Download or read book The Spirit of the Appalachian Trail written by Susan Power Bratton and published by Univ. of Tennessee Press. This book was released on 2012-05-30 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Want to know what wilderness means to people who live it for over two thousand miles? Then read this extremely interesting, informative, intelligent, and thoughtful book.” —Roger S. Gottlieb, author of Engaging Voices: Tales of Morality and Meaning in an Age of Global Warming “There is no doubt that Bratton’s book will be of value to students and scholars of leisure studies, recreation, and religion. Those who are familiar with the Appalachian Trail sense intuitively that a journey along its length kindles spiritual awakening; this book provides the hard data to prove it’s true.” —David Brill, author of As Far as the Eye Can See: Reflections of an Appalachian Trail Hiker The Appalachian Trail covers 2,180 miles, passing through fourteen states from Georgia to Maine. Each year, an estimated 2–3 million people visit the trail, and almost two thousand attempt a “thru-hike,” walking the entire distance of the path. For many, the journey transcends a mere walk in the woods and becomes a modern-day pilgrimage. In The Spirit of the Appalachian Trail: Community, Environment, and Belief, Susan Power Bratton addresses the spiritual dimensions of hiking the Appalachian Trail (AT). Hikers often comment on how their experience as thru-hikers changes them spiritually forever, but this is the first study to evaluate these religious or quasireligious claims critically. Rather than ask if wilderness and outdoor recreation have benefits for the soul, this volume investigates specifically how long-distance walking might enhance both body and mind. Most who are familiar with the AT sense intuitively that a trek along its length kindles spiritual awakening. Using both a quantitative and qualitative approach, this book provides the hard data to support this notion. Bratton bases her work on five sources: an exhaustive survey of long-distance AT hikers, published trail diaries and memoirs, hikers? own logs and postings, her own personal observations from many years on the trail, and conversations with numerous members of the AT community, including the “trail angels,” residents of small towns along the path who attend to hikers? need for food, shelter, or medical attention. The abundant photographs reinforce the text and enable visualization of the cultural and natural context. This volume is fully indexed with extensive reference and notes sections and detailed appendixes. Written in an engaging and accessible style, The Spirit of the Appalachian Trail presents a full picture of the spirituality of the AT. Susan Power Bratton is professor of environmental studies. She is the author of Six Billion and More: Human Population Regulation and Christian Ethics, Environmental Values in Christian Art, and Christianity, Wilderness, and Wildlife: The Original Desert Solitaire.
Download or read book Push on written by Niki Rellon and published by . This book was released on 2018-03-17 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Niki Rellon fell 45 feet from the side of a Utah mountain in 2013, she thought she was going to die. She didn't, but the devastating injuries she suffered may well have put an end to her thrill-seeking outdoor lifestyle.
Download or read book The Spirit of the Appalachian Trail written by Susan Power Bratton and published by Univ Tennessee Press. This book was released on 2015-08-15 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Appalachian Trail covers 2,180 miles, passing through fourteen states from Georgia to Maine. Each year, an estimated 2-3 million people visit the trail, and almost two thousand attempt a "thru-hike," walking the entire distance of the path. For many, the journey transcends a mere walk in the woods and becomes a modern-day pilgrimage. In this thought-provoking book, Susan Power Bratton addresses the spiritual dimensions of hiking the Appalachian Trail (AT). Hikers often comment on how their experience as thru-hikers changes them spiritually forever, but this is the first study to evaluate these religious or quasireligious claims critically. Rather than ask if wilderness and outdoor recreation have benefits for the soul, this volume uses both a quantitative and qualitative approach to investigate specifically how long-distance walking might enhance both body and mind. Bratton bases her work on five sources: an exhaustive survey of long-distance AT hikers, published trail diaries and memoirs, hikers' own logs and postings, her own personal observations from many years on the trail, and conversations with numerous members of the AT community, including the "trail angels," residents of small towns along the path who attend to hikers' need for food, shelter, or medical attention. The abundant photographs reinforce the text and enable visualization of the cultural and natural context. This volume is fully indexed with extensive reference and notes sections and detailed appendixes. Written in an engaging and accessible style, The Spirit of the Appalachian Trail presents a full picture of the spirituality of the AT."--Jacket.
