FEATURED BOOK
May 1, 2008
At last, a book-length memoir of a Florida Trail thruhike :
Molloy, Johnny. Hiking the Florida Trail: 1,100 Miles, 78 Days, Two Pairs of Boots, and One Heck of an Adventure.
Here are some reviews:
Susan Cocking in the Miami Herald on 2/10/08:
Johnny Molloy traveled through Florida at something slightly faster than a snail’s pace, but he didn’t seem to miss too much on a trek through the state that he recounts in a recently published book. In “Hiking the Florida Trail: 1,100 Miles, 78 Days, Two Pairs of Boots and One Heck of an Adventure” (University Press of Florida, Gainesville, 224 pages, $19.95) Molloy takes us along as he slogs through swamps, camps along scenic rivers and gets to see little known natural gems on his way from Big Cypress Swamp to the outskirts of Pensacola.
Molloy, the author of a number of outdoor adventure guides, followed the Florida Trail, a statewide trail system that is still a work in progress - some segments still run along highways - that meanders through a mosaic of public and private lands (the private lands are open only to Florida Trail Association members). This is what is known in hiking parlance as a “through hike,” which means doing the entire route rather than segments that can be handled in a day or two. Molloy makes it clear this is not a hike for the inexperienced or the soft. “When you are going on a long-distance hike, you must extend your discomfort tolerance range,” he wrote. It is a matter of enduring cold and wet weather, uncomfortable sleeping conditions and unexciting food choices. …
But it’s not all hardship. He meets friendly and helpful people. He learns something about Florida’s history and culture. He sees neat stuff. He recounted a stop at a place called Shepherd Spring in the Panhandle, a beautiful blue spring boil that’s only accessible by hiking miles through the wilderness. It was worth the price of admission.
Molloy’s work, which is illustrated with a few black-and-white photos, is a well-written account of a great modern Florida adventure that some us might want to emulate in part if not in whole. He provides enough details to give us a sense of place without getting bogged down in the details of every footstep, side trail or campsite. The book will certainly be a hit within the hiking community, but anyone interested in Florida’s natural history may come away with a tidbit here and there that will be new and probably a lot more satisfying than gagmeal (Molloy’s term for instant oatmeal).”
Mark Davis in the Daytona Beach NewsJournal on 4/13/08:
“Johnny Molloy loves adventure. An avid outdoorsman who loves to hike and canoe, he has written more than 30 guidebooks and narratives about his adventures. His latest involved a Herculean task in 2006 — hiking all 1,100 miles of the Florida Trail consecutively. That’s no misprint; he hiked 78 days from South Florida to the edge of the Panhandle in one fell swoop, camping most of the way.
In “Hiking the Florida Trail: 1,100 Miles, 78 Days, Two Pairs of Boots, and One Heck of an Adventure,” Molloy recounts how he survived the trek that lasted from mid-January to early April two years ago. He battled wildlife (mainly insects), swampy land, storms, hunger, quirky humans and poor directions. Despite up-to-date maps, he got lost numerous times but always found his way back. Why did he choose such an unorthodox excursion? “Because of the freedom and quiet beauty; the rich mix of natural landscapes; the close portrait of hurricane sculpting; the bursting exuberance of spring; and the pleasure of having all you can see entirely to yourself,” he concludes….
“Hiking the Florida Trail” is a must-read for Florida hikers. It’s informative and mildly entertaining for those interested in the outdoors. Because he spends so much time alone, Molloy doesn’t run into very many interesting characters, an element that could’ve enlivened his book. The narrative often becomes a routine exercise of “I got up early, heard the birds sing, made coffee and started hiking through pine scrub forests.” In addition, there were no major disasters along the way — i.e., Chris McCandless in “Into the Wild” (slow death) or Aaron Ralston in “Between a Rock and a Hard Place” (severed arm and almost bleeding to death). Lacking such drama, Molloy’s book won’t pitch a tent on the best-seller charts. But he makes a unique and meaningful contribution to Florida outdoor adventure stories.”
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March 1, 2008
This book is definitely a winner:
Egbert, Barbara. Zero Days: The Real-Life Adventure of Captain Bligh, Nelly Bly, and Ten-Year-Old Scrambler on the Pacific Crest Trail.
