Hiking the Triple Crown: How to Hike America's Longest Trails

Read this book first. For one thing, someone considering a thru hike of one of the three major north/south trails of America has to decide which one, or at least which one first. This book provides a general overview of the those three trails, but in itself will not be sufficient to plan any of them. That's not a fatal flaw in that when you actually get ready to plan a specific trip, you would want to buy a single book dedicated to that hike that you could carry with you the whole of the trip. Really, my only criticism of it is that I wish it had more photos. Most of those that are in here are grainy black and whites that just don't do justice to their subject matter. I would have paid double for something a little more photo journalistic.

Excellent book for anyone planning a long distance hike or for anyone who dreams of adventure. Provides great background information of all three trails. A must read.

For those of us out there who dream of tackling one (or all!) of the triple crown trails, this book is an awesome resource. Karen Berger is realistic and frank yet encouraging in her advice to long-distance hikers. Berger's love of these magnificent trails is what makes this book--klike her other books, especially "Where the Waters Divide"-- shine; she obviously has a profound respect for these national treasures and realizes the importance of making others aware of them as well. It's easy to read, has some great photos, and offers shorter hikes to those less inclined to set off on a 6-month thru-hike. The book is useful as both a general hiking reference tool as well as in the planning stages, especially for the At and the PCT; it is also useful for those who wish to do shorter hikes on any of the triple crowns.

This is a fine overview of the three major hiking trails that criss-cross the United States. The major focus of the book is on the renowned Appalachian trail, with most of the text devoted to the AT. The Pacific Crest Trail has some useful information, though the chapters on this trail are shorter and less detailed. The Continental Divide Trail is given more sparse coverage, because the trail is not yet completed and is not attempted by very many hikers, except the very bravest souls.This book is recommended for people who are not in the immediate stages of planning a thru hike. If you're planning on tackling any of these trails, specific books on each individual trail is the way to go. There is too much general information here for those seriously considering a hike in the near future. This book is fine as an overview and to give you a sample feel of each hike, but is less successful for one planning a hike in the coming year.The writing is excellent and the book is riveting in sections. For all those obsessed with hiking any of the grand thru trails in America, this is an excellent and recommended resource.

"Hiking the Triple Crown" is an awesome volume. If you're not familiar with any of America's three great Wilderness trails, this is a head-first dive into refreshing waters.Even those who consider themselves pseudo-expert hikers, well-read on these thru-hikes (like myself), will find delightful insights when seeing them presented back-to-back-to-back like this. For example, many PCT- and CDT-hikers tend to refer to the Appalachian Trail as "that wussy trail back East" because of its shorter mileage, lower elevation, and the fact that you really don't need a map because of crowds and blazed markings. However, she explains that the AT is actually the most difficult of the three when it comes to frequent steep climbs and rocky footpaths. Having only hiked sections of the PCT and CDT myself, I never knew that. Ground-leveling comparisons like that (no pun intended) abound through the text.Being one of the few people ever to have finished the whole Triple Crown, Karen brings great perspective to the nature of America's greatest trails that few can claim to have. A fantastic book for anyone interested in ANY of these trails.