Download or read book Waking Up On the Appalachian Trail written by N B Hankes and published by . This book was released on 2020-04-11 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nate Hankes returned home from his tour in Iraq unable to answer one simple question: Had his mission overseas been honorable? Determined to find clarity and forge a new identity outside of the U.S. Army, Nate, alongside his brother Ben, a recent college grad delaying his entry into the Great Recession job market, set out to hike the entire length of the 2,180 mile Appalachian Trail. Unpredictable weather, brutal terrain, straining health, and a fractured mind stretched beyond comfort by a wise but imperfect hiking companion turn this walk in the woods into an adventure of body, mind, and spirit. And in a world gone mad, this coming-of-age story reminds us that true clarity and peace can only be found within. Advanced Praise: "Like Cheryl Strayed's Wild, Waking Up On the Appalachian Trail is a tale of transformation and emergence from trauma and confusion into something closer to insight and clarity. Hankes writes from the heart, and his story is both powerful and important. I hope this book finds the large, passionate audience it deserves."-Chris Ryan, Ph. D., author of Civilized to Death: The Price of Progress and host of the Tangentially Speaking podcast. "There are two battlefields described in Waking Up On the Appalachian Trail-one in Iraq and the other within the human heart and mind. Nate Hankes' memoir is the perfect metaphor for the path that leads each of us from ignorance, fear, and suffering to true freedom, reconciliation, and awakening. This book will change your life."-Darren Main, author of Yoga and the Path of the Urban Mystic "In his courageous exploration and dogged determination to make sense of his young life as an Iraq war combat veteran, Nathan Hankes offers us the raw, honest, and gritty perspective of one who is willing to question everything in the service of living a connected, empathic and meaningful life." -Heidi Bourne, Mindfulness Educator & Consultant, Pacific Mindfulness "Tim O'Brien wrote in his novel about Vietnam, The Things They Carried, 'A true war is never moral.' Nathan Hankes reminds us of that, but shows us there is a way forward: By bravely seeking truth, one step at a time, to understanding and redemption."-Kevin Sites, author of The Things They Cannot Say: Stories Soldiers Won't Tell You About What They've Seen, Done, or Failed to Do in War "Waking Up On the Appalachian Trail is a deeply personal and powerful tale of a young veteran's journey to understand his role in America's post-9/11 wars. This unique coming-of-age story is an incredible encapsulation of young peoples' general disillusionment with American exceptionalism and the frustration that comes from questioning the status quo. I can't wait to see where Nathan goes next."-Allegra Harpootlian, ReThink Media
Download or read book A Walk in the Woods written by Bill Bryson and published by Anchor Canada. This book was released on 2012-05-15 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Grandma Gatewood s Walk written by Ben Montgomery and published by Chicago Review Press. This book was released on 2014-04-01 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the 2014 National Outdoor Book Awards for History/Biography Emma Gatewood told her family she was going on a walk and left her small Ohio hometown with a change of clothes and less than two hundred dollars. The next anybody heard from her, this genteel, farm-reared, 67-year-old great-grandmother had walked 800 miles along the 2,050-mile Appalachian Trail. And in September 1955, having survived a rattlesnake strike, two hurricanes, and a run-in with gangsters from Harlem, she stood atop Maine's Mount Katahdin. There she sang the first verse of "America, the Beautiful" and proclaimed, "I said I'll do it, and I've done it." Grandma Gatewood, as the reporters called her, became the first woman to hike the entire Appalachian Trail alone, as well as the first person—man or woman—to walk it twice and three times. Gatewood became a hiking celebrity and appeared on TV and in the pages of Sports Illustrated. The public attention she brought to the little-known footpath was unprecedented. Her vocal criticism of the lousy, difficult stretches led to bolstered maintenance, and very likely saved the trail from extinction. Author Ben Montgomery was given unprecedented access to Gatewood's own diaries, trail journals, and correspondence, and interviewed surviving family members and those she met along her hike, all to answer the question so many asked: Why did she do it? The story of Grandma Gatewood will inspire readers of all ages by illustrating the full power of human spirit and determination. Even those who know of Gatewood don't know the full story—a story of triumph from pain, rebellion from brutality, hope from suffering.
Download or read book Over the Misty Mountains Spirit of Appalachia Book 1 written by Gilbert Morris and published by Baker Books. This book was released on 1997-02-01 with total page 395 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New Historical Fiction Series From an Exciting New Team! When Aaron McCarver met Gilbert Morris at the CBA convention in 1991, he never dreamed that those initial discussions would ultimately lead to his conceiving a historical fiction series that he would write with Gilbert Morris. THE SPRIT OF APPALACHIA chronicles the story of the settlers of America's first frontier--the lands over the Appalachian mountains--and of faith that carried them through the harshest of times. Over the Misty Mountains is the story of Hawk Spencer, a man whose bitterness over the loss of his wife drives him from his home in Virginia and causes him to seek the frontier to escape his pain. Becoming a skilled trapper, Hawk is persuaded to lead a wagon train over the mountains before the snows come, but the trail is marked by sabotage from an old enemy of Hawk's. When renegade Indians attack the wagon train and leave Elizabeth MacNeal and her children without a husband, how will Hawk respond to Elizabeth's resilient faith in God? And how will the MacNeals survive the frontier settlement.
Download or read book Becoming Odyssa written by Jennifer Pharr Davis and published by . This book was released on 2011-07 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originally published in 2010 with the subtitle Epic adventures on the Appalachian Trail.
Download or read book Story Line written by Ian Marshall and published by University of Virginia Press. This book was released on 1998 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Weaving together stories of his hiking adventures with reflective explorations of literary works set along the Appalachian Trail, Marshall traces a literary geography of the trail that ranges from Georgia to Maine and spans three centuries.
