? I'm about 3/4 through and it's been excellent so far.

 

[slc_dan]

If anyone's looking for ideas on their next read, this might help.

http://www.outsideonline.com/1928591/25-essential-books-well-read-explorer

I'm thinking of picking up a copy of The Snow Leopard by Matthiessen for when I'm done with my current book. Has anyone read it?

Also, has anyone read Emeral Mile by Kevin Fedarko? I'm about 3/4 through and it's been excellent so far.

I'll have to check out the list.

I recently picked up a copy of Kerouac's "On the Road", but haven't had time to get far into it yet. Not outdoor adventure, but along the lines of adventure I'm usually looking for.

 

[mak1277]

If anyone's looking for ideas on their next read, this might help.

http://www.outsideonline.com/1928591/25-essential-books-well-read-explorer

I'm thinking of picking up a copy of The Snow Leopard by Matthiessen for when I'm done with my current book. Has anyone read it?

Also, has anyone read Emeral Mile by Kevin Fedarko? I'm about 3/4 through and it's been excellent so far.

Emerald Mile is on my nightstand waiting to be read. I picked it up after I heard the author on the "Dirtbag Diaries" podcast (which is pretty good stuff if you're into the whole podcast thing).

 

[Vegan.Hiker]

Emerald Mile is on my nightstand waiting to be read. I picked it up after I heard the author on the "Dirtbag Diaries" podcast (which is pretty good stuff if you're into the whole podcast thing).

I'm loving Emerald Mile. Most books that give a lot of historical background are told in a dry, matter of fact manner, but Fedarko does an awesome job of really making all of the characters come to life and making you feel like you are in the middle of it all, witnessing the events of history.

I know @Nick picked up a copy as well. Can't wait to discuss this one with you guys.

... and the BCP Book Club was born : )

 

[Wyatt Carson]

I'm thinking of picking up a copy of The Snow Leopard by Matthiessen for when I'm done with my current book. Has anyone read it?

The Snow Leopard and the hunt for the Blue Sheep is an amazing book. I read it long ago but the mountain passes and the guides wearing tennis shoes as well as once of the "eating scenes" where they finally were able to get some potatoes in one of those high villages closing down for the winter with few supplies, they baked them in the coals with yak butter. It is a very good read on several levels.

I recently picked up a copy of Kerouac's "On the Road", but haven't had time to get far into it yet. Not outdoor adventure, but along the lines of adventure I'm usually looking for.

If you can get yours hands on The Original Scroll for On the Road, that is really something, the stream of consciousness writing that old mad Jack originally envisioned before they had him edit the book for ten years, after which it was finally published. As you say, hiking it is not but a great American road trip is what it is.

But if you like hiking and backpacking you are in luck. Kerouac's The Dharma Bums is really outstanding. It is the era where Jack's friend, Gary Snyder takes him backpacking for his very first time and gets him hooked. They go up into a spot in Yosemite, climb with rucksacks, make camp up high, make tabouli, chocolate pudding and tea (another great food scene) and climb some more. He later takes Jack backpacking along the coast where Jack London used to hike. He helps him get his own kit, a good gear sequence. They did this back in the early 1950s if I recall right. On the Road was in the late '40s I think.

 

[Vegan.Hiker]

Tabouli up in Yosemite... I like the sound of that.

 

[Wyatt Carson]

You might be able to tell, I like the food scenes in books and memorable movies too.

From the book: “He took his bulgur rough cracked wheat and dumped a couple of packages of dried vegetables in and put it all in the pot to be ready to be boiled at dusk.”, tabouli in current speak with some spices and vinegar which Jack may have missed. Gary also had raisins and peanuts for their quick trail food so GORP was already a standard which makes sense, lots of go power in a quick snack.

It was fun following his directions to find exactly where they were in Yosemite and follow their route fairly close. They ended up climbing a peak called the Matterhorn that is really on the map. I believe Bridgeport was the nearest town and they parked at Twin Lakes where they set out.

 

[Mike K]

I've been reading a lot more recently and decided to peruse some of your recommendations. I've read some of the ones mentioned here and I plan on reading some of the ones you guys have talked about. Here are the ones that appealed to me (I didn't do too much research):

1) Mountaineering in the Sierras - .99 on Amazon (Kindle), sounds fun
2) The Last Season
3) Wild - I hope I like this...not sure it'll be down my alley
4) Slickrock Paradox - I think the name hooked me
5) Emerald Mile - many of you rave about this one. =)

A few others that I've read and enjoyed that I didn't see mentioned here are:

1) Skeletons on the Zahara
2) White Fang - A classic. Free (Kindle Unlimited/Amazon)
3) Endurance (Shackleton)
4) Between a Rock and a Hard Place - Didn't LOVE it, but was pretty good.
5) Undaunted Courage
6) Westerns - I always enjoy reading westerns while in the backcountry - L'Amour and Johnstone are the western authors I'm familiar with and enjoy. Simple plots. Good guy wins.

