A Journey North: One woman's story of hiking the Appalachian Trail

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: 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!