It’s an entertaining, informative, and expertly-written account of a family who thruhiked the PCT. Not only is the story of their hike well told, but all aspects of PCT hiking are skillfully interwoven into the tale.
“In April 2004, Barbara Egbert and Gary Chambers began a six-month journey to hike the length of the Pacific Crest Trail with their precocious 10-year-old daughter, Mary. That October, Mary became the youngest person ever to successfully walk the 2,650-mile route from Mexico to Canada.
Zero Days is the tale of a family adventure that required love, perseverance, and the careful rationing of toilet paper. The trio, who adopted the trail names Captain Bligh (Gary), Nellie Bly (Barbara), and Scrambler (Mary), hiked for 168 days and took a total of nine “zero days”—days off from hiking, so-called because the backpacker travels zero mileage on the trail itself that day. In addition to weaving an engaging narrative, Barbara incorporates actual pages and drawing from 10-year-old Mary’s journal.
Along the way, they weathered the heat of the Mojave, the jagged peaks of the Sierra, the rain of Oregon (and paradoxically the lack of water sources there), and the final long, cold stretch of the Northern Cascades to Canada. They met trail angels like the Dinsmores and their salty-mouthed parrot, Topper. And they discovered which family values, from love and equality to thrift and cleanliness, could withstand shin splints, an abscessed tooth, aching legs, failing knees, bad water—and a long, narrow trail and 137 nights together in a 6-by-8-foot tent.
If you have ever endeavored to go the distance on a big thru-hike, you will pick up tidbits of wisdom, practical advice, and humor from this well-told story of one family’s epic journey. Or, if you simply like to read about the adventures of others who walk in the woods, you’ll enjoy the saga of Mary’s—and her parent’s—remarkable journey.
In a genre mostly full of adventure narratives about the hardiest of mountain men, this story of 10-year-old Scrambler and her 50-something parents hiking 2650 miles together inspire readers to dream about and plan their own epic journey.” [Wilderness Press]
About the Author “Barbara Egbert, a.k.a. Nellie Bly, is an experienced hiker, backpacker, and travel writer. An English major (and proud of it!), she has worked in print journalism for more than 30 years. She lives with her husband, Gary Chambers (Captain Bligh), and daughter, Mary (the famous Scrambler), in the San Francisco Bay Area.”[amazon.com]
You can read sample pages at books.google.com by clicking here: http://tinyurl.com/3c6aae
An article about the book, by the author herself, is at: http://newsguild.org/gr/index.php?ID=4892
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February 1, 2008
The second book to be featured is another personal favorite, written by an excellent author, Jan “Liteshoe” Leitschuch. This one is about a thruhike of Vermont’s Long Trail.
Leitschuh, Jan. The Ordinary Adventurer: Hiking Vermont’s Long Trail: A Primer for Baby Adventurers, and Other Musings on the Nature of the Journey. Titusville, Fla.: Jerelyn Press, 2007.
Jeffrey Hunter, American Hiking Society’s Southeast Trail Programs Director, has written the best review of Jan’s book that I’ve seen so far:
“Truth be told I’m not particularly fond of reading most hiker journals. You know the type I’m referring to. “I woke up, cooked breakfast, started hiking at 8 AM, saw a bear at 11 AM, my feet hurt, it’s cold and raining, I have a blister, I’m running low on Snicker bars, I reached camp at 7 PM, I cooked dinner and fell asleep.”
Then there is the rare hiker who has the skill and insight to capture the essence of the hiking experience, and distill that experience into words that makes the reader crave for more. Such is the case with Jan “Liteshoe” Leitschuh.
Jan is well known in long distance hiking circles for her excellent journal from her 2003 Appalachian Trail thru-hike. Her journal remains one of the most popular on Trailjournals.com, and for good reason. She is a gifted and talented writer…”
Read the rest of the review >> http://americanhiking.chattablogs.com/archives/065259.html
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January 1, 2008
The first book I’ve selected for this new feature is one of the few A. T. memoirs written by a real author, and it’s a gem.
McKinney, Rick. Dead Men Hike No Trails.
