Walking Home: A Woman's Pilgrimage on the Appalachian Trail

If you are looking for a book about the Appalachian Trail itself, there are much better books out there. However, if you want a book about the hiking experience and the people one meets out on the trail, this is the book for you. Like many of the hikers I met on the AT, Winters is propelled onto the trail by loss (e.g., the death of her father, a love relationship that went way wrong), and the consequent desire to locate home. (Hence, the title.) I have not read a more observant, telling, articulate narrative of long distance hiking. Purists might sniff at her rainbow blazing habits and the fact that she didn't finish the trail, but few will dismiss this book as insignificant. It is, in fact, a gem.

I'm embarrassed by how much I loved this book and how I've been gushing about it to anyone who'll listen. I've been reading about women on the Oregon Trail and women pioneers for years, but *this* is the book I've been looking for. Ms. Winters tells how she deliberately set off on pilgrimage, a time out from her life to figure out a bad relationship and clarify who she was and how she wanted to live her life. Plus she was looking for something undefinably more, something she couldn't quite put her finger on but would know when she found it. Her journey led her to take side trails and sometimes hitchhike. It slowed time down, making clocks less important than clouds. Other hikers found their peace by sticking to the established trail; she veered off when she needed to. She met other thruhikers covering a 2,000 mile inward journey - some sympathetic, some not -- as well as weekend hikers, hiker groupies, and those on the trail for their own, inscrutable reasons. She had to cope with scary rednecks from time to time, bad weather about every other day, dwindling food supplies every week, and illness. But though it's a gritty, tough trip, it comes across as a magical experience and was very much the fire that forged her. I was left hoping that everyone can have a deeply essential experience like that at some point in their lives, hiking or no.

This book is like a bow and arrow--read it and it will shoot you right out into adventure. Winters is incredibly honest and also funny. You'll feel like you hiked the AT yuorself by the time your done with this one. Ive hiked several sections of the AT and have never read a book that gets across the feeling of hiking and the people on the trail so well. If you want to know what its like to thruhike, read it. So what if she got off the trail in Maine? An earlier reviewer had a problem with that. I didnt because Winters has guts. She went out into the woods alone on a mission to change her life and it worked. So her hike was a success in my book. And I have to say, she's pretty tough especially for a woman. I know plenty of guys who dont have what it takes to hike alone.By the way I think the other reviwer (Candace) only skimmed it because she got a bunch of things wrong. Winters got off the trail in Maine, not the Whites, and it was obvious why. She wrecked her knees and couldn't walk one more step. I respect that. I once bailed out of a hike because of a sprained ankle, which Winters actually got in the middle of the trail, but she kept on going anyway. Also I'm a guy and I didn't get any kind of feeling that she has a problem with us. Anyone whos hiked knows there are some guys out there who are barely housebroken. Winters mentions them but she also mentions a lot of male heroes and friends on the hike. It seems balanced to me, just like real life. Some good, some bad, some in the middle.And my last thing is with Candaces comment that a solo woman on the trail is asking for disaster. That has nothing to do with the book. For sure Winters never says that. She deals with danger and makes it through and shes not letting anyone stop her, which is the right thing to do. She wanted a brand new life and she got one. If thats courting disaster then I hope I find some of that same kind of disaster on my next hike.

I could not put this book down! This is a great adventure that takes you from Georgia to Maine along the Appalacian Trail and teaches us about friendship, perseverance, endurance, grief, joy, horror, kindness, envy, pain and fear.....I never knew anything about the AT until I read this book! This is not a book about a homosexual hiker who meets her mate on a mountain in Massachusettes as some reviewers have written. This is a funny, exciting, scary and thoughtful story of a woman, who like many of us, had family, relationship and career problems and chose to walk the AT to figure it all out. Bravo!

This book worked itself into my thoughts and dreams, and I couldn't stop reading it. It has little maps at the beginning of each chapter that show where the author is in her trek, and I found myself checking these and hoping she wasn't close to the end because I didn't want it to stop. Winters is a compelling, funny, and insightful writer, and the book makes you feel as if you're right there on the muddy trail, with the people and events described as vivid as a movie. Her journey is inspiring--she was determined to walk from an unhappy life to a happy one, and she did! This book was recommended to me by a friend, and I've never even hiked before, but since reading it I've started dreaming of heading out on an adventure of my own. An excellent read!