My wife’s grandmother was a New York City librarian, so reading while visiting my in-laws is not viewed as an anti-social activity by a grumpy son-in-law forced to spend the weekend in their boiling hot coop apartment. In viewing the book jacket …
Read More »Product Reviews
Short Stories from Long Trails, A Book Review
Known worldwide by his trail name “Trauma”, Justin Lichter and his hiking companion Pepper (Shawn Forry) were the first people to ever thru-hike the Pacific Crest Trail in winter. The story of that epic hike and many of Justin’s other long distance treks across …
Read More »The Essential Wilderness Navigator
I have been reading a lot of books about compass navigation this year to improve my skills as an off-trail navigator and to figure out if there is a better way to teach compass navigation to hikers who want to learn it. …
Read More »Backpacking and Adventure Books for Vacation Reading
The dog days of summer (when it’s so devastatingly hot that the dogs lie around and pant all day) are a great time to take it easy at the campsite and catch up on your summer reading with a cool drink in …
Read More »Book Review: The 4000 Footers of the White Mountains
If you like to climb 4000 footers in New Hampshire, I recommend you get yourself a copy of The 4000-Footers of the White Mountains. It’s co-authored by Steve Smith, a member of the AMC Four Thousand Footer Committee and co-editor of the …
Read More »Backpacking the NPT: The Allure of Deep Woods
What’s the best way to experience the Wilderness? That’s one of the recurring themes in Walt Mclaughlin’s new book about hiking the Northville-Placid Trail (NPT) in New York’s Adirondack Park. Like most of us, Walt can’t take off whenever he feels like …
Read More »Backwoods Ethics: A Guide to Low-Impact Camping and Hiking
Backwoods Ethics is one of my favorite hiking and outdoor conservation books. Written by two legendary New England hikers, Laura and the late Guy Waterman, it was first published in 1979 and is still considered a cornerstone of the outdoor conservation and Leave No …
Read More »Forest and Crag by Laura and Guy Waterman
Forest and Crag by Guy and Laura Waterman is considered to be the definitive history of hiking trail development in New England. It chronicles the development of the trail systems we have today in the White Mountains, The Adirondacks, Catskills and Vermont …
Read More »The Trans Adirondack Route Guidebook and Map Set
Wouldn’t it be great if you could hike a long-distance wilderness route, hundreds of miles long, inside the United States without having to travel all the way to Alaska? Now you can and there’s even a guidebook for it called Blue Line …
Read More »Trail Tested – Justin Lichter’s Backpacking Gear Book
Wow! Justin Lichter, uber long-distance hiker, has published a book called Trail Tested which is a must-add gear guide for your backpacking book collection. It’s super readable and an excellent reference for beginners backpackers who are trying to figure out what gear …
Read More »Book Review: Chris Townsend’s Rattlesnakes and Bald Eagles: Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail
Eleven thru-hikers completed the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) in 1982, and Chris Townsend was one of them. Inspired by the writings of John Muir and Colin Fletcher, Chris journeyed from the United Kingdom to experience the American wilderness, hiking through desert, forest, and …
Read More »Book Review: Ray Mears Essential Bushcraft
You’ll probably never use most of the stuff in Ray Mears Essential Bushcraft: A Handbook of Survival Skills from Around the World, but it is fascinating to see the ingenuity of people from around the world and they utilize nature to increase …
Read More »Book Review: The Backpacker’s Field Manual
The Backpacker’s Field Manual, A Comprehensive Guide to Mastering Backcountry Skills is still the most complete and readable handbook of backpacking instruction available today. Written by Rick Curtis, Director of Princeton University’s Famous Outdoor Recreation Program, it provides a gear-agnostic approach to the skills …
Read More »Dick Proenneke Builds a Log Cabin in Alaska
If you’ve never seen Dick Proenneke’s movie Alone in the Wilderness, you need to watch these two videos. It’s the story of a mechanic turned naturalist, who retired at age 50, and went to Alaska to live alone in the wilderness for …
Read More »