What readers have said:
“This is probably the most painfully honest writing you’ll ever read. McKinney isn’t a writer that crafts phrases intentionally designed to make you feel or think one way or another. He simply creates a virtual verbal connection between his seriously warped mind (and I mean that in a good way) and his keyboard. You don’t just take a trip with him along the Appalachian Trail, you take a trip through the heights and depths of his soul. It’s as hard to describe the content of the book as it is to categorize it. Equal parts travel journal, private diary and whimsical commentary, this book will thrill you on one page, annoy you on another, amuse you and anger you on still others. Put simply, reading this book is like traveling with McKinney on his 2,000-mile hike: he’ll get on your nerves from time to time, but you’ll have an unforgettable experience.”
“It is a sweet, melodious, painfully naked autobiography of a man haunted by demons; demons which may, or may not, be products of his own decisions in life. In this too fast, skillfully written, nonlinear narrative, the reader is taken on a ride in which we occasionally glimpse into the true complexities, joys, and doubts of the author’s own chaotic perception of himself.”
“Dead Men may be a hard book to categorize but its not hard to like. In fact Mckinney’s honest prose will involve you right from the start, almost as if you are sitting next to him in an AT Shelter, tying up your boot laces with him. This isnt a hiker manual or a self help book. Its more of a theraputic offering from Mckinney, one in which he struggles to find himself among nature and through the wilderness of America. Written with the same honest and open style as his weblog on Jigglebox.com he tells you like it is, from his point of view and from his take on life. Fighting off Depression and the sorrow of a lost friend he pushes no agenda and leaves it up to us the readers to decide how we cope with loss. This is Rick’s way, and it worked wonders for him. If you dont have the instant urge to Hike the AT after reading this work I applaud you for being so secure and content but some of us just have to fly. And fly he does. The friends, lovers and characters he meets along the way are so colorfull one wonders what classic Twain or Dickens book they escaped from. Yet here they are, full of life and most of all real. Dead Men wasnt a perfect journey, and Mckinney doesnt try to be a role model for those battling with their own inner demons. Yet he does what so few writers do. He serves up everything, the good the bad and the ugly and doesnt cheat the reader or preach to them.”
Here’s what the author had to say in his blog, earlier this month:
“I gotta tell you, there’s nothing worse than tooting your own horn. I HATE it when people do it to me, and I have never expected any agent or publisher or ANYONE to listen to my own promotion of my work. To my mind, the best recommendations are those that come from other people, two or three steps removed from the source.
Having said that, can I throw a little Christmas request out there into the Universe? I don’t want presents. I don’t need anything tangible. But for all of you who read Dead Men but never went online to review it on Amazon, how about it, eh? Even if you hated the dang book, write that! Write anything. Just review it. And don’t read the other reviews first. You’ll taint your own view. Write how it made you feel, what it did for you, where it took you, etc. I know it’s sold some 2000 copies, so it totally mystifies me as to why there are only 17 reviews on Amazon. Hell, as you’ll see below, I just wrote four “reviews” myself.
Be my good little elves. Be my Santa Clauses and Rudolphs! Click this paragraph to be taken straight there and just write something. Your opinion matters! Thank you.
Amazon.com tag words for Dead Men Hike No Trails:
Appalachian Trail Thruhike:
Several readers of this book have found it inspiring enough to launch thruhikes of their own. I speak based on fact, not ego, when I say EVERY reader of this book has expressed only praise. If the author didn’t continue to battle chemical depression, he’d have an agent, a publicist and a bestseller.
Bill Bryson:
When told I thruhiked the AT, people say: Bill Bryson. If you loved A Walk In The Woods for its humor, as I did, but are one who desires a more intimate relationship with your author, read my reviews. They say it all. I take you on an unforgettable journey in a book you’ll never want to part with.
Into the Wild:
This is required reading for anyone who felt a personal connection to the whole McCandless epic freedom journey. Why? Because it ends not in death but in LIFE! Thousands head into the forests of the U.S. every year for the same reasons as Chris, and months later they come home alive. Buy this book.”
So I thought I’d give his terrific book a little publicity. It deserves it. Go read the darn thing!