Rating: 
Summary: Not a Romantic Depiction
Review: The author does a wonderful job of bringing to light the environmental issues surrounding not only the AT, but what is occurring in all wilderness areas around the world. I found the book informative and interesting. It lacks the humorous wit of Bryson's "Walk in the Woods", but the author speaks in her own voice, and I'm sure she did not intend to produce a book that was to be placed side-by-side with Bryson's. She may not have spent a great deal of time explaining the fundamental changes that occurred to her during the hike, but I think her voice is loud and clear when it comes to getting a feel for the emotional highs and lows that a hiker goes through during the journey. I had a romantic vision of the trail until I read this book, and now I understand that to undertake such an adventure as hiking the entire trail is not something to take lightly. It has made me reconsider my own plans for hiking the trail and what my true motivation is for taking on such a task. I enjoyed the book, and often times felt like I was on the trail with the author.
Rating: 
Summary: Good writing, not as good story-telling
Review: The author skillfully weaves between accounts of trail experiences and descriptions of the trail's history, preservation issues and features of the environment. I got this book from the library hoping to read an account of what it is like to hike the trail, so I somewhat enjoyed the very few descriptions of actual trail life. Still, these portions were not as well written as the more "factual" informative sections, and were really outnumbered, and so I found it all pretty dry and her trip fairly uninteresting. My recommendation for a good travel book is "Homelands..." by Byron Ricks. It's about kayaking and you feel like you're there.
Rating: 
Summary: Diary of a narrow-minded and dependent hiker
Review: This woman did no planning and barely participated in the hike. She gives a lengthy account of a "left plenty of trace" AT hike loaded with tedious editorial opinions. Do yourself a favor and forego this book in favor of Jean Deeds "There Are Mountains To Climb".
Rating:
Summary: A better AT travelogue is easy to find
Review: Unless you read "A Journey North" from a tent, and unless that tent happens to be your permanent home, you are likely to get the impression that Adrienne Hall holds you at least indirectly responsible for the current condition of our environment. Nearly half the pages of this travelogue are dedicated to showing how the fate of "Goddess Earth" is in the cold hands of a patriarchal society. So, if mystical liberalism is your bag, grab a copy of this book. Read how not to hike the Appalachian Trail: don't start in mid-February with a three-season sleeping bag, don't pack a floorless teepee at the height of bug season, and don't hop a bus and skip 50 miles of Trail when discouraged by Massachusetts mud. Read a clutter of ramblings relating not at all to the AT or even hiking. She writes that some cultures believe lesbians can communicate with the Other World, and another culture believes that rheumatism is actually man's punishment for killing deer. I have tremendous admiration for all who even attempt to hike the entire Appalachian Trail. It is a mental and physical challenge even to the most avid hiker, and the decision to be an AT thru-hiker requires putting one's life on hold for four or five months. However, Hall's humorless and whining account is unlikely to inspire anyone to take to the Trail. And, while Ms. Hall drones on about Nature being wounded from overpopulation and overdevelopment, she sure enjoys escaping the Trail to a warm motel room and takeout pizza. A disappointing read.
Rating:
Summary: Tries to do all and fails
Review: Very few women hike the AT (and this author didn't hike the whole thing: see page 138), but a disproportionate number of them write books about it. Thats fine, and so they should. This is a book more about life with a boy friend on a sort-of-adventure and less about hiking.
It does have an interesting, if standard, medley of stories about the AT and various enviro-political issues that surround it. Unlike other reviewers, I found them interesting. But for those kind of vignettes, a few footnotes, references or a bibliography would have been helpful. They did seem to take up a few too many pages, and after awhile, I was longing to get back to the trail.
Most of us who read AT books look for details of equipment, what works and what doesn't and under what conditions. Not much of that here. Ms. Hall does capture the challenges, but not much about the solutions. And less about the good times. Most hikers hike for the fun, not the misery. Miserable times are those we grit our teeth during, between the fun parts! (Yeah, I know; sometimes its hard to tell them apart).
All in all, if you're a collector of AT books, you probably need this one, but if you're looking for a solid 'how to' book, there are better. This one belongs alongside the one with the bear on the cover.
Rating:
Summary: AT Lite, not bad, but there are better..
Review: Very few women hike the AT (and this author didn't hike the whole thing: see page 138), but a disproportionate number of them write books about it. Thats fine, and so they should. This is a book more about life with a boy friend on a sort-of-adventure and less about hiking.
It does have an interesting, if standard, medley of stories about the AT and various enviro-political issues that surround it. Unlike other reviewers, I found them interesting. But for those kind of vignettes, a few footnotes, references or a bibliography would have been helpful. They did seem to take up a few too many pages, and after awhile, I was longing to get back to the trail.
Most of us who read AT books look for details of equipment, what works and what doesn't and under what conditions. Not much of that here. Ms. Hall does capture the challenges, but not much about the solutions. And less about the good times. Most hikers hike for the fun, not the misery. Miserable times are those we grit our teeth during, between the fun parts! (Yeah, I know; sometimes its hard to tell them apart).
All in all, if you're a collector of AT books, you probably need this one, but if you're looking for a solid 'how to' book, there are better. This one belongs alongside the one with the bear on the cover.
Rating:
Summary: what she brought back
Review: well, i was hoping to experience the appalachian trail through a woman's eyes. i had read a couple of books about hiking the trail written by guys and there was often this 'what's she doing here' attitude when they discribed the rare woman hiker. like, only grandma gateway had a right to hike, and only because she did it in such an unusual way. but this book is not really a journal of a woman thru-hiking the a.t.. it's a collection of environmental essays about how this woman feels about preserving the wilderness using the hike as a backdrop. but i figured, hey, i'm just the armchair hiker here, SHE actually did it. so whatever book she was inspired to write, i'll read it. well, reading addriene's book gave me an idea of what i'd be like if i ever actually tried hiking the trail. yup, it wouldn't take me long to weasel out of white blazing and skip right to blue and even yellow just to get to the next place faster and easier. because at first i read every single essay. and they are very informative and well researched essays. and truly from her heart. but they did go on and on. and after a few chapters, whenever the writer would head off the trail and onto the soapbox, yep, i'd start page skipping to get back to the hike. but however you choose to read this book, it is an important work. this generation needs its rachel carsons. and even though her message about protecting the wilderness would have been more effective if she had spent more time taking the reader into these last, wild places that she loves so much, i recommend this book. and, hey, she hiked over 2,000 miles. she did it!
Rating:
Summary: Don't buy it, trust me
Review: When I purchased this book I was expecting a story of a woman and her boyfriend dealing with the trials and tribulations of hiking the Appalachian Trail. What I found when I read this book though was that this book has very little to do with hiking the Appalachian Trail and more to do with the author preaching to us that humans are evil money hungry mongrels out to destroy everything that is good and free in nature. It is not only that this book is constantly preaching to the reader about the ecology or promoting new age theology (we are one with nature), but this book extremely POORLY written. The author is constantly changing subjects from paragraph to paragraph using horrible transitions that make it read like a middle school term paper. To be fair there are some glimpses in this book that are amusing and fun to read but on the whole it is a pretty bad book. I would suggest to someone who is interested in reading about a thru-hike experience that they not buy this book, you would be better served by going to a great outdoor recreational wep page and reading their trail journals for free.
Rating:
Summary: Skip Over the Pontificating and It Is a Good Read
Review: When the author stays focused on describing the trip it is an entertaining book. Unfortunately, she spends too much time ranting about environmental issues. And this review is coming from a lifelong Democrat who believes strongly in protecting the environment. However, these sections are very segmented so that you just skip right over them and get back to the story.
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