 

[mak1277]

@Mike K thanks. If nothing else thanks for the heads up on White Fang being free on Kindle!

Unrelated, I often get momentarily confused when you post because I'm Mike K too.

 

[Vegan.Hiker]

@Mike K, I picked up The Last Season a while ago but just started it the other day, really enjoying it so far. Regarding Wild, I know it sounds cliche, but imo the book is definitely worth reading, but pass on the movie which doesn't do the book any justice. And yes, Emerald Mile is great. It's historical (yet poetic) whereas Wild is an interesting personal memoir. I'd be interested in hearing what you read and what your thoughts are.

Has anyone read any of the Bill Walker (Skywalker) books? I enjoyed the AT one, then felt compelled to read the PCT one (at which point his personality finally started to grate on me) but pushed through it to the anticlimactic ending, now I'm reading the one on the Annapurna circuit which is only mildly entertaining. I'm trying to decide whether to cut bait on this doofus or push on and read his El Camino de Santiago book just to complete his catalogue.

 

[Mike K]

Regarding Wild, I know it sounds cliche, but imo the book is definitely worth reading, but pass on the movie which doesn't do the book any justice. And yes, Emerald Mile is great. It's historical (yet poetic) whereas Wild is an interesting personal memoir. I'd be interested in hearing what you read and what your thoughts are

*Sigh* I tried reading Wild but couldn't push through it (made it 27% of the way through). I know you and many others enjoyed it but it just wasn't resonating with me. I'm probably in the minority on this one.

Out of the 6 I listed above, I'll probably try Mountaineering in the Sierras next. I'm currently reading The Power of Habit. =)

 

[Dan_85]

I picked up a cheap second hand copy of "Sunk Without a Sound" today as reading material for a few upcoming flights. Anyone read it? I know of the general story of the disappearance of Glen and Bessie Hyde but am not familiar with the details. Looking forward to reading it!

The mystery of Glen and Bessie Hyde is whitewater navigation's equivalent to Mallory and Irvine's disappearance on Everest in 1924. Just four years later in October 1928, the Hydes, a bright, attractive, and talented young couple built their own wooden sweep scow and launched on a honeymoon voyage down the Green and Colorado Rivers through Grand Canyon. Bessie was the first woman to ever attempt the river. Halfway through Grand Canyon they talked to the press, then disappeared into the gloomy November depths of the gorge. They were never seen again.

Despite an extensive series of searches, no trace was found except, eerily, their boat: upright, intact, fully loaded, and snagged in calm water. Glen and Bessie had vanished without a trace. For the next seven decades their tale evolved from simple facts to convoluted folklore and myth. A woman appeared on a river trip in 1971 claiming to be Bessie, having murdered Glen and hiked out. In 1976 a skeleton was found at Grand Canyon with a bullet through the skull. Size, age and circumstance suggested it was the body of Glen Hyde. In 1985 a woman surfaced with a tale of her father, Glenn Hyde, who had disappeared in 1928, but reappeared seven years later with tales of having rafted rivers. He said he had attempted the Colorado through Grand Canyon but "it didn't work out." And he carried a scar on his back from a knife wound, delivered by a woman named Bessie. And in 1992, when Georgie Clark, the most famous of all river runners, died, her past was discovered to be pure fiction. She had been born Bessie, and her lingerie drawer held a marriage record for Glen and Bessie Hyde. And a pistol.

Author and boatman Brad Dimock tackled this story with an obsession, tracking each clue, lead, and rumor, even going to the extreme of building a replica of the Hydes' archaic sweep scow for a harrowing journey through Grand Canyon with his own bride.

 

[Outdoor_Fool]

Dharma Bums (as mentioned previously) is outstanding. His descriptions of hiking in the Sierras made me feel like I was there. Loved On the Road also.
Osborne Russell's Journal of a Trapper is an outstanding account of a "mountain man's" life. It is written as a journal, no long flowing sentences or paragraphs, just the way it was.
Anything Edward Abbey -- Desert Solitaire, Down the River, etc.
Grizzly Years by Doug Peacock.
In the Shining Mountains by David Thomson.
Jedediah Smith and the Opening of the West by Dale L Morgan. Another great account of the beaver trapping era.

I did not like Bryson's AT book at all. Seemed like a yuppie out for a shallow story.