Download or read book Awol on the Appalachian Trail written by David Miller and published by Wingspan Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Great Stories of Hiking the Appalachian Trail written by Debra Smith and published by Stackpole Books. This book was released on 2010-01-20 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stories of the original trailblazers and the first thruhikers. Reprinted from the out-of-print Rodale 2-volume Hiking the Appalachian Trail (1975). New foreword by Dave Startzell, executive director of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy.
Download or read book Walking with Spring written by Earl Victor Shaffer and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author's account of his four-month hike in 1948 of the entire length of the Appalachian Trail.
Download or read book North Finding My Way While Running the Appalachian Trail written by Scott Jurek and published by Random House. This book was released on 2018-04-12 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 2,200 miles. 47 days. One remarkable journey. In July 2015, ultramarathon legend Scott Jurek smashed the world record for running the Appalachian Trail, the sprawling mountain path that runs nearly the entire length of the United States. For nearly seven weeks straight, Jurek battled the elements to run, hike and stumble 50 miles every single day. A tale of mind-boggling physical exertion, pressure and endurance, North reveals the extraordinary lengths to which we can push our bodies and our minds. Instant New York Times Bestseller _____________ ‘Pure suspense, adventure, and inspiration . . . His story of plunging into the wilderness in pursuit of a dream is both heartwrenching and spellbinding.’ Christopher McDougall, author of Born to Run ‘Probably America’s greatest ever ultrarunner.’ Guardian ‘Scott Jurek’s record-setting journey on the Appalachian Trail was the most punishing, most demanding, most gruelling feat I’ve ever personally witnessed . . . An immersive and engaging book.’ Aron Ralston, author of 127 Hours ‘I’m a huge fan . . . North is tremendous.’ Vassos Alexander, BBC Radio 2 ‘Undoubtedly the greatest ultrarunner of his generation.’ Independent
Download or read book The Appalachian Trail written by Brian King and published by Rizzoli Publications. This book was released on 2012-09-25 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The only illustrated book officially published with the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, The Appalachian Trail explores this legendary footpath in detail: with a foreword by Bill Bryson and filled with more than 300 spectacular contemporary images, as well as unpublished historical photos, documents, and maps from the ATC archives. Once inspired by this wonderful celebration of the A.T., readers can plan their own hike using the removable and full-size copy of the official National Park Service’s map of the entire Appalachian Trail included inside each book. In celebration of the Appalachian Trail’s seventy-fifth anniversary, this official book documents in text and photos the history, beauty, and significance of America’s most iconic hiking trail. With fascinating essays on topics ranging from the trail’s history to the day-by-day hiking experience, this book is perfect for anyone interested in conservation, outdoor recreation, or American history, and for all those who dream of one day becoming thru-hikers themselves. Completed in 1937 by a small cadre of volunteers, the Appalachian Trail spans fourteen states, from Maine to Georgia, and is more than 2,000 miles long. Now, seventy-five years after its completion, the A.T. remains America’s premier hiking trail and is known as "the people’s path." Visitors from all over the world are drawn to the trail for a variety of reasons, whether to reconnect with nature and see its beauty and wildlife, or to challenge oneself—for two miles or 2,000. Out of three million annual visitors, almost 2,000 attempt each year to earn the distinction of "thru-hiker" by walking all five million footsteps in one continuous journey.
Download or read book When You Find My Body written by D. Dauphinee and published by Down East Books. This book was released on 2019-06-01 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Geraldine Largay vanished in July 2013, while hiking the Appalachian Trail in Maine. Her disappearance sparked the largest lost-person search in Maine history, which culminated in her being presumed dead. She was never again seen alive.
Download or read book When Grandma Gatewood Took a Hike written by Michelle Houts and published by Ohio University Press. This book was released on 2016-09-15 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It took her two tries, but in 1955, sixty-seven-year-old Emma “Grandma” Gatewood became the first woman to solo hike the entire length of the Appalachian Trail in one thru-hike. Gatewood, who left an abusive marriage after raising eleven children, has become a legend for those who hike the trail, and in her home state of Ohio, where she helped found the Buckeye Trail. In recent years, she has been the subject of a bestselling biography and a documentary film. In When Grandma Gatewood Took a Hike, Michelle Houts brings us the first children’s book about her feat, which she accomplished without professional gear or even a tent. Houts chronicles the spirit of a seasoned outdoorswoman and mother of eleven whose grit and determination helped her to hike over two thousand miles. Erica Magnus’s vibrant illustrations capture the wild animals, people from all walks of life, and unexpected challenges that this strong-willed woman encountered on the journey she initially called a “lark.” Children ages 4–10 will delight in this narrative nonfiction work as they accompany Emma Gatewood on the adventure of a lifetime and witness her transformation from grandmother to hiking legend, becoming “Grandma” to all.
Download or read book The Unlikely Thru Hiker written by Derick Lugo and published by Appalachian Mountain Club. This book was released on 